Hauler Talk: NASCAR explains why rules were adjusted for Day’s team at San Diego
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The unusual decision to permit Corey Day’s team to work under the red flag and receive four laps back came after a “lengthy” discussion among NASCAR officials.
“It was, ‘Hey, what do we do here? Does it feel right that we give Corey Day his four laps back?’ ” NASCAR Vice President of Racing Communications Mike Forde said on the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “And it wasn't unanimous. There was some, ‘Well, what have we done before?’ We try to be consistent.”
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Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet was damaged by a loose sewer cover on the first lap of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series street race at Naval Base Coronado.
There have been other instances in which cars were damaged by debris (such as Jeff Gordon’s Chevy being hit by a loose chunk of concrete while leading at Martinsville Speedway in 2004) in which no dispensation was granted.
“In this case, we felt the big thing was this was a temporary course, and it wasn't built for racing,” Forde said. “And so, some of those other ‘racing deals,’ it didn't exactly match what happened here. This came up on a city street, and (Day) didn't really do anything wrong.
“It was just horrible, horrible luck. If we can sort of fix that and give him his luck back, we felt that it was the right thing to do.”
NASCAR will have further discussions about how to handle similar situations in the future, possibly tweaking the process in which Day got his laps back. The No. 17 circled the track four times under caution to ensure its fuel consumption was relatively equal. To avoid burning laps under yellow, Forde said NASCAR might consider keeping the field stationary while a driver circled the track.
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But NASCAR will keep a high standard for suspending the rules as it did in Day’s situation.
“Instead of a cover going through the radiator, what if it's a piece of ballast from another car,” Forde said. “That's bad luck, too, but I think we probably will look at that as a little more of a legitimate racing deal that you've seen before hundreds of times throughout all levels of racing, and it's a bummer for that competitor, but it's kind of part of the game.
“A cover coming off on a street race on a naval base is not typically part of the game, so that's why we made the decision we did.”
After the cover came loose, NASCAR rewelded a cover in Turn 6 during the red flag and added a fifth weld to other covers around the course before Sunday’s Cup race. A second welding truck was added Sunday because it took longer than expected to repair the cover.
NASCAR cited its EIRI clause -- “Except in rare instances” -- to suspend its rules for working under the red flag and to give Day his laps back.
“We don't do it often and don't like doing it often,” Forde said. “It's for very unique circumstances. Things arise where you have to say, ‘You know what? This doesn't feel right. Logic needs to prevail here. Even though the rules say one thing, in this case, we need to kind of tweak our rules.’ ”