NASCAR Revises Green-White-Checkered Race Procedure
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 11, 2010) – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) today announced a revision to one of its race procedures, allowing a maximum of three restart attempts prior to the White Flag under NASCAR’s Green-White-Checkered flag finish. If the leader has taken the White Flag and the caution flag is displayed, the field is frozen and the race will not be restarted. Previously, there was only one restart attempt.
The new procedure will be implemented beginning with today’s running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Gatorade Duel at Daytona and will apply to all three national series.
NASCAR officials met with drivers and teams Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway to discuss the change and get their input. The announcement was made during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ drivers and crew chiefs meeting Thursday morning.
“We want to do all we can to finish our races under green flag conditions – the fans want to see that and so do the competitors,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “We felt that putting a cap at three attempts to finish the race under green is the way to go. It gives the fans what they want and it also gives the teams a better opportunity to prepare for their end of race strategy.”
The change amends procedure 9-14C of the 2010 NASCAR rulebook.
Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage states “The one attempt has been a loophole in the green/white checkered rule and now the loophole has been closed after seeing a great Budweiser Shootout finish in that fashion. From a promoter’s perspective, we want our fans to leave our race weekend talking about a dramatic ending to a great race and NASCAR should be applauded for providing the opportunity more than once should the circumstances dictate. NASCAR is listening to the fans on another issue and that benefits all of us in the sport.”
