NASCAR to Evaluate Lug-Nut Rules After Criticism from Drivers

NASCAR officials will be looking at lug-nut rules in hopes of increasing driver safety.

Scott Miller, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, announced Friday the organization will look at going back to a rule that forced teams to tighten five lug nuts on each wheel at pit stops until 2015.

“Until this point, we’ve never really had too much trouble,” Miller said, per Tom Jensen of Fox Sports.

Since changing the rule, though, NASCAR has seen an increase in loose tires on the track, per Jensen.

Miller did not give a timetable for when the discussion will formally take place.

“Since the drivers are now questioning it, it’s time for us to kind of re-evaluate our position and work with the community on looking at possibly different ways to enforce the pit-road rules,” Miller said, per Jensen.

NASCAR star Brad Keselowski also told Jensen communication between drivers and NASCAR administration has improved greatly, to the point where drivers feel they can approach the people running the league.

“I think we have made major steps on over the last year or so, certainly not all the steps we want to make but still major steps,” Keselowski said, per Jensen.

NASCAR has tried to make racing safer over the last few years, with modifications to helmets, seat belts and uniforms, to name a few, and revising its lug-nut rules might be another way to make the sport safer.