Why NASCAR can't win its war on cheating overnight

The worst phrase in NASCAR is not reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano's old nickname, 'Sliced Bread', and it's not racer-turned-commentator Dale Earnhardt Jr's famous Chicagoland 'slide job' shout. It's actually the term 'encumbered win'.

That phrase applied to drivers who won Cup races but then failed post-race inspections. Rather than remove said driver from the results, NASCAR would punish the offender by preventing the victory counting towards an automatic playoff berth. But the record books would still show that driver, effectively caught cheating, as the winner of the race.

It was an utterly ridiculous situation, heightened by Logano's 2017 Richmond victory becoming encumbered and the Penske driver spending the next 18 races trying - and failing - to win again to make the playoffs, as well as Kevin Harvick's repeated offences in '18 and his war of words against the series during his title-contending campaign.

This tedious state of play was down to NASCAR's desire that fans at the event should go home certain of who had won the race. It was an idealistic but impractical approach, considering that several days would pass before NASCAR could announce if a race-winner had cheated and what the punishment would be.

But that way of working could no longer be tolerated. The 2018 season was the straw that broke the camel's back in NASCAR's ongoing 'can't-win' war.

It began with NASCAR introducing the Hawkeye camera system for last season. This device scanned cars with lasers before comparing its data to computer-aided drawings provided by each of the championship's manufacturers. Hawkeye had replaced the archaic 'claw' system (below), augmented with basic lasers that measured the pre-determined dimensions of the car.

Hawkeye was introduced at a time when some in the paddock had started to openly discuss the dark art of bending the rules, beginning with suggestions that race winners were doing burnouts to damage the rear-end of their cars and make inspection more difficult.

Tellingly, when Autosport asked multiple people for their take on Hawkeye's influence last year, Chevrolet's NASCAR manager Pat Suhy said: "There's a rule that says cars have to look right but they weren't inspected efficiently so you could be quite creative with how you manipulate a design of a surface.

"Knowing that there's a new inspection process, that's vision-based with camera-based systems, some of the things we probably would have done [with the new-for-2018 Camaro] if it was strictly the [old] grid template system, we knew were directionally incorrect."

You would be hard-pressed to find another series that's so willing to talk about the hidden secrets used to circumvent the rules. Even seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson said teams would be "scrambling" to adapt to the system. But Hawkeye's goal was not just to catch cheaters, but to help level the field as Toyota's aerodynamic advantage had put Chevrolet and Ford firmly in its wake.

"We're changing the culture. We cannot allow inspection and penalties to continue to be a prolonged storyline" Steve O'Donnell

But the theme of 2018 was not the levelling of the field as some drivers had hoped, and even the leading narrative of veterans Martin Truex Jr, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch doing a number on the next generation of NASCAR stars took a hit amid the cheating furore.

More often than not, Friday and Saturday of a race weekend became about who made it past inspection. Even as late as October at Martinsville last year, six cars failed post-qualifying inspection and started from the rear of the field - including those of Truex and Johnson.

Worst of all, this followed the nadir of Kansas in May when NASCAR could no longer hide its fury at the inspection culture, as six cars fell foul of the rule and fourth-placed finisher Kyle Larson was noted to have a flexing rear-window that put him under investigation.

NASCAR felt enough was enough, and said as much to anyone who would listen. Taking to the airwaves of its partner SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the series' executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell said: "You've heard me come on and say we've got the most talented engineers in the world working on the race cars, and we believe that, but it's certainly frustrating because it's on the teams to present their cars for inspection.

"It's become the equivalent of a Kris Bryant [of the Chicago Cubs MLB team] coming to the plate with a bat that you can't use and the umpire says, 'You can't use that', [he] comes back with a bat you can't use and the umpire says it again. Then the third time [he] says you can't make your plate appearance, and the batter runs to the media and says, 'I can't believe they did this'.

"It gets frustrating on our end and at some point, we've got to get the teams to be able to show up and get through tech inspection."

Initially, it was strong words met with weak action. NASCAR had already upped the intensity of its punishments - often docking 25 points and banning crew chiefs - but it did very little to deter teams, as was proved at Martinsville several months later.

But NASCAR has now moved to disqualify race winners, and could do so for the first time since 1960. This shows the change in attitude from fan-pleasing to protecting the integrity of the racing product. NASCAR has always blurred the lines between entertainment and the vague idea of 'pure' racing, but potential disqualification stops the long wait until Wednesday's R&D centre results to find out who really had come out on top in a given race.

"We're changing the culture," said O'Donnell when the new disqualification rule was announced. "Our industry understands the need to focus on what happens on the racetrack. We cannot allow inspection and penalties to continue to be a prolonged storyline.

"Race vehicles are expected to adhere to the rule book from the opening of the garage to the chequered flag.

"We've heard loud and clear from our race fans who don't like penalties dragging out to Tuesday or Wednesday from the race. When you leave the race track on Sunday night, you'll know who the race winner is from our perspective.

