Bob Pockrass approves of new NASCAR rule changes ahead of 2025 season

NASCAR will look a bit different in 2025. The sanctioning body announced this past Friday an updated rules bulletin which includes several notable changes.

Among them, complete overhauls of the Damaged Vehicle Policy and playoff waiver policy, as well as a new “open exemption provisional.” While there could come unintended consequences as a result of the changes, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports ultimately feels the sport will be better off.

“Just as every time NASCAR makes a rule, there are questions of unintended consequences,” Pockrass wrote Tuesday. “Will a driver who was suspended and qualified for the playoffs race with a different approach knowing that there are no playoff points on the table? There be a flurry of teams and drivers attempting to get the provisional designated for a world-class talent who isn’t a full-time NASCAR driver? Will wrecked cars that previously would have been sidelined by the damaged vehicle policy now return to the track and create cautions?

“It’s all possible. For better or for worse, though? It seems for the most part these rule changes are for the better.”

Explaining NASCAR’s new rules bulletin

Without a doubt, the most significant change is that of the DVP. The seven-minute clock will remain. However, instead of being out of the race after those seven minutes on pit road, teams will simply have to go to the garage for repairs. Teams can now go to the garage to make repairs. There will be no DNFs as a result of the Damaged Vehicle Policy moving forward. If a car is unable to drive off the track to pit road or the garage on its own power and needs a tow, it receives a tow directly to the garage.

The other significant change involves the playoff waiver policy. If a driver needs a waiver for a non-medical reason, they lose all of their playoff points for the entire season. That includes any playoff points a driver has accumulated up to that point and any they earn in the future. The rule applies to suspensions as well.

NASCAR also introduced the “open exemption provisional.” This new provisional works much in the same way as a promoter’s provisional. If there is a non-NASCAR driver attempting to make a Cup Series race, officials can expand the field from 40 to 41 cars to allow that driver and team to race.

That means NASCAR can create an extra spot in the field to allow that special driver to enter the race. A team and driver must request the provisional and NASCAR has to approve it before adding the 41st spot.