The 5 biggest storylines at the 2018 NASCAR All-Star break

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 27: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Ford, talks to Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Haas Automation Ford, during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 27, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 04: Kevin Harvick (4) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Fusion during the Pennzoil 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on March 4, 2018, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo by Tim Curlee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

3. More rear window talk than a Hitchcock festival

What began with a semi-amusing, “Hey, Kevin Harvick’s back window and roof look like they are caved in” at Las Vegas has blossomed into a full-fledged epidemic, at least in the eyes of NASCAR. After hitting team after team with the dreaded (but not dreaded enough, apparently) L1 penalty, NASCAR finally threw up its hands this week and declared it would come down even harder on teams that didn’t follow the rules when it comes to the rear window areas of their cars.

There are a couple different facets to this situation. The first is that it’s completely understandable for NASCAR to not want fans and the media believing that teams are bending the rules week after week without any repercussions. It’s definitely bothering the governing body that this particular infraction is often visible to the naked eye too.

The other, and one we’re not qualified to weigh in on since we’re not engineers, is whether making a less rigid rear window even helps all that much from a performance standpoint. If it doesn’t, race teams need to knock this off before someone gets whacked with a 40-point penalty that will really hurt anyone not named Harvick or Kyle Busch.

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