Will NASCAR teams still cheat even with new disqualification rule?

With NASCAR’s new rule pertaining to drivers being disqualified after failing post-race inspection, will teams stop cheating?

Penalties issued to NASCAR Cup Series drivers for failing post-race inspection have become more and more common, as there are typically several violations committed among drivers and teams throughout the course of an entire 36-race season as they try to push the limits and see what they can get away with that will given them an advantage.

But beginning in the 2019 season, which is scheduled to get underway in less than two weeks with the 61st annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR is effectively set to implement a new “zero tolerance” policy for failing post-race inspection.

All drivers who fail post-race inspection will be completely disqualified from the race. Race winners are not exempt from this new rule. The drivers and teams who are disqualified will lose all of the stage points and playoff points that they earned throughout the races, and the disqualified drivers will receive one point as if they finished the race in last place.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

• NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
• NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
• NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
• NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
• NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500

In addition, post-race inspection will be conducted much sooner than it had been. After the race, the first place car, the second place car and an additional randomly selected car will be inspected at the track.

A NASCAR Cup Series race winner has not been disqualified from a race since after the race at Wilson Speedway on Sunday, April 17, 1960.

Emanuel Zervakis won this race but was disqualified from it after it ended as a result of the fact that his car had a large fuel cell. Joe Weatherly was handed the victory after finishing the race in second place.

But the threat of disqualification — and even the additional threat of becoming the first driver to be disqualified after winning a NASCAR Cup Series race in 59 years — will not be enough to prevent teams from cheating.

The reason for this is simple: the modern-day playoff format. Once a driver wins a race at any point in the regular season, he is locked into the playoffs.

After locking themselves into the playoffs, would teams drivers really NOT try to test the limits to see what they can get away with throughout the rest of the regular season and what could potentially give them an advantage in the playoffs?

At this point, they would effectively have nothing to lose.

Of course, this would still be somewhat risky, as it would put the playoff points that the race winner earned in the race that he won on the line. That said, if earned by pushing the limits — or, for lack of a better word, cheating, — then these playoff points are playoff points that otherwise would not have even been earned by the winning driver anyway.

Also, keep in mind the fact that the opening race of the 2019 season is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 17. The opening playoff race, which is the 27th race of the season, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 15. Barring an upset victory by a part-time driver in the season opener, one driver will have locked up a playoff berth nearly seven months before the playoffs begin.

Several other drivers will likely lock up playoff berths in the weeks and months that follow, even with several months and races to go before the playoffs begin.

Will the drivers and teams who lock themselves into the playoffs early just sit back and try to collect victories and playoff points the hard way throughout the remainder of the regular season, or will they live by Junior Johnson’s motto that “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying” and try to gain an advantage — albeit an illegal one — on the competition for the playoffs while risking regular season results?

Will any drivers lose a victory or victories as a result of failing post-race inspection at any point throughout the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season? The season is scheduled to last for nine months, as the first of 36 races on the schedule is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 17 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach Florida while the the season finale is scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.