When a car incurs a drive-through penalty in a NASCAR race, the driver must pass down the full length of pit road at the mandatory reduced pit road speed. On a drive-through penalty, the driver is not allowed to stop at his pit. Since the race is full speed at green flag, this is a serious penalty to a driver, who must slow to around 40 mph while the rest of the drivers are driving 95-190 mph on the open track. Penalized drivers are at serious risk of losing a lap to the leader, usually taking them out of contention for the win and keeping them from getting bonus points for finishing the race on the lead lap.

Instituted in 2002, drive-through penalties are most often given out for speeding down pit road. At each track, NASCAR officials set a mandatory reduced pit road speed - usually about 30-45 mph - that the drivers must adhere to when entering for a pit stop. Sensors buried in the asphalt of pit road calculate car speeds by measuring the length of time it takes for the cars to pass over the sensors. If cars pass between two sensors too quickly, they are speeding. NASCAR considers speeding on pit road to be a serious infraction as unprotected pit crew members must are working on other cars nearby. An accident at a higher speed could prove deadly to a pit crew team member, some of whom must turn their backs to the pit road while they are working on their own cars.

Drive-through penalties are also assessed if a driver trying to enter or exit its pit passes through three or more adjacent pits. Again, this is for the safety of neighboring pit crews who may be making preparations near the pit wall, or cleaning their pits after pit stops. It also keeps the actual row of pits from becoming an additional lane of traffic.

Drive-through penalties replaced more stringent - but uneven - pit road penalties. Previously, drivers who sped entering pit road (before stopping at their pits) were assessed a 15 second penalty. A NASCAR official would keep watch as the car sat in the pit (after the pit service was complete) for 15 seconds, after which time it could return to the track. Cars that sped leaving pit road (after the pit service) were only assessed a stop-and-go penalty, where they would have to enter pit road at the correct speed and come to a complete stop in the pit before proceeding back to the track (again adhering to pit road speed). As of 2002, any pit road speeding infraction is penalized as a drive-through penalty. Multiple infractions can result in a more severe stop-and-go penalty.

Drive-through penalties are only assessed during green flag racing (at full speed). Under yellow flag (caution) racing, cars are penalized for speeding by being forced to restart at the end of the lead lap.

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