Further changes as NASCAR modifies Damaged Vehicle Policy after Bristol

In time for the 2025 season, NASCAR updated its Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) rule to allow cars that are repaired after sustaining damage to go back on the track, and now, the rule has been modified to give more allowance to the teams. In the already-updated rule, during the repairs of an affected vehicle, teams were not allowed to replace the diffuser flaps, but now they are, once the car makes it back into the garage. These flaps are essential in helping the car stay on the ground.

The previous NASCAR DVP stated that if a wrecked vehicle was driven or towed back to the garage, it would be out of the race. However, it always permitted teams seven minutes to repair the cars on the pit road, and if it crossed that time limit, the car would be disqualified (teams would have eight minutes at the Atlanta Motor Speedway).

This season onwards, the time limit still stands; however, if teams need to conduct repairs that will take longer than seven minutes, they must do so in their Cup Series garage, where they will not face the threat of having their vehicle eliminated. Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass has revealed the update to that rule, which came following the race at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

"NASCAR updated its Cup DVP policy where it used to not allow teams to replace the diffuser flaps but now they can replace the diffuser flaps (extensions) when making their repairs," Pockrass wrote on X.

Recently, the effect of the updated Damaged Vehicle Policy was seen at the Cup Series event at the Darlington Raceway, where #5 driver Kyle Larson suffered a wreck in lap four of the race, and was able to make it to the pits where his team worked on the car to get him back out in the running for the latter part of the event.

"We don’t want to put cars out of the race": NASCAR Executive comments on original Damaged Vehicle Policy

Ryan Blaney (12) collides with Ross Chastain (1) creating a wreck in the final laps during the second stage of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, October 6th 2024 - Source: Imagn

One of the events that prompted a conversation around NASCAR's Damaged Vehicle Policy was last year's race at the Talladega Superspeedway in October that saw 28 cars involved in a massive wreck.

Speaking after the event, the stock car association's Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, explained that it's never been the intention of the association to remove working cars off the field, but it's for the sake of safety that they take those cars out so as not to rely on multiple factors to judge whether it's alright for the vehicle to be back on track.

"[W]e don’t want to put cars out of the race. We had a situation in Turn 3 [at Talladega] where we got 25-plus cars down. We’re not sure why they can’t continue we don’t know if it’s strictly because they’re just in the grass or high-sided. For us to make a determination that they got some suspension damage and can’t continue, that puts a lot on us that we want to err on the side of the competitors," he said, via On3.

The next event in the NASCAR Cup Series takes place at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 27, at 3:00 p.m. ET.