Bring On Two-Wide Restarts, NASCAR

I can no longer grin and bear it.

Never again will I propose a slight substitute or alteration, nor will I pitter-patter around the bush when asked what NASCAR can do to make racing better. Consider this the start of a crusade -- likely a powerless one, but meaningful nonetheless -- to help NASCAR see the ills of its head in the sand ways.

Race fans, it's imperative we see this through: NASCAR desperately needs to implement a double-file restart rule with the leaders up front for every single race on its 36-race schedule.

After watching Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- and more narrowly, Kyle Busch's schooling of everyone on restarts -- there's no further evidence needed to state the case for the two-by-two race resumptions.

It's simple: they add gobs of points to the intrinsic value of a race's excitement level -- yep, that's a scientific measurement based on my overall edge-of-my-seat reactions to the All-Star event -- and they allow more than just the top two or, if we're lucky in the current state of stock car aerodynamics, three drivers a shot to make some noise for the race lead.

There aren't meaningless lapped cars to deal with and that evil clean air equation, while still there, at least takes a backseat for a couple of laps.

I'll give credit where credit is due in saying that NASCAR made a wise decision to go two-by-two in the much-hyped All-Star race. Hell, I'll give 'em a smidgen of credit for upping the current single-file restart rule (in which lapped cars are dropped to back of the field for any restart in the last 20 laps) this season from what was originally the 10 lap guise.

But it just isn't enough.

Today's NASCAR racing needs more excitement -- you know, like that heart-pounding action we got in the 10-lap dash Saturday night -- to help out everything from ticket sales to television ratings, and from sponsorship sales and souvenir dollars. And the sport has the ability to make turn that level up a few more notches with this restart rule change.

Right now, NASCAR lines up for restarts with the lead lap cars in a single file row in the top groove, while cars a lap or more down line up on the inside groove. The long-running theory is that drivers down a lap could drive past the leader, hope for a caution, and get a lap back the hard way.

That theory was great 10 years ago, but now, we've got the free pass rule that puts the highest running lapped-down car one lap ahead during each caution period, even if he's following the leader.

No, don't try to claim that it keeps drivers from getting back to the lead lap. Think about it: if those lapped cars were placed behind the leaders on a restart, shouldn't a driver who wants to get a lap back be able to pass the top-running lapped car for that spot, much less the leaders? And why should lapped cars have to deal with lead-lapped cars while battling for a significant position?

The same, of course, goes for the leaders. Today's restart rules late in a race often put a 5th-place car lined up in what really is a 10th-place spot thanks to the lapped cars on the inside.

Tell me, again, how that makes for good racing?

In reality, it goes against what NASCAR really wants out of its race day program by dramatically narrowing the chances of a driver even in the middle of the Top-10 late in an event. Let's face it: two or three cars battling for the lead is exciting but five or six in the same zip code is just that much more exciting.

There's a lot of stuff in NASCAR that doesn't make sense a lot of the time, but after seeing how well two-wide restarts worked Saturday night the sport looks nearly idiotic if it doesn't think the slight rule modification to its normal, points-paying races is worth making.

Such a change could even be made for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at LMS, but past experience proves we shouldn't hold our breath.

That doesn't mean, though, that race fans should give up the fight. Here's to hoping those efforts work out sometime this season, and NASCAR sees the light at the end of the double-file restart tunnel.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-18-2009 @ 11:07AM

illsell4u said...

Great idea Geoffrey, I wish I had thought of it. Oh wait, I have suggested it twice before. SO hell yes, bring it on. The lucky dog is enough help for the guys that are a lap down. Get them the hell out of the way of the guys trying to win it.
mbl

5-18-2009 @ 2:10PM

Gina said...

Absolutely! Saturday's restarts were great and exciting. RACING.....which Nascar's too many even the playing field rules have hindered lately.

5-18-2009 @ 5:19PM

Brad said...

Meaningless lapped cars? Wow tell that to the drivers who are on the lead lap and pit and some moron loses it all by his lonesome in turn three, or a tire man goes running into the infield grass and they get put a lap down. A lot of these drivers with teams that get a lap down may be meaningless but far to many times something stupid happens under green and drivers capable of winning get put a lap down.

