NASCAR‘s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) has been in place since 2017 to ensure teams did not try to send a severely wounded car onto the track and endanger other competitors. However, with the policy resulting in teams retiring from races with lesser damaged cars, the sanctioning body has tweaked the DVP clock so that crews will have ten minutes to make repairs.
The change comes as the Cup Series enters the playoffs and leaves behind a chaotic Daytona race where multiple drivers were taken out in large crashes. The duration was also selected to provide teams with more time as they continue through the motions of the Next Gen car’s maiden season.
The clock begins once a car involved in a crash enters pit road. Even if repairs are made, the car must meet minimum speed in order to erase the clock, while trips to the garage eliminate them from the race (cars may return to the race if they go to the garage for mechanical issues).
It is the second time that the DVP clock changed duration since its introduction. The clock’s début season saw it last five minutes before increasing to six in 2018.