NASCAR makes decision on policing Victory Lane celebrations

Matt Weaver

NASCAR makes decision on policing Victory Lane celebrations image

To clear up a bit of confusion in the aftermath of Connor Zilisch falling and breaking his collarbone during his NASCAR Xfinity Series victory lane celebration on Saturday at Watkins Glen, no the Sanctioning Body is not going to police victory lane moving forward.

Zilisch said he had heard that NASCAR would prevent drivers from standing on top of the cars the way he had before slipping and falling on his window net.

Read more: What next for Zilisch after his fall?

NASCAR’s managing director of communications, Mike Forde, said that is not happening on the latest episode of his Hauler Talk podcast.

"We haven't said that we were going to tell drivers who have won not to step out onto their window, and stand there and take photos and all that," explained Forde. "Right now, there are no best practices. We aren't legislating it. We haven't said that drivers aren't allowed to do this or anything else. However, I think we did notice the window net ... we do have NASCAR employees in Victory Lane, and just make the window net is inside of the car.

“I think that was part of the problem -- the window net was flapping on the outside. I think Connor even said that may have been a problem, and one of our safety guys actually mentioned the same thing. He noticed that as being one of the issues. So, nothing as far as a policy goes. Make sure the window and check, (because) if that's inside the car, it's one less thing you can slip on."

So in other words, NASCAR just wants to keep drivers safe as possible so this doesn't happen again but without micromanaging things. 

Matt Weaver

Matt Weaver is a former dirt racer turned motorsports journalist. He can typically be found perched on a concrete wall at a local short track on Saturday nights and within world-class media centers on Sunday afternoons. There isn’t any kind of racing he hasn’t covered over the past decade. He drives a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado with over 510,000 miles on it. Despite carrying him to racing trips across both coasts and two countries, it hasn’t died yet.