Ahead of the start of the 2025 season, NASCAR competition officials have made a number of updates to the sport’s rule book. The rule changes addressed multiple issues that arose during the 2024 season, while also ensuring a spot in the field for “world class” drivers in select circumstances as well as adding setting the fastest lap in each race as a new way for drivers to earn points.
The notable rule changes are as follows:
- NASCAR has overhauled the sport’s Damaged Vehicle Policy, which will now permit damaged cars to go to the garage for repairs instead of being eliminated from the race outright. When the seven-minute time limit (eight minutes at Atlanta Motor Speedway) for crash repairs on pit road expires, teams will now be required to go to the garage where there will be no time limit for repair work. Damaged vehicles that are either driven or towed to the garage will no longer be automatically out of the race, but any vehicles that cannot be driven back to pit road for any reason will now be towed to the garage first.
The revision to the Damaged Vehicle Policy comes after multiple incidents last year in which cars that could not be driven to pit road were eliminated from races even though they were otherwise repairable, and in some cases even undamaged.
- If NASCAR grants a driver who skips a race a playoff-waiver for non-permissible reasons (medical absence/birth of child/family emergency/age restrictions), that driver will forfeit all past and future playoff points for the rest of the regular season. Should the driver in question qualify for the playoffs, they will start with the baseline 2,000 points in the reset standings.
This revision offers more clarity in certain situations where a driver misses a race, such as last May when Kyle Larson missed the Coca-Cola 600 due to weather delays complicating a prior commitment to race in the Indianapolis 500 on the same day.
- NASCAR has adjusted rulebook wording on race manipulation and also clarified a penalty structure for rule violations by the sport’s Original Equipment Manufacturers (Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota). Infractions by OEMs may result in a loss of manufacturer points, a reduction in wind tunnel testing time and/or computational fluid dynamics (CFD) test runs.
In a rulebook update issued a week prior to the Daytona 500 under its “Performance Obligation” rule, NASCAR clarified that any members who “improperly influence” the outcome of a race or induce others to do so will be subject to penalties. The sanctioning body now says that prohibited actions include, but are not limited to, “intentional planning or conduct that prioritizes objectives other than achieving the best possible competitive result for their team.”
These changes address the end of last fall’s playoff elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, in which Chevrolet and Toyota drivers acted on OEM orders to manipulate the outcome of the race. Bubba Wallace appeared to tank his position on the final lap to help fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell make the Championship 4, while Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon formed a blockade to prevent other drivers from passing fellow Chevy driver William Byron.
- NASCAR has greatly raised the stakes of its Fastest Lap program, as it will now award one additional race point to the driver and team who sets the fastest lap in each race. The fastest lap will now be worth an additional point in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series — the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
In the event that two drivers post the exact same fastest lap time, the rulebook states that the tiebreaker will go to the driver who ends up having the better finishing position among the two.
- NASCAR has introduced an Open Exemption Provisional, which will create a 41st starting spot for a special entrant in certain situations where more than 40 cars are entered in a race. Similar to a “Promoter’s Provisional” used in grassroots level racing, the provisional will guarantee a starting spot to eligible drivers who are significantly accomplished on a case-by-case basis.
Should a driver and team be granted an Open Exemption Provisional, they will not be eligible for points, prize money, or any other benefit of their finishing position. NASCAR has presented the first Open Exemption Provisional to four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, who will make his NASCAR debut in February’s Daytona 500 driving for Trackhouse Racing. If Castroneves does not otherwise qualify or the Daytona 500 on time trial speed of through his Duel qualifying race, he will take the Open Exemption Provisional and be added to the 40-car field.
- All NASCAR suspensions as a result of technical penalties can now be deferred without appeal to the next race following issuance. All other penalties (behavioral, etc.) will remain effective immediately.
In addition, NASCAR has formally added changes to practice and qualifying in 2025 to the rule book after previously announcing expanded practice time and simpler rules to setting the starting lineup. Despite some objections to Joey Logano winning the 2024 championship in spite of a statistically unimpressive season, NASCAR will not make any changes to its championship format and playoff system for 2025, though they will evaluate the system for possible changes starting in 2026.
After kicking off 2025 with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, North Carolina, on Feb. 2, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season officially begins with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.