“We are flirting with disaster on that pit road,” said Joey Logano in a recent interview, talking about the pit road at Homestead and how that is a recipe for disaster. But it was not only the width of pit road that was an issue, with the narrow pit road and smaller pit boxes came another serious issue that’s a danger to safety, loose tires. Imagine, in the heat of the moment during a pit stop, a 25-pound tire rolls on the pit road, and it can cause a serious incident that can have major safety issues for everyone involved.
Homestead-Miami Speedway has always been a hub of thrill and excitement, and it did not disappoint this time as well. With thrilling racing, engine failures, and pit stop drama, Homestead was one of the highlights of the season so far. But when we focus on thrill and excitement, sometimes we forget about safety, and that’s exactly what NASCAR did at Homestead.
“No one wants to see that on TV, someone getting crushed. The long term impact, even if you’re okay of an injury that a big old stock car comes running at you. You got to think. It’s one thing when there’s a car coming at you and you see it and you jump up in the air. It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. It’s still going to be really bad,” Logano continued. Now, these tires have been largely problematic. They pose a massive safety issue.
After multiple calls to action from drivers, teams, and crews, NASCAR is finally doing something about it. NASCAR has gotten into the habit of getting into controversies over its rules and the officiating of these rules, and NASCAR has once again gotten into a controversy regarding the pit rule changes. NASCAR recently decided to update its rules regarding uncontrolled tires, and it has caused controversy and invited backlash from the racing community.
According to NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass, “NASCAR added wording to its uncontrolled tire rule to clarify that if you have an opening next to your pit that you can still be penalized,” if the tire is out of the allowed area. The wording of the rule is as follows: “Regardless where the tire ends up, removed tire that rolls from the inside half of the pit box to the outside half of the pit box is a penalty.”
NASCAR added wording to its uncontrolled tire rule (in red) to clarify that if you have an opening next to your pit that you can still be penalized. pic.twitter.com/69vBky1XIY
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 26, 2025
This is the first time since 2019 that NASCAR has changed the rules regarding the uncontrolled tires when they removed the ‘within arm’s length rule’ for uncontrolled tires to determine if the uncontrolled tire constitutes a penalty or not.
The last time there was such a rule change, Denny Hamlin had made his perspective clear. “I don’t know what they can change, but I would like to see a change. I think rules have to evolve and this is not about us in particular. I made a comment and it has 3,000 likes, 500 retweets, 300 comments, so it touches the fan base. These are people that aren’t Denny fans; they just don’t get it. If they don’t get it at home, then it’s probably not a rule that needs to be in place in the Cup series because you can’t explain it to them.”
Adding another complexity to this already complex situation, this rule change comes just before the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, sending the teams and crews scrambling to prepare for these rules and be ready to perform according to them under pressure next weekend. This does raise questions about the timing of the rule change, whether this abrupt change in the rules was necessary, and if this could lead to further confusion and pit issues.
Fans are not happy with NASCAR and its rule change policy
And just like everyone else, fans are also confused by this rule change and as usual, they did not hesitate to let their feelings be known. “Here we go again….,” commented one fan, summarizing the feeling of the entire NASCAR community with another on-the-spot rule change, it is like applying band-aids on a wound.
Another fan joined in on this same feeling with, “NASCAR just makes shit up every week,” hinting on this not being NASCAR’s first time doing a patch-up job as a knee-jerk reaction to a controversy. Remember Christopher Bell’s pit stop in his teammate’s pit box? NASCAR has scrambled to make sure pit road restrictions are tighter than ever. Fans also pointed out that NASCAR is adding the rules after rules on top of rules, “Still writing the rules. How many page is that book now. Funny how the drivers still don’t know the rules,” a fan commented, pointing out NASCAR’s habit of adding unnecessary rules after rules, that has led to widespread confusion regarding the rules throughout the community, and left even veteran driver such as Kevin Harvick scratching this head.
While fans were taking potshots at NASCAR regarding its rules and officiating, some fans even brought out their humorous side while blaming NASCAR and its weird rules. “Yeah, instead of using the lines painted on the ground, let’s use imaginary ones. ,” one fan commented, pointing out how instead of using proper white lines to designate the allowed and restricted areas, NASCAR is using imaginary lines that for sure will cause confusion and chaos in the future. Even a previous version of the rule used a standardized arm’s length as measurement, making decisions quite puzzling.
Not all fans were critical of NASCAR and even offered friendly advise on how to fix this problem. “Why can’t we just make this crap simple. Have a mandatory pit box size like the FIA requires and you can only be inside that box and you can do whatever you like inside that box,” commented a fan, urging NASCAR to take inspiration from Formula 1, which has designated and marked pit boxes with fixed rules that offer no chance of confusion for drivers, teams, and fans.
With this controversy regarding uncontrolled tires on the pit road, one thing is for sure, NASCAR is taking steps in the right direction but it still has a long way to go.
The post “Here We Go Again”: Frustrated by Rules, Livid Fans Attack Yet Another ‘Made Up’ Controversial NASCAR Addition appeared first on EssentiallySports.
