Is the Single Lug Nut a Success or a Failure?

Now entering the third year of the single lug nut, is it a success or failure?

Josh Calloni: It’s been a success. There were obvious growing pains the first year, with the high frequency of loose wheels falling off creating cautions, but that has smoothed out a bit. While it still happens, the single lug nut better shows the importance of having a reliable pit crew, ensuring the lugnut is tight every time.

Austin Bass: NASCAR’s goal to correlate better with today’s production cars included a switch to an 18-inch aluminum wheel from a 15-inch steel wheel. NASCAR said this change necessitated a single lug to hold up under high-speed conditions that the five lugs would not be able to do as a result of switching to a softer metal, thus making it more susceptible to severe damage and structural failure if any of the five lugs are left loose. With those facts in mind, it has been a success; the cars look great with the 18” aluminum wheels and the consequences of loose lugs are now binary. That gray area is much clearer now, which is another win for the sport.

Mark Kristl: It’s a failure. It’s an all-or-nothing situation changing a tire with one lug nut. With the immense pressure on pit crews to perform the pit stop as fast as possible, their odds of making a mistake are higher with only one lug nut. Year three of the Next Gen car and we still have regular tire issues due to the single lug nut. Meanwhile, in the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, tires falling off the racecars are a rare occurrence. It is time for NASCAR to design a tire with five lug nuts. Too many torn-up racecars and too many suspensions are piling up in the NASCAR Cup Series. The problem is not the teams, the problem is the single lug nut.

Luken Glover: Put me down on the “it’s been a failure” list. In 2022, there were 14 loose wheel penalties on the year. That increased by one in 2023 with 15. But the issue goes beyond the penalty numbers. This past week, Chris Buescher lost a wheel, causing him to slam the wall so hard that the race was red-flagged for wall repair. Later, Bubba Wallace lost several laps because his left-front wheel lug nut would not come off. NASCAR switched to one lug nut because they believed it was more durable for the expanded 18-inch wheel and it was more relevant to today’s production cars. I applaud NASCAR for trying to get the car to at least look like its street version, which the 18-inch does, but how many cars do…