NASCAR announced a bevy of rulebook updates across its top three national series Friday, including a revamp of the eligibility for the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race in the Cup Series.
After multiple instances last year in which damaged cars returned to set the fastest lap of the race (and earn a bonus point), drivers now will be disallowed from a reward for being fastest once their car has been repaired in the garage.
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MORE: 2026 Cup Series schedule
NASCAR and teams had been debating the merits of rule since Kyle Larson set the fastest lap despite finishing 42 laps down at Mexico City. The 2025 series champion also set the fastest lap at Watkins Glen International after finishing 15 laps down, and Josh Berry earned the fastest lap of the Southern 500 despite crashing on the first lap at Darlington Raceway.
“It was something that we talked a lot about last year, and it didn’t feel exactly right or fair that teams working on the car in the garage for a while specifically just to lay down that fastest lap,” managing director of communications Mike Forde said during the second season debut of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “It didn’t feel super in the spirit of competition, so we decided to change it.”
Forde said a driver still would be credited with a fastest lap if recorded before entering the garage during a race. “If Larson ripped off a fastest lap and wrecks, he gets to keep that fast-lap point. He just can’t get it after working on his car in the garage after an incident.”
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A driver also can remain eligible if the car is fixed in the pit stall, but teams are limited to seven minutes of repairs before being forced to the Cup garage.
Some of the other significant updates for the 2026 season that were unveiled Friday:
— A new penalty structure for loose or missing lug nuts in the O‘Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
If 19 of 20 lug nuts are safe and secure, teams will lose pit selection for the next race. If 18 lug nuts are secure, it‘s a fine ($5,000 in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, $2,500 in the Truck Series) and a one-race crew member suspension. If there are four missing lug nuts, it‘s a race disqualification in both series. In the past, the fines started at one missing lug nut ($5,000 for NOAPS), and crew chiefs also would be suspended for multiple missing lug nuts. Teams successfully lobbied NASCAR that the punishments were too harsh.
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“It’s a lot to help the teams and make it a little bit more consistent between the trucks and O’Reilly and Cup,” said Forde, noting there was no fine for an improperly secured lug nut in Cup. “We want to standardize the rulebooks as often as we can.”
Jesse Love makes a pit stop during a NASCAR O
— NASCAR will hold a potential four additional spots for OEM provisionals in this season‘s first three Craftsman Truck Series races as Ram makes its return to NASCAR. If any of the manufacturer‘s entries fails to make the 36-truck field on qualifying speed at Daytona, EchoPark Speedway or the street race at St. Petersburg, Florida, the vehicle would be added to the rear of the starting lineup, leading to a maximum 40-truck field if necessary.
Forde said the rule was aimed at helping Ram teams “get their sea legs under them” in light of the most recent manufacturer addition to the Cup Series. Toyota drivers missed several dozen races in the 2007 debut season.
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“You have Chevy, Toyota, and Ford who have years and years of experience and data and notebooks filled with how to go fast, and Ram right now doesn’t have any, and so we want to help them get their feet wet,” Forde said.
The rule will be slightly different than the Open Exemption Provisional introduced last year that allows a spot for a renowned driver (four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves used it to make the 2025 Daytona 500; seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has the status this year). While those drivers receive neither points or prize money, the Ram entries would be credited with points for their finishes.
“That‘s so they have a little bit of a cushion and safety net later on this season and really have a good start to their 2026 and return to NASCAR,” Forde said. “Part two is to attract future OEMs so that OEMs can come into the series and know they’re going to have a barrier to entry that isn’t as high and difficult to overcome. They’ll know that they come into the series worried about their engineering, drivers, teams and pit crews and not worry about making the race. So those are kind of the two reasons that we’re doing this.”
— NASCAR also lowered the minimum age for competing on 1.25-mile and shorter tracks in the O‘Reilly Auto Parts Series to 17 years old, which is between the 16-year-old minimum for trucks and 18 for Cup.
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“We look at the truck and the O’Reilly Auto Parts series as ladders to get to the Cup series, so it felt from a consistency’s sake kind of like a literal ladder,” Forde said. “Plus, we did get some team feedback that there were a couple of young drivers that had the talent to be in the O’Reilly Auto Parts but just couldn’t because of the age restriction. So some teams came to us and asked if this would be something that we‘d look at, and it made sense to go 16, 17, 18. So it felt like the right time to do it.”
Other topics covered during the 40th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The recent test of the new 750-horsepower package at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
— The return of the 10-race Chase championship format that was announced this week.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
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Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
