Red flag rule stands for Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. - Due to the rain-related lack of practice this weekend at North Carolina Speedway, NASCAR will throw a mandatory caution flag on lap 45 of today's Subway 400 in order for teams to assess the performance of their respective cars.

According to a NASCAR spokesman, in the event that a caution flies near the 45 lap mark, NASCAR will utilize that yellow flag period as the mandatory caution, during which all teams will be required to come down pit lane.

Red Flag rule stands

NASCAR also announced Sunday that the same red flag rule used in the Daytona 500 will apply today, as well. If a caution is thrown with five laps or less remaining in the race -- which today is lap 388 of 393 -- the race will end under caution. No red flag will be thrown.

Hurry it up

One side note from Sunday's drivers meeting: NASCAR will more proactively enforce the rule that states that "drivers must be on-time to compete in the qualifying sessions and races for which they are scheduled.

Any driver or car not ready to compete within five minutes of the time called, may be sent to the rear of the line in the qualifying session or race, or left out of the remainder of the day's qualifying sessions or racing activities at the at the discretion of the series director."

In other words, teams must be on time for their scheduled qualifying time, or could be subject to penalty per director John Darby's discretion.