In every superspeedway race of the Next Gen era, NASCAR Cup drivers can be seen placing their hands against the opening between the A-pillar and window net in an effort to find every possible aero advantage. Drivers have gone as far as manipulating their gloves, including the infamous case where Joey Logano was penalized for illegal webbed racing gloves.
To avoid the situation entirely, NASCAR implemented a new rule for the 2026 season, stating that drivers can no longer use their hands to deflect air during qualifying runs.
Well, one driver forgot about that. Noah Gragson, driving the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford, placed his hand against that opening during his qualifying run on Wednesday. His 49.504s lap would have left him deep in the pack anyway, but when NASCAR saw him use the now-banned tactic, officials disallowed his qualifying time.
That will put Gragson to the very back of the field for the Duel qualifying races on Thursday. However, he is locked in via his team’s charter, so there are no concerns about making the race.
“I completely forgot about that rule, so that one is on me,” Gragson told FOX Sports 1. “Luckily we have the Duels and I feel like the Daytona 500 is such a long race, you can kind of start wherever. It is what it is, but hey, I feel like an idiot for that. Oh well, we got a race tomorrow to do … I’m dumb for that.”
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