Yahoo Autos NASCAR Wants to Stop Drivers from Celebrating Too Much After a Win
Following his recent win at Watkins Glen, Denny Hamlin celebrated exactly the way anyone would if they had a 900-ish horsepower race car to celebrate with-he did a burnout. And, oh, what a burnout it was. Absolutely glorious. But apparently the folks at NASCAR weren't such big fans of Hamlin's celebration, and it appears they intend to crack down on such shenanigans.
A video posted on NASCAR's website had Steve O'Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer for the sport's sanctioning body saying that officials are unhappy with what it considers excessive celebrations.
"It's something that's been out there that we are trying to avoid yet balance the celebration. I think (we will see something) in the very near future, and this isn't putting it all on the 11 car, this is something we've talked about, it's a trend we don't like to see," said O'Donnell.
That's a change of tone for NASCAR, considering it said last October that it had no intentions of reigning in post-race celebrations, calling it an "opportunity to express their enthusiasm for their win and give fans an exclamation point to the victory."
Some opponents have asserted that these kinds of displays are a way for cheating teams to intentionally damage their cars and cover up illegal modifications. But so far, no evidence has been found to support that claim. O'Donnell, however, isn't convinced it isn't happening.
"We want to see a celebration and we think that drivers can celebrate without doing that," he said. "You'll probably see us sooner than later put something in place that covers us for that as you head into the last quarter of the season."