I like the idea of double wide restarts, right now for instance they could use it when with 10 or less laps to go there aren't any lap down cars lined up on the inside. Or like you have suggested do it all the time with a little twist. Double wide starts all the time with lapped down cars behind the field, cars with 1 lap down if 5 or less 1 car gets a lap back if 6-10 cars a lap down 2 cars get a lap back, 10 to 15 3 cars. All cars with more than 1 lap down only the leader of that group gets 1 lap back, so if you have 3 cars with 2 laps down only 1 gets a lap back if there are cars with 3 laps down the same goes right on down the line to 4 laps down,5 etc etc. This would allow for some great racing all through the field.

5-18-2009 @ 8:16PM

I did not mean to say they are meaningless Brad. But there is no reason the cars atht are a lap down cannot compate among themselves at the field and whichever one of them is in "lead" out of the cars down a lap get it back under the lucky dog rule.
I have just always had a problem with people 1,2, 5 laps down mixing it up with, and messing it up for, the cars that did not have the misfortune they did.

5-18-2009 @ 9:06PM

jmkjr72 said...

how about we just do like they do at the local short tracks
double file and lined up where you were running so if between 10th and 11th place cars there was a lapped car running well that lapped car gets placed in between the 10th and 11th car that way every one has to pass the lap car
cars that are 5 or more laps should just be sent to the back as there is no way in hades that they can make up that many laps
and keep the lucky dog just the way it is

5-18-2009 @ 11:02PM

russss61 said...

Get rid of that bogus "lucky dog"while your at it,it was only created to gift the NASCAR glamor boys when they go a lap down,all for tv ratings

5-19-2009 @ 12:42AM

Not Yellow said...

Double file restarts on all restarts, everybody stays in the position they were in on the track. So if a car went a lap down and worked their way up to 3rd, they would stay in 3rd. This would be fair for everybody. QUIT THROWING QUICK CATIOUNS! This is another area for change. Nascar is very inconsistant. If there is no debri, the driver is not in eminent danger, DON'T THROW A YELLOW FLAG! There are plenty of times the car gets going again. If they decide to stop on the track even though they could have kept going (ala Carl Edwards)penalize them. Because of this we have races without any green flag pit stops. They want to reduce cost, this would help being they wouldn't use as many tires.

5-19-2009 @ 1:29AM

Mike,
Where did you say they were meaningless, it was in the article not in any of your comments.

5-19-2009 @ 7:07AM

Oops, my brain was in nuetral I guess.
I do think it would make for some interesting racing for a couple laps until one car gets out in front with a good enough lead and they are up to full speed.
Once again i will not get to see the race. I will be camping on one of the barrier islands on the NC coast this weekend. No electricity, no cell phones and you can only get there by boat. My own little Survivor Island.
mbl

5-19-2009 @ 7:45AM

Kim said...

I will echo the sentiments of others before me. Double restarts at all tracks will certainly bring some extra excitement as they did last Saturday night. I also agree with getting rid of the "lucky dog" rule. If you go a lap down, you shouldn't be able to gain it back just because you are sitting in the right place at the right time when a caution is thrown. Prove you're a great driver by driving your way back and or smart pit stops to keep yourself out on the track.

Saturday night's race was one of the best I have seen in a long time. Maybe NASCAR should consider breaking more races up into segments. It certainly gave the guys time to rest, work on their cars and more momentum to drive fast and work harder with a shorter amount of time to get it done.

Kim

5-19-2009 @ 9:06AM

Before it goes too far, I would like to say CHOREOGRAPHED racing is not something I want to see on a regular basis. That is what we have when a yellow flag is thrown simply because a car spins out, leaving no debris on the track, and then we have 6 laps of yellow so we can regroup all the cars after everyone has a pit stop. When a car can come in 3 times under a yellow and still be on the lead lap something is wrong with that picture. So, I would be against any PLANNED restarts just so we can bunch up the cars and see three laps of exciting side by side racing. I would much rather see Nascar tweek the front end of the car we are using so they handle better in dirty air.
Why are the restarts at the end of the race more important to Nascar than the ones up until the last 10 laps? The excitement in this race is the excitement we get every week in those last 10 lap restarts that have the lapped cars in the rear.
MBL

5-19-2009 @ 3:22PM

Flash said...

My opinion.... The cars on the lead lap with a caution at 20 laps or less should be the only cars to restart, double file. This would eliminate the slow and physically weak cars, and NASCAR just may end up with more exciting reality based endings like last Saturday and bring racing back into the sport (which I think was once called racing).

5-22-2009 @ 1:52AM

Nascar needs to pull up the stat showing since the "lucky dog" was instituted how many cars have got their lap back by racing. I bet it's less than 5%, likely less than 1%. Use double file restarts for ALL restarts!