Following last weekend’s Southern 500 in which Kevin Harvick’s car caught fire, NASCAR has announced a rule update to address fire hazards.
The decision came down swiftly following Harvick’s post-race comments, in which he blamed the required use of “crappy parts” in their cars.
A scary moment for Kevin Harvick at Darlington. https://t.co/3RbVGklaX9 pic.twitter.com/llw9zPrGY1
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 5, 2022
“I’m sure it’s just the crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times,” Harvick said. “We haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff, we just let it keep going and keep going and the car started burning. And as it burns, you know, the flames started coming through the dash. And I ran a couple laps and then, you know, as the flame got bigger, and then it started burning stuff up, and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out of the brakes. It burned the brake line. But the fire was coming through the dash.”
“What a disaster, man. No reason. We didn’t touch the wall, we didn’t touch a car, and here we are in the pits with a burned-up car and can’t finish the race during the Playoffs because of crappy-a** parts.
Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Tuesday that it was “unacceptable” that cars were catching on fire and that they would make changes.
Those changes dropped Wednesday with a rule update that includes a few specifics. First, a lateral seal/dam must be installed between the back of the front clip weight box and the top of the splitter panel and the seal must extend laterally to the width of the engine panel. The lower front section of the right side backstop panel must be trimmed and the section that is removed must be replaced by a 14 gauge stainless steel panel. Finally, it is recommended that the clearance between the exhaust and the floor of the rocker box is maximized.
Here’s a look at the rule changes NASCAR distributed to teams yesterday (in hopes of addressing fire issue). pic.twitter.com/d3wZafcDiD
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 7, 2022
All Cup teams are required to make these changes before this weekend’s races at Kansas Speedway.
We’ll see what kind of impact the rule changes have and whether or not they appease drivers. In the meantime, the NASCAR world had some strong reactions to the news.
Just think if Harvick didn't go on a tirade this wouldn't be happening, he's the only reason for this coming https://t.co/yyPV7WEmOI
— Dylan (@thedyllin) September 7, 2022
I’m glad they are doing this but it shouldn’t have taken a really bad fire to make these changes happen. https://t.co/RdRKylZFAY
— Jacob (@JacobRE1996) September 7, 2022
Good news after the #4 car incident at @TooToughToTame https://t.co/CG4Gi8BQyb
— Brad Faust (@bdfaust) September 7, 2022
Instead of fixing the issue of rubber building up inside at the headers and catching on fire, #NASCAR is basically slapping a band-aid on to slow the fire down. This isn't going to stop the fire, it's just gonna slow it down so drivers have more time to get out of the car… https://t.co/NiABITa76s
— Matt Chaffe (@ax4x_matt) September 7, 2022
Weigh Out Wednesday is about to get interesting! 🤙🏻 pic.twitter.com/P7wTT9buTJ
— Brian Murphy (@Brian_Murphy_) September 7, 2022