Cheaters, beware: NASCAR hammers home tough restart rules – SportingNews.com

This subtle reminder came to Sprint Cup drivers on Sunday: NASCAR is really, really serious in its enforcement of restart rules.

Brad Keselowski knows all too well. And there was a clarification — race officials won’t let drivers cheat and repent.

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Sprint Cup director Richard Buck clarifies on restart zone, there are “no givebacks.” Means no yielding spot to avoid black flag by #nascar.
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) October 4, 2015

Biggest thing from driver meeting: No givebacks on restarts. If 2nd-place car goes in restart zone before leader, it’s a penalty. #NASCAR
— Jay W. Pennell (@jaywpennell) October 4, 2015

Keselowski was nailed at New Hampshire for jumping a restart and getting ahead of leader Greg Biffle. Cameras and sharp-eyed judges had proof, despite Keselowski’s argument. Kez took his penalty, a slow run down pit lane, that cost him nearly two dozen places in the standings.

“We did get 100 percent confirmation from our official that was on the ground as well as by all the data that was available to us,” said Richard Buck, NASCAR’s managing director of the Sprint Cup Series.

So for the second consecutive race, NASCAR hammered its point home to driver as they met before Sunday’s race at Dover. Don’t jump the restart. We will catch you. And if you try to back off, we’ll still punish you.

For Dover’s race, the AAA 400 scheduled to begin about 2:30 p.m. ET, NASCAR made its latest rules change on the fly by doubling the size of Sunday’s restart zone. Drivers now have 140 feet.

Jimmie Johnson called that a “great move.”

“I’m hopeful that they lengthen the box and bring it closer to the start/finish line,” Johnson told ESPN. “I think it will slow down some of the three and four wide into Turn 1 scenarios we have had. It will be less distance to get speed built up closer to the start/finish line, and I think we will maybe control that space a little bit better.

“We should have really better side-by-side restarts, which is what everybody is after.”

Here’s the deal: The car ahead of each driver is the control car, and that car cannot be passed in the restart zone. Do it, pay the price.

“They finally put their foot down last week on what we can and can’t do,” Joey Logano said, “and that rule needs to be consistent to make sure that when they see something they make the same call and be consistent with that.”

The restart zone length will be adjusted each week to fit the track. It’s 140 feet at Dover, a one-mile track, and won’t be the same Saturday at Charlotte, a 1.5-mile track.

Dover is the third Chase race, and four drivers will be eliminated from the 16-car field. So someone might be tempted to try to sneak in an advantage on a restart. If NASCAR stays true to its word, the price could be heavy.

NASCAR wants to prevent cheating on restarts, which has long been a problem and source of complaints. OIbservers noted an incident involving Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch at Chicagoland, which appears to have been the last straw. So, it lowered the boom.

No problem. Just keep it fair.