NASCAR announces new rules for qualifying and overtime finishes – USA TODAY
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USA TODAY Sports examines the major scheduling changes of the 2016 season.
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Lessons learned by drivers and series officials at Talladega Superspeedway last falls spurred a change in NASCAR’s overtime rules.
According to a NASCAR release on Thursday: “A race may be concluded with overtime, consisting of a new procedure for a green-white-checkered flag finish featuring an “overtime line.” The location of the overtime line will vary by track.”
Under the plan, if after taking the green flag in overtime the leader passes the overtime line on the first lap under green before a caution, a “clean restart,” has occurred enacting a “valid green-white-checkered attempt.”
If the leader does not reach that line, the release says, ‘multiple subsequent attempts will be made until a valid attempt occurs.”
A caution during a valid green-white-checkered attempt freezes the field.
Eight of 36 Cup points races needed green/white/checker finishes last season. Under the previous iteration of the rule, up to three attempts were made if a caution flew on the first lap of overtime. A caution on the second lap would freeze the field.
NASCAR Executive Vice President & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said “what occurred in Talladega obviously spurred a lot of discussion” and the ensuing solution was a by-product of discussions with the series driver council on how not to repeat the finish of the race there last fall.”
In the days leading up to that Talladega race, NASCAR announced it would attempt just one G-W-C in the interest of trying to give fans a race finish under green and trying to keep drivers safe. But that decision ended in controversy when the first attempt at a G-W-C finish was waived off after cars got together in the back of the pack before crossing the start-finish line despite the front runners getting a clean start. NASCAR officials ruled the attempt did not count and lined the cars up for another G-W-C attempt, only to see even more drama — and accusations from angry drivers — when Kevin Harvick, who first worried his engine was blowing up then reported over his team radio that he thought he had a broken exhaust pipe, checked up and bumped Trevor Bayne, who was trying to move around Harvick on the outside as the green flag flew. Bayne’s sliding car started a messy, multi-car wreck, forcing a caution that ended the race and leading some drivers to speculate that Harvick caused the wreck on purpose to freeze his position in the field, assuring he would advance to the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“Give the fans what they want but also have balance and that was kind of balancing safety and great finishes,” O’Donnell said. “From there we had a lot of dialogue with the owners, certainly had to talk the tracks as well. Certainly had to balance all stakeholders, but yeah, I think it’s fair that a lot of that dialogue did occur with the drivers and us sort of coming out of Talladega.”
O’Donnell said the placement of the overtime line on the backstretch allows for the possibility of green-flag finishes but enhances safety in part because of lower speeds of cars when reaching it. Just three races have required three attempts at a green/white/checker finish in the last five years, O’Donnell said.
NASCAR also outlined qualifying changes for the Daytona 500 and the remaining 35 points races, specifically detailing how the new charter system announced this week will affect competition.
The changes for the Daytona 500 are:
–The 36 Sprint Cup teams possessing a charter will be assigned a starting position, which holds for the remaining 35 points races, also.
–Four “open” positions are available.
–The highest-finishing non-charter team in each of the Can-Am Duel races will earn a starting position.
–Pole qualifying will determine the remaining two “open spots.”
–Qualifying will determine the front row for the Daytona 500 and the starting grid for the duel races. Charter and non-charter teams will be divided equally in each duel.
Several weather-related provisions were also announced, including that practice speeds will determine the four open qualifiers in the final 35 points races if qualifying is canceled. Owner points will determine the four open qualifiers if practice and qualifying are cancelled due to weather.
The adjustments come in response to a tumultuous two races at NASCAR’s signature track last season. In the season-opening Daytona 500, the first use of a new knockout group qualifying format digressed into a debacle as teams attempted various schemes to exploit timed sessions. Driver Clint Bowyer was extremely critical of the system — saying “It’s idiotic to be out here doing this anyway. There’s no sense in trying to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is” — after Reed Sorenson sparked a multi-car crash attempting to block. Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota was destroyed in the melee, sending his team to a backup car for the season’s biggest race.
Teams work on restrictor-plate cars for months since the setup for plate racing is different than at other tracks. And since the Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl, plenty of time and money go into having the best car possible. To see it crashed during qualifying didn’t sit well with drivers or teams.
So, NASCAR altered the rules for the second restrictor-plate race of the season at Talladega Superspeedway, reverting to single-car qualifying runs in a two-round elimination.
But qualifying didn’t pose the only threat to driver and fan safety.
PHOTOS: Austin Dillon crash in 2015 Coke Zero 400
The mid-summer Coke Zero 400 at Daytona ended with a metal melee in a finish-line crash after a green-white-checkered restart sent multiple cars airborne, and driver Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet into the catch fence, where it tore a lengthy gash. Though Dillon’s car was husked to the roll cage, the driver emerged unhurt.
The crash was the third since February 2012 in which fans were injured in a green-white-checkered finish at Daytona. Some drivers, such as now-retired four-time champion Jeff Gordon, advocated for the series to re-consider the use of the race-finishing procedure at restrictor-plate tracks. Gordon suggested that the series make just one attempt at a green-white-checkered finish at plate tracks while rules then allowed for three.
Ryan Newman was harsher, telling USA TODAY Sports after Dillon’s incident: “NASCAR got what they wanted. That’s the end of it. Cars getting airborne, unsafe drivers, same old stuff. They just don’t listen.”
Nine of 16 plate races since 2012 have required the overtime procedure, which provides a mechanism for races finishing under green-flag conditions after late-lap cautions.
Follow James on Twitter @brantjames
PHOTOS: History of the Daytona 500
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