Turns out I was wrong... But here were my thoughts before clarification:


For those of you that were on the chat on Sunday I was under the impression that the 20 car illegally passed Robby before the start finish. A little back ground. Prior to the restart after caution #8 Robby stayed on the track. The 20 also stayed on the track but was caught behind other multiple lap down cars. Both the 7 and the 20 were 1 lap down. The other cars let the 20 go in front of them and the 20 was going to line up outside the 7. As the green flag flew the 20 clearly passed the 7 before the start finish to take the 25th position which was the, lucky dog position. Shortly after the 9th caution flew scoring the 20 in the LD spot. Although I did not find the exact ruling I did find and article that addressed a similar situation regarding Carl Edwards in a Nationwide race right after the Shootout restart was initiated:

Then, #2-Kurt Busch's crew chief Pat Tryson wondered about the scenario that occurred in Friday night's Nationwide Series race, when Carl Edwards illegally passed Brian Vickers on the outside before the start/finish line but gave the spot back and was not penalized."I'd stress to you drivers that you're good enough that you shouldn't be getting yourself in that position - stay in line until you cross the start/finish line," Hoots said. Hoots then said that NASCAR officials let drivers figure it out for the first six races, but that they should have the restart procedures down by now. #24- Jeff Gordon to ask Hoots if there was a "grace period" for making mistakes like Edwards did in the Nationwide race. "The grace period is over," Hoots said. "We're serious about it tonight

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Double-file...

Hoots is Sprint Cup Race Director David Hoots.

the 20 finished 21st the 7 finished 24. Given a chance to start in the final double file restart instead at the end of the longest line would have helped the 7 improve. Clearly Nascar missed this one..

Views: 31

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I think you may be misinterpreting the rule.
Lets say that Robby was in 3rd (inside) and the 20 was in 4th (outside).

I think the rule is saying that the 6th place car (outside behind the 20) can't pass the 20 on the outside before the start/finish line like they used to.

That is what the rule is saying.
Scott, I agree that that is an obvious example, but I also found another mention that you must maintain you position until after the start finish.. I will see if i can find that one again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQdDkDU5c4

Here is a video. Watch the start of the race. You can see that the top side (Kurt Busch) gets a great run and passes the 1 car before the start/finish line. The same with Logano and all the cars behind him. You are talking about a matter on inches here, NASCAR is not going to penalize people for that unless the 2nd place car beats the leader to the line, or like I said above the 6th place car pulls high and passes the 4th place car.
I agree, Jason, if Nascar penalized everyone that did that half the field would be laps down. Nothing wrong with what the 20 did.
Glad you guys got this sorted out. You are wrong on one point though. The "guy you are behind" will always be to your left. If the leader chooses outside, the other 41 cars don't crisscross, they stay in their lanes, odds inside, evens outside.
Perhaps. You all are right. I might be looking at this to closely. It just seems wrong to me. Wish I could find the actual rule. so I could clear it up either way.
Yeah I know... Been following the series for decades. I need a mind reader and an Astrologist to find it.
No problem man, just trying to get it straight.

I think the only real reason the rule was put into place was to prevent 3 wide racing to the start/finish line. NASCAR knew the new rule was already going to make the restarts more hectic. They didn't want a guy like Robby running into turn 1 at Watkins Glen or Sonoma 3 wide. haha
Okay, just called my source and the 20 should not have been given a penalty.

So, Logano did nothing wrong. Just bad luck that Robby didn't get a good restart.

My source also said you can actually pass on the top if the bottom row gets a bad restart. Meaning you can go from 6th to 4th before the start finish line if the 3rd and 5th car get a bad restart.

The rule was put into place to keep guys from pulling out of the top line and trying to get a run on the outside on restarts thus creating 3-wide restarts.
Here is a video of this (actually at Loudon).

Dale Jr. spins the tires and you can see 2 cars pass him on the outside before the start finish/line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb7DEI7Xu0o
Thanks Scott, I feel better about it now. Don't like giving up spots if they were not supposed to.

RSS

© 2024   Created by TOG.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service