NASCAR's Vice President of Race Communications, Mike Forde, has clarified the sport's disqualification rules surrounding battery changes following an incident involving Tyler Reddick at Darlington.
The 23XI Racing star went on to take his fourth victory of the season in South Carolina on Sunday after starting on pole, continuing his red-hot start to 2026.
However, things were not as straightforward as they might sound, with Reddick having experienced alternator issues in his car from the very first lap.
This led to Reddick having no cooling aids throughout the race, such as his cool suit, and also led to the team swapping out his battery during a trip down pit road at one stage.
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Why Tyler Reddick wasn't disqualified for battery change
NASCAR is very hot on changes made to cars throughout a race weekend, including during the race, and has a stringent post-race inspection process.
Despite the changes, Reddick's car cleared inspection and was declared legal, with his win subsequently made official.
Now, speaking on this week's episode of the Hauler Talk podcast, Forde explained NASCAR's rules around changes made to the battery, and outlined why Reddick's team were allowed to make the switch that they did.
"We don’t have any rules as far as the size of the batteries, but the vehicle still needs to make weight,” Forde explained.
“If you start with a heavy battery and you swap to a lighter battery, and you came in underweight, then you could have a DQ (disqualification) on your hands.
“So moving to a larger battery, as long as it matched the rules, which the [No.] 45 did, you’re good to go.”
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