Denny Hamlin Insider Lets Slip NASCAR’s Plan to ‘Loosen Up Reigns’ After Massive Backlash in DVP Debacle

NASCAR has found itself in hot water over its inconsistent application of the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP). The recent 28-car wreck at Talladega forced the governing body to allow drivers to tow their cars to the pits for repairs, a decision that sparked controversy. Fans quickly noted the disparity—Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry had previously retired from races at Atlanta and The Glen under the same rule, which required damaged cars to be towed to the garage, not the pits.

Despite earlier affirmations by NASCAR’s Managing Director Brad Moran that the rule wouldn’t change, this exception at Talladega has left many questioning NASCAR’s consistency and fairness.

NASCAR’s plans to improve the DVP rule

“If a car sustains significant damage, it must be towed to the garage instead of continuing to race,” that’s the DVP rule for now. However, the confusion around it has been making headlines for weeks. Denny Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart comes as a messenger, as he reveals to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that NASCAR is ready to take back their word of not changing the DVP rule till the end of the season.

Gabehart told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, “I am the proponent of vulnerability or not in the moment. I am a proponent of vulnerability or not in the moment. The rule is the rule, and in black and white, it’s stated that if you can’t drive—if you’re deemed in an incident and you can’t drive back to your pit box—you’re out of the race.” Further comparing the two incidents that had everyone frustrated with the inconsistencies, he said, “No matter how good or bad that rule is, just like in Kansas with Josh Berry, that was the rule, and everybody can stomach it and understand it. What is confusing is when that doesn’t happen, no matter if it’s, gosh, a 40-car wreck, which it was close to. Then we can’t finish the race.”

Chris Gabehart also explained NASCAR’s intention with the rule, “Their intent is not to put anybody out of the race that doesn’t mistakenly need to be. If they miss a judgment call or a damage type thing, they don’t want to put it on their officials on the ground. Because of that, they want to put it more in our hands.” With this, he revealed that NASCAR is going to be changing the rule to favor the teams’ decision-making skills to determine if the car should continue to race or not.

NASCAR also plans on accessing the damage on the cars, as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief explained, “If there are kind of calls on the fence that the cars can’t move, but we’re not sure how bad the damage is, they want to put it back in the teams’ hands and give them an opportunity to go out and compete again.”

How will the change in the DVP rule affect races?

NASCAR’s decision is in line with what teams wanted all along. When Ryan Blaney wrecked out on the first lap of Atlanta, his crew chief was trying to get in touch with NASCAR to convince them to let him continue. In Josh Berry’s situation, the driver was asked to stay in the car, again according to the rules of NASCAR, to prevent the cars from being towed away. All in all, it is clear that the drivers affected would like to continue to race if they still could.

Even Jeff Gluck weighed in recently on the DVP, saying, “When you say last week and you have made it very clear, Blaney’s thing and this thing with Berry, if you can’t drive it back, you’re out. And then they like go to great huge thing of pulling Briscoe out of the grass, pulling Chase [Elliott], and Harrison Burton by the way, too, got towed back. Why? I don’t know, man. Why can’t we have a clear policy that doesn’t change week to week? By the way, this is the playoffs. By the way, this stuff matters because the whole format is short seasons, short mini-seasons. So, it’s just, it’s not good.”

NASCAR giving the power back into the team’s hands was something they wanted, and now the frustrations towards the governing body will be reduced. This was a way to diffuse the situation of inconsistent calls, as now it is up to the teams to determine how safe the car is and if it can make its way back on the tracks after an incident. The situation seems almost ironic as NASCAR was standing its ground right before the Talladega incident, but yet again, the 28-car wreck was extremely unpredictable.

It would be unfair to teams and fans who came to see their favorite driver win, only to get wrecked because of 1 car losing its control on the track. With that said, do you think that NASCAR fixed the DVP rule from what Chris Gabehart said?