Seeing as I also love to watch and yak racing, I thought I would post this out there, does anyone else out there like to watch racing? and what is your opinion of this latest rule change?
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Rule procedure revisions that eliminate racing back to the yellow (caution) flag and modify pit road entry for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will go into effect beginning this weekend, NASCAR officials announced Thursday.
The revisions will be in place for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series races at Dover International Speedway and for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at California Speedway, all of which are being held this weekend.
"We have monitored and continually discussed internally the situation regarding racing back to the yellow throughout the season, and have reached the conclusion that it is time for us to take this step," NASCAR President Mike Helton said.
"We will eliminate the practice completely and no longer depend on the gentlemen's agreement by the drivers in an effort to further ensure the safety of the competitors."
The new rule will not permit any passing once the caution flag is displayed. Other aspects of this procedure revision as well as the pit road entry modifications will be outlined to the NASCAR Winston Cup and NASCAR Busch Series competitors at a combined meeting scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday in the garage area at Dover International Speedway.
The Craftsman Truck Series will have the revisions outlined in their scheduled driver/crew chief meeting scheduled for 10:45 a.m. PT Saturday.
NASCAR officials' decisions regarding these new procedures will not be subject to review or appeal.
"We needed to find a better way to do it rather than racing back to the yellow, and the new procedures we are putting in place are the first step in the process," Helton said. "We will monitor and evaluate the new procedures and fine-tune them if needed as we move forward."
I'm not real up on my Nascar but I heard about this proposed rule change recently and was surprised it was not already in effect. Safety is the most important thing in a dngerous sport like that so I say thank god Nascar has joined the 21st century :lol:
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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want
Actually Jim there has been a "gentlemans agreement" to allow lapped cars to gain back a lap by passing the leader before the start/finish line, the problem with that is that most drivers are so intent on gaining back a lap they forget what is going on around them, case in point, this past race at Louden New Hampshire Dale Jarret was sitting helpless on the front stretch after having whacked the front stretch wall a ton, when NASCAR flew the yellow flag the leader slowed down to allow some cars their laps back, the problem was with Jarret sitting there on the fronstretch some drivers got a little squirrly and started diving all around and a few of them almost finished off Jarret's car.
I know that racing back to the yellow flag has been a time honoured rule in most small tracks throughout North America, I have always enjoyed them racing back, but at the same time it is and can be dangerous to race back to the flag, I remember seeing a wreck that rightly should have killed at least two guys in the 70's when the leaders were coming out of turn 1 and the track was blocked by three other cars, the guy in second didn't have enough time to stop and smoked into one of the cars blocking the track and ripped open the fuel cell, all 5 cars went up in a huge ball of flame.
Actually Jim there has been a "gentlemans agreement" to allow lapped cars to gain back a lap by passing the leader before the start/finish line, the problem with that is that most drivers are so intent on gaining back a lap they forget what is going on around them, case in point, this past race at Louden New Hampshire Dale Jarret was sitting helpless on the front stretch after having whacked the front stretch wall a ton, when NASCAR flew the yellow flag the leader slowed down to allow some cars their laps back, the problem was with Jarret sitting there on the fronstretch some drivers got a little squirrly and started diving all around and a few of them almost finished off Jarret's car.
I know that racing back to the yellow flag has been a time honoured rule in most small tracks throughout North America, I have always enjoyed them racing back, but at the same time it is and can be dangerous to race back to the flag, I remember seeing a wreck that rightly should have killed at least two guys in the 70's when the leaders were coming out of turn 1 and the track was blocked by three other cars, the guy in second didn't have enough time to stop and smoked into one of the cars blocking the track and ripped open the fuel cell, all 5 cars went up in a huge ball of flame.
The key in what you said was "small track" racing. Nascar has been big time for a long time and it should be setting a safety example for others to follow. Another safety problem with Nascar is they don't have a full time safety crew like Cart has(Simple Green Safety team). They depend on locals at each track which I think is unwise. Just my humble opinion.
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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want
Nascar has addressed the safety crew, I have always felt that they should have a traveling safety crew as they would have an intimate knowledge of the cars and how to extract a driver in case of emergency, I feel that within the next year or so they will have a traveling crew.
NASCAR bans racing back to caution flag
NASCAR bans racing back to caution flag
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