NASCAR Proving Denny Hamlin’s Prediction Wrong to Dismiss Tony Stewart & Co’s Anger Enrages Fans

After having two playoff races that took out a driver due to the DVP, fans are not happy with the rulebook. Ryan Blaney was taken out of the race at Watkins Glen after an incident on the first lap, as he was not allowed to head back to the pit road. A similar thing happened on Kansas’s first lap when Josh Berry suffered the same fate.

With two incidents taking place where a driver had to retire despite having a raceable car, many fans and critics want to get to the bottom of what NASCAR is doing about the rule. Denny Hamlin recently predicted that NASCAR will be changing the rule soon; however, that does not seem to be the case according to Brad Moran.

Brad Moran’s take on the DVP and its existence in the sport

After the race, Denny Hamlin made a prediction on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, that NASCAR might change the rules for DVP. However, that was completely turned down when Moran decided to talk to the media about the incident.

Done with being overburdened by the criticism, Brad Moran decided to talk to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to officially announce the governing body’s stance on the DVP rule. Moran went on the radio to say, “It’s really clear on our recovery program and our DVP that if you’re involved in an incident, you have to be able to get your vehicle back to pit road.”

Explaining the exception to the rule, he said, “If it’s just sitting there with flat tires, your spine will even give you a lot of light scuff. That would be one thing; that vehicle would have been towed in. So, you know, from what Rodney [Childers] said—I haven’t talked to him yet, but I will be talking to him later today—from the reports I had, the car really wasn’t damaged and probably could have participated.”

Moran made it clear that it is not NASCAR’s intention to take cars out of the race and, despite that, the DVP rule is in place. The Managing Director also spoke about Ryan Blaney’s incident from The Glen but revealed that the No. 12 Ford had some mechanical issues causing him to retire. Explaining how it is impossible to inspect the car during the race, he justified the rule of “whether the car can be driven back or not.”

That’s when Moran was asked about something fans have been concerned about. The interviewer asked him, “This does not apply to Josh Berry, but we’ve had listeners ask if it would be a different view if a team was a championship team or if something like that happened at the Championship Four race at Phoenix Raceway?” This is where Moran debunked Hamlin’s prediction, saying, “Yeah, no, it’d be a real bad situation because we wouldn’t change the rule.”

Ultimately, Moran brushed the matter off by saying that the rule is in place for driver safety. Explaining that in Josh Berry’s case, “it didn’t feel right or look right, but it was done correctly.” Although he stated that the rule will not change, it is still up for review as to what will happen in 2025. And as goes without saying, fans were not very happy to see how NASCAR tackled the situation. A Reddit post was made and many fans shared exactly how unhappy they were with NASCAR’s decision.

Unhappy fans go on a rant about the DVP rule

After hearing Moran’s decision, many fans started to worry about the Phoenix finals. One fan asked, “What’re they going to do if this happens to a championship 4 driver at Phoenix? Gonna take away a guy’s chance at a title because he had flats? Imagine that headline.” There is a chance of having a wreck at Phoenix, and the fan wants to understand how NASCAR will handle the situation then. Moran has already made the announcement, saying that the rule will not change. Hence, the fan is worried a similar thing might happen to a playoff driver.

Another fan stated that they think NASCAR officials don’t consider the big picture. In their comment, they said, “The shot callers at Nascar don’t think that far ahead. That’s why they have this problem now.” A fan sarcastically said, “I can’t wait for this to happen to a playoff driver.” The comment was probably made to see how NASCAR officials would deal with the situation in that case. Having one of the top 4 drivers’ race end early would be a disappointing finale, and that’s what this fan is predicting.

This fan spoke about NASCAR’s rules versus the kind of car they designed. They believe that the car has a flaw in the design that makes the Rub Blocks get in the way once all the tires are punctured. The comment read, “‘You have to be able to get your vehicle back to pit road.’ Oh, and ‘It’s not our fault we designed the car so poorly that getting flat tires renders it undrivable.’” According to this fan, it is NASCAR’s fault for designing cars that cannot make it to the pit road due to a small issue like flat tires.

Considering the amount of disappointment and discussion the DVP is causing, one fan kept the message to the point. In a comment that simply read, “GET RID OF THE DVP,” this fan said what many fans want to say after looking at recent events. However, like Moran said, the rules will not change this season, and drivers will have to be more cautious with their cars.

Do you think that NASCAR made the right call? Share your thoughts in the comments below.