Are NASCAR teams cheating lugnut rule?

Kyle Busch does donuts, with loose lugnuts and all

NASCAR initiated a rule that teams must now have all five lug nuts "installed in a safe and secure manner throughout all national series events." The new rules went into effect two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Immediately following that race, NASCAR secured the cars coming off the track onto pit road and checked the security of the lug nuts. A similar procedure was in place at Kansas Speedway last weekend, and NASCAR cleared all cars during post-race inspection.

But that didn't stop conspiracy theorists from debating whether Saturday night's winning driver, Kyle Busch, had five lug nuts tight on all four wheels of his #18 Toyota at Kansas Speedway. Photos – though inconclusive – appeared on social media showing Busch's wheels, and there was plenty of comment on the internet claiming the photos show all the lugs on Busch's car weren't tight.

The discussion continued on Tuesday when Joe Piette Jr., pit crew coach for Stewart-Haas Racing, was a guest on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Piette indicated his belief that certain lugs indeed weren't tight. "Obviously, they took it a step further than having to have five lug nuts tight, if you will. But they had five installed. So no harm, no foul.

Rumors abound of teams attempting to game the system. When Piette was asked whether teams had considered using an unthreaded lug nut and simply gluing it to the hub, the veteran coach replied, "That's a loaded question." However, he added, "It's absolutely possible. If you haven't, I don't think you're a true racer." Motorsport