Citing a ‘trend we don’t like to see,’ a NASCAR executive hinted Tuesday of a rule change that would soon curb post-race victory celebrations. Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, made the comments on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio two days after Denny Hamlin’s victory celebration at Watkins Glen forced him to walk to victory lane. ‘It’s a trend we don’t like to see,’ O’Donnell said of winning cars damaged in victory celebrations. ‘We want to see a celebration, and we think that drivers can celebrate without doing that. So, you’ll probably see us sooner than later put something in place that covers us for that as you kind of head into the last quarter of the season. Again not there yet. We’re talking to a lot of the teams about it, but I think everybody is on board with the direction we want to go in.’ Section 8.5.2.1.c in the Sprint Cup Rule Book states that ‘the first-place vehicle may engage in appropriate celebratory activity (such as a victory lap, burn-out(s) or donuts) prior to reporting to victory circle.’ Any damage during a victory celebration, though, could impact NASCAR’s ability to properly inspect the winning car afterward and ensure that everything was legal with the vehicle. Questions have been raised before about excessive celebrations that damage the winning car and how that could impact NASCAR’s post-race inspection process. In March 2015, a NASCAR official told NBC Sports that if series officials believed that such damage from a celebration affected inspection after the race that they would address the matter.(NBC Sports)
