Competitors, NASCAR pleased with new green-white-checkered rule

[Schwartz Fan]

Competitors, NASCAR pleased with new green-white-checkered rule after thrilling Daytona 500
By Kenny Bruce


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When NASCAR announced that it would change its green-white-checkered restart rule this week, most Sprint Cup Series drivers said the change was another positive move as NASCAR attempts to win back fans and television viewers.

The change, implemented prior to the Gatorade Duels Feb. 11, calls for three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish instead of a single attempt. Previously, if a caution came out during a green-white-checkered finish, the field would be frozen and the race effectively ended. Now, officials have the option of restarting the race up to three times if there is a caution before the race leader takes the white flag.

The hope was that while it wouldn’t guarantee race fans a finish under green, it would increase the likelihood should a caution flag appear in the final laps of an event.

It didn’t take long for the rule to come into play, as the season-opening Daytona 500 was restarted three times after late cautions fell with what should have been two laps remaining. And the final two of those came after teams had completed the scheduled 200 laps. In the end, the Daytona 500 turned into the Daytona 520.

“For the fans, I think it was a great race at the end,” said Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished 10th in his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. “I think the green-white-checkered makes it a really, really cool race.

“I like the decision. I’m sure somebody’s pissed off today because they felt like they should have won it. But I think it’s great for the fans.”

More than one team said the additional laps raised concerns about fuel, but in the end, no one came up short of fuel.

“I think, all in all, it was real hard to build any kind of momentum today because of the red flags, the patches [to fix the asphalt],” Lance McGrew, crew chief for runnerup Dale Earnhardt Jr., said. “The green-white-checkered themselves, I was glad that we were plenty safe on fuel; we had a bunch of those guys that were in front of us actually counted out on fuel after about lap 210. So if it would have went one more time, I think there would have been some people running out of fuel.”

Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, likewise said fuel could have been an issue, and teams will have to take that into consideration when making late-race calls, but he also said he thought the change in the rule accomplished what NASCAR had intended.

“I think we need to give the fans a green-flag finish, and doing just one attempt isn’t fair,” Roush said. “I think this is what we need to be doing. It’s good that no one ran out of gas today, there was a real possibility of that. I know I was nervous about a couple of my cars.

“But the green-white-checkered multiple times – I think we should have been doing that all the time. I think it’s good.”

Although the rule was changed prior to the Duels, it wasn’t a factor in Thursday’s two qualifying races, or the Nationwide and Truck series races that were run on Saturday.

“We didn’t do it in the Duels, we didn’t do it in the trucks or the Nationwide races,” Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, said. “Everybody thought that we would. It shows you what the rule is there for. To finish these races under green means a lot to the fans; it means a lot to the competitors to get that opportunity to finish under green. It did what it was supposed to do. We don’t know when we’ll see the next one.

“We fulfilled the hopes of many that this would put an end to a caution at the end.

“You have to remember the reason you have them is because of accidents. You don’t want those. It’s not to promote that. It’s about giving the finish to the fans. It shows that the guys were aggressive and doing everything they could to win the race or get the next position in front of them.

“I thought the finish to the race was pretty good.”


Competitors, NASCAR pleased with new green-white-checkered rule after thrilling Daytona 500 - Sprint Cup Series | NASCAR Racing News - SceneDaily.com