In wake of the puzzling appeal process, NASCAR has countered. On Thursday, they updated the rule book.

Section 11.10.2.C was updated to include the phrase: “Appeals Panel may not completely remove any element of the originally assessed Penalty provided in the Penalty Notice as defined in Section 10.5.2 Determination of Penalties; modifications to a Penalty are limited to the minimum and maximum ranges, as listed in the Rule Book. By way of example, if NASCAR assessed a Penalty that consisted of Points reductions, monetary fines, and suspensions, all three elements of the originally assessed Penalty must remain, but the amount of each element could be adjusted within the minimum and maximum Penalty ranges.”

Section 11.20.1.C was updated to include: “The Final Appeals Officer may not completely remove any element of the originally assessed Penalty provided in the Penalty Notice as outlined in Section 10.5.2 Determination of Penalties; modifications to a Penalty are limited to the minimum and maximum ranges as listed in the Rule Book. By way of example, if NASCAR assessed a Penalty that consisted of Points reductions, monetary fines, and suspensions, all three elements of the originally assessed Penalty must remain, but the amount of each element could be adjusted within the minimum and maximum Penalty ranges.”

Section 11.29.A was updated to state that NASCAR can release the panel’s explanation for its decision: :”NASCAR shall have the right to publish any decision of the Appeals Panel/FAO, including without limitation, the names of the parties involved and the Appeals Panel/FAO justification for modifying or rescinding a Penalty.”

Basically, if a penalty is a penalty, the panel can’t remove that part. Thats a massive win. The only issue I have with this is the fact that they changed the rules in the middle of the season. While they’ve done that before, I’ve never been a fan of that. You sign up at the beginning of the season for one set of rules and to change them in the middle of the season isn’t right. I like the wording and like the way NASCAR countered, I just wish this could have started for 2024 instead.

Other than that, I see no drawback to this wording because it’s NASCAR’s way around this finnicky appeal process that allowed Hendrick to get all their points back.