Drivers in next week's Daytona 500 will have to find a new way to gain some fractions of a second in qualifying.
A NASCAR rule change has taken away a sneaky tactic that a number of drivers used to increase their speed on straightaways, just days from the first points-paying Cup Series race of the year.
Qualifying at superspeedways has seen an increasing number of drivers placing their hands either on the window net or between the window net and the A-post, allowing them to redirect the air and improve performance.
NASCAR had turned a blind eye to the practice in previous years, but have taken a new and stronger stance against it ahead of the 2026 season.
NASCAR: Hands off!
The rulebook now reads: “As determined by NASCAR, once a vehicle exits pit road during a Qualifying attempt, the driver’s hands may not be used to redirect air in any manner, including but not limited to touching the window net, blocking air from entering the cockpit, redirecting air from the window, etc. Non-compliance will result in loss of Qualifying time.”
2024 saw Team Penske and Joey Logano pushing the boundaries of the existing rules by wearing a webbed glove for qualifying, which was seen on his in-car camera at Atlanta. He was sent to the rear of the field for the race and given a pass-through penalty, as well as being fined $10,000.
At the time, NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer said: “We see time and time again at superspeedways and at other events where the drivers will stick their hand out the window; that’s not something that we’ve been all that alarmed about.
"When you take it to the level that you have modified some of the safety equipment, gloves in particular, and then using that, the penalty at the race track was based off that.
“Now the next step of that is when you look at safety equipment, and we look at this very hard, we take it very seriously. There’s been numerous meetings over time about safety of the car and the equipment and the drivers, and when you take and alter that, that will be something that we discuss today if it needs to have an additional penalty added to that.”
