I can’t say I’ve heard this one before…
We are used to seeing NASCAR teams push the boundaries in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. But most of the time, the modifications concern the car and not the driver’s equipment.
NASCAR announced ahead of today’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that Cup Series driver Joey Logano would be forced to start at the back of the field and serve a pass-through penalty once the race started because his gloves did not meet SFI specifications. (SFI is an organization that sets safety standards for racing equipment).
The gloves would not only be a safety issue, but would have been modified to give Logano a competitive advantage during the race.
Drivers often stick their hands out the window to keep air from entering the car and give the car an aerodynamic advantage on superspeedway tracks, and it appears Logano’s No. 22 Penske team has found a way to modify the gloves to contribute to this benefit.
NASCAR on Fox also showed a good look at the illegal glove during its pre-race coverage. As you can see, it appears the team modified the glove to include a strap between the thumb and index finger to help Joey redirect more air when he stuck his hand out the window.
There’s a baseball glove there, right Joey?
It’s unclear whether the team used the modified gloves in last week’s Daytona 500, when Logano finished 32nd after a late-race crash.
Obviously, people on social media were wondering why NASCAR didn’t just tell Logano to get another pair of gloves, since that was a pretty harsh penalty for the driver who was originally scheduled to take the start of the race in 2nd position. From now on, he will probably be a lap behind after serving his penalty and will be forced to battle throughout the day to try to get back to the front.
But NASCAR is clearly not playing games, not only when it comes to driver safety, but also when it comes to teams trying to push the limits to gain an advantage on the track.
We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to see if Logano faces any further penalties, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see NASCAR take points or money away from the team after this one as well.
Just a weird situation after an already weird start to the 2024 NASCAR season.
