DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—NASCAR announced during the offseason that manipulating and flaring out of vertical rocker panel extensions (commonly called side skirts) would no longer be allowed.
In a technical bulletin issued on Thursday, the sanctioning body spelled out stiff penalties for manipulation of body work, including side skirts.
If the infraction occurs under caution, NASCAR will notify the team to bring the car back to pit road to correct the infraction. The car will then be subject to a pass-through penalty on pit road after the race goes green.
If the infraction occurs under a green-flag condition, the car must return to pit road and will not be released by a NASCAR official until the problem is corrected.
Any crew member found to have broken the above rule, or to have caused an issue with another car, is subject to a written warning (and penalty, if applicable) at the discretion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series managing director.
The bottom line is that it no longer pays to skirt the law.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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