"We're going to move forward. We understand the challenges around sponsorships and different things. But we've also made it very clear to the teams over the past six months that this is where we're headed.

"So, bring your stuff right and let's concentrate on the best drivers in the world going out and beating each other on the track instead of the windtunnel."

But it's naive to think that this change alone will fix the current culture. NASCAR's rulebook is an aerodynamic battleground, with success or failure intrinsic to it. Yes, Ford won the manufacturers' championship last year in part due to a new engine block, but Stewart-Haas Racing's aero expertise was the clinching factor. On the other hand, Chevrolet failed due to being unable to adapt to Hawkeye quickly enough and it lacked the aero skill of Ford and previous benchmark Toyota.

That means teams and manufacturers will continue to push the edge, regardless of the rules. For example, last year Autosport was told that teams had discovered that well-positioned black tape could trick Hawkeye into believing a car was legal when it wasn't.

NASCAR does, however, deserve credit for deciding to tackle the cheating culture head-on. The earlier steps were always going to air the dirty laundry, even if that meant it reflected badly on the organising body. A change of culture takes a long-term approach, and we'll only know how successful NASCAR has been much further down the line.

NASCAR has reacted to the cheating culture and didn't fall into the trap of introducing another diluted slap on the wrist

The new rule has already met resistance from NASCAR's more vocal drivers, particularly Harvick. The SHR star had already taken to the airwaves of his own radio show to say: "If you're going to be one of the good teams, you're going to have to push the limits. You're going to have to be on the verge of getting in trouble."

Now he's also warned that teams and officials need to be on the same page, because NASCAR squads are so well-versed in exploiting any loophole.

It's interesting that Harvick is the first to raise his voice since news of the disqualification plan came out, considering he would have fallen foul of the rule twice last year and blamed one of his infractions on a social media witch hunt.

That sort of behaviour is exactly why NASCAR has opted for harder punishments, tired of being walked over by teams and drivers who could explain their way out of trouble. This was in addition to the fact that any negativity surrounding the dark art of rule-bending would inevitably be pinned on NASCAR by fans and the media.

The hope now is that the next time someone such as Harvick does enough to be disqualified, the blame is shifted to the perpetrator rather than the one who caught it happening. Best of all, under the new rules it will be identified within 90 minutes of the chequered flag - meaning the case is closed swiftly rather than dragging into midweek tedium.

Autosport wrote last year that NASCAR was at a crossroads in 2018, and it's certainly nowhere near clear of the peril caused by a decline in its following and the slow-burner that is new talent winning and capturing the public interest. But what NASCAR has done here is to show the paddock and the wider racing world that it's not afraid to make the tough calls.

It's reacted to the cheating culture and didn't fall into the trap of introducing another slap on the wrist; it's proactively fighting a new battle on a second front with its new aerodynamic package.

With a view to informing 2021's Generation 7 racer, two new packages will bring cars closer together and attempt to replicate the successful trial in the All-Star race at Charlotte last year. The temptation is to call it pack racing, but the fact that Charlotte winner Harvick was so difficult to pass shows that that is a short-sighted opinion.

A first test at Las Vegas this week was promising, but NASCAR was back in the firing line when Kyle Busch took aim at what he felt was a devaluing of racing talent in favour of entertainment. Describing the 2019-spec car, Busch said it had "taken the driver skill away from the drivers in this package".

NASCAR reacted almost immediately, with vice president for innovation and racing development John Probst countering: "These drivers, some are going to love it, some are going to hate it, no matter what we race. I was just encouraging fans who are on the fence to give it a try. I think they are going to be pleasantly surprised at what they see at the race track.

"For the drivers we know who don't like it, they are very good at what they do and they get paid a really good chunk of money to do things that take a lot of talent. If they want to spout off about [this racing] not needing a whole lot of talent, then eventually that will hit them in the pocketbook, too. They should be careful."

It was a heavy-handed response that sounded dangerously close to a threat and prompted NASCAR to tone it down in a subsequent statement. But ignore the varying interpretations of Probst's words and they are a wider sign of NASCAR taking positive action to correct the course and not shrinking in the face of adversity.

That extends to a softening of its stance about hoped-for radical calendar change in 2020, listening to the fans in a way many felt was missed when NASCAR opted to bring stage racing in for the '17 season. Similarly, its purchase of ARCA showed an intention to improve grassroots levels to encourage better talent that resonates with fans from the earliest stages.

The changes at the top of NASCAR since chairman and CEO Brian France's removal from the public eye after his arrest for driving under the influence, and Brent Dewar exiting as president, have offered a clean state that the series looks to have grasped with both hands.

With a new car on the horizon intended to bring in new manufacturers, a proactive approach to cheating and a refreshed leadership, NASCAR now has the platform to look beyond gimmicks in its bid to return to the top. The early stages are likely to be painful, but it could be the basis of the revival NASCAR yearns for.