So far through the first 11 races of this season, there has been 17 instances(that I have been able to track) where the 2025 DVP rules have allowed a team to return to the race track after making repairs to their car from crash damage, they are:
- Connor Zilisch, Daytona 500 (Finished 5 Laps down)
- Chase Briscoe, Daytona 500 (Finish 12 Laps down)
- Austin Dillon, Daytona 500 (Retired Lap 137)
- Riley Herbst, Spring Atlanta (Finished 114 Laps down)
- Ross Chastain, Spring Phoenix (Finished 26 Laps down)
- Zane Smith, Spring Martinsville (Finished 29 Laps down)
- Connor Zilisch, Spring Bristol (Finished 22 Laps down)
- Shane van Gisbergen, Spring Bristol (Finished 165 Laps down)
- John Hunter Nemechek, Spring Bristol (Finished 176 Laps down)
- Chad Finchum, Spring Talladega (Finished 6 Laps down)
- Chase Briscoe, Spring Talladega (Finished 8 Laps down)
- Joey Gase, Spring Talladega (Finished 11 Laps down)
- Brad Keselowski, Spring Talladega (Finished 22 Laps down)
- Michael McDowell, Spring Talladega (Finished 39 Laps down)
- Josh Berry, Spring Talladega (Retired Lap 124)
- Kyle Larson, Texas (Finished 87 Laps down)
- Cole Custer, Texas (Finished 94 Laps down)
To put this into perspective, last year when the DVP rules were updated, there were 17 instances total through the entire regular season(26 races) that a car returned to the race track using the updated DVP rules related to crash damage.
This uptick in DVP usage has come at the same time the Chase format was introduced, where scoring points is as important as it has been in over a decade. So seemingly a lot of teams on the bubble for the chase, or outside the chase are trying to score extra points and gather data at tracks that will appear in the chase.
Just thought it would be cool to share this information. If there is anything other than how drivers have been racing a bit more sensibly this year than in past years points-wise, it's the fact that teams that otherwise would've been down and out for the race work hard to get the cars fixed any way possible.