Rogue Tires and Loose Lug Nuts

Ask any fan their opinion on single lug nut tire changes and you will more than likely hear things like “I hate it” or “why did they have to mess up a good thing” or “this ain’t Formula 1.” With the increase in significant driver injury from what appears to be minor wrecks, many fans are displeased with the Next Gen car. Prior to the season’s start, there were complaints aired throughout social media and within any social gathering, covering the Next Gen from nose to tail and literally every stop in between. The shift of the number placement, the overall design, the materials, the lug nut change, the tire change, the wheel change, the transmission change, the air flow through the car. You name it and I can guarantee someone complained about it, loudly. For the sake of time, let’s focus just on the wheels and lug nuts.

In 2021, there were 78 penalties assessed for loose lug nuts in the Cup series. Considering 5 lug nuts per wheel, that’s no fewer than 16 tires with loose lug nuts. The penalty was either $10,000 or $20,000 and Crew Chief suspension, depending on the severity of the infraction. (In the Xfinity series, the fine is $5,000 and is charged to the Crew Chief.) Loose lug nuts could lead to wheel fall-off which is obviously dangerous. Loose wheels that remain on the car can cause vibrations that affect the handling of the car. It could also lead to improper wear which in turn leads to a blowout. Any of these happening at 100+ mph can be extremely dangerous, not to mention possibly ending the driver’s day. Most often, the penalties were assessed during post-race inspections, which is really the only time officials can check for loose lug nuts when using a 5-lug wheel. With the obvious miss of Byron’s hit on Hamlin under caution, NASCAR officials further prove that they miss important things when trying to watch 36 cars without 100 officials to watch them.

As of the (disastrous) Texas fall race this season, there have been 16 rogue tires (unofficially). Each officially declared rogue tire results in a 4-week suspension of the Crew Chief, tire changer, and jackman for that team. While a copy of the rule book is not publicly available, it has been mentioned in multiple sources that the rule book does not specify which two crew members in addition to the Crew Chief would be suspended in the event of a rogue tire. It is assumed that it would be the responsible tire changer and the jackman as they are the two physically involved in the tire changes, as was previously written when the original Loose Tire/Wheel rule came into effect. However, we saw with Denny Hamlin earlier in the season at Dover, NASCAR does not always follow logic. Hamlin had a loose left front wheel coming out of a pit stop and lost his tire. Because of the special choreography JGR used during that stop, the crew member listed as the front tire changer wasn’t actually the crew member who changed the left front tire but was still one of the crew members suspended.

NASCAR doesn’t even consistently call a penalty for a rogue tire. We’ve seen several instances this year where rogue tires were not counted or penalized by NASCAR. At the fall Bristol race, Ryan Blaney was penalized for a rogue tire when it bounced through several pit stalls after falling off during a service stop. But when Kevin Harvick lost a wheel during his final pit stop of the night, he just had to back up and have it put back on again and he was good to go racing. Same thing for Denny Hamlin when his left rear pins didn’t set properly and it came loose as he drove away. The difference for these two drivers versus Blaney is the updated rule midseason now says if you have a loose wheel on pit road, as long as it doesn’t go down through other people’s pit stalls or off pit road, you’re okay.

For further inconsistency, take a look at Christopher Bell’s rogue tire in Atlanta. He lost his left rear during a pit stop. It fell off and rolled several stalls down pit lane through the traffic lanes and he just stopped in the middle of the travel lane until the other cars got around him. Somehow, NASCAR officials decided this rogue tire didn’t count and therefore did not penalize Bell’s team, despite so much evidence to prove that this was most definitely a rogue tire. (Unofficial records still counted it.)

One other negative side effect of the change to the single lug nut is the loss of free track souvenirs. Fans love collecting discarded lug nuts. They are small, portable, stackable, and have flat surfaces to record the track and race information on for posterity’s sake. The single lug nuts are designed to stay in the gun so there are no discarded lug nuts in the Cup series (except for the occasional runaway lug nut but those are rare). Not only has the change to single lug nuts eliminated a souvenir opportunity, it has also significantly increased the penalty for loose lug nuts. A loose lug nut in the Cup series now can cost upwards of 4 times as much in fines and significantly higher loss of team members to suspension than last year’s penalty. As crews continue increasing efficiency throughout the season, the number of rogue tires has decreased. A fan’s only consolation now is the entertainment of watching a tire bounce across the track or beat the driver to the pit road exit like one did to Denny Hamlin earlier this season. For lug nut souvenirs, we’ll have to turn to Xfinity or ARCA/Menards races (while we can).