NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) has been a matter of debate since the Watkins Glen race but Talladega might have given a solution to that problem. The organizers were forced to bring out the red flag after a huge wreck that saw 27 cars wreck.
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Meanwhile, former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick believes it could be a good way to deal with the DVP issues considering how much they have been criticized over the rule. Even the drivers seem to be confused about how it works.
The red flag at Talladega allowed NASCAR to be sure of which cars could continue the race. If that was the case, Harvick believes that it should be used every time the organizers aren’t sure if the DVP applies to a car after a wreck. The people who make that decision should be the respective team as per the 2014 Cup Series champion and not the officials who don’t know the car.
“It can’t come down to a decision by an official on the back straightaway,” he said on his podcast. Those guys don’t know nothing about the cars to know who gets towed and who doesn’t. I can’t believe that we are sitting here talking about this but they can’t make that decision. The team needs to make that decision…if you gotta throw the red flag to get that right, I’d rather that.”
It all started when Ryan Blaney was towed back to the pits at the Glen after a lap 1 incident. It had broken his car’s steering column at the time and NASCAR did not even allow the #12 to work on the car in the pits and see if he could continue.
The reigning champion was livid at the time but it turned out that his car was indeed too damaged. However, on the Kansas weekend, the same thing happened with Josh Berry and on that occasion, the #4 car was not as damaged as they might have expected.
The rule states that if a car is unable to drive back to the pits by itself, it would be deemed too damaged to continue. The exception to the rule is that if a car has four flats and isn’t involved in a wreck, NASCAR would tow it to pit road for a tire change.
Well, Berry had four flats in Kansas which is why he could not make it back to the pits. At Talladega, however, multiple cars were towed back to pit road after the big final lap wreck, leaving the #4 driver infuriated.
NASCAR senior executive Elton Sawyer has acknowledged that they might have made a mistake with the Berry ruling. He also said that the sanctioning body would go over the DVP in the off-season to make the necessary changes for a smoother implementation next season.
