After one race, feelings mixed about new rules

DOVER, Del. -- Ryan Newman was one of the few drivers to offer up any criticism of NASCAR's new rule allowing one driver to be given a lap back per caution period.

MBNA AMERICA 400  •  Results  •  Standings

But what happened Sunday? Newman gets a lap back and goes on to win the MBNA America 400.

So how do you feel now, Ryan?

"I still believe what I said," Newman said. "I guess the reward part, from my perspective, is still opinionated. ... If there's 42 cars on the lead lap and one car's way off the pace and gets his lap back, then he got a free lap for basically nothing.

"Our situation, we were working our way forward and finally were the first car that was one lap down. You could call it earning your lap back of sorts.

"In the past, there might have been a leader who would have given me my lap back today. That's highly unlikely in my opinion, but we dealt with what rules we had to play today. That won us the game."

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Second-place finisher Jeremy Mayfield wasn't so sure.

"He would've made it back up anyway," Mayfield said. "If it had been the normal deal, he would have made his lap back up.

"My thoughts on it are that it's a good thing. It's still the safest way to go. I think NASCAR made a good judgment on that. We'll see what happens in the future."

NASCAR officials, meanwhile, were generally pleased with the results of the no-racing-to-the-yellow-flag rule that was implemented this weekend.

"We're really happy with the way the teams responded today," NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter said. "You'd seen them line up side-by-side, and they wouldn't know where to go. Nobody argued. The scorers came back and said, 'This car goes in front of this car,' and nobody argued with that, which was good."

Hunter said NASCAR would continue to look at the rule on a weekly basis.

"We're going to look at this every time we run an event, whether it's a Busch race or whether it's a Cup race and try to learn from it," Hunter said. "But what happened today is a great example of why you should give at least one (driver a lap back)."

Others weren't so sure. Tony Eury Sr., crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr., said it was unfair for leaders who race hard to put a driver a lap down, only to have NASCAR give it back.

"It's a stupid rule, and it's going to be stupid as long as they use it," Eury Sr. said.

	Ryan Newman won Sunday at Dover. Credit: Autostock

Winston Cup points leader Matt Kenseth doesn't like it, either.

"I don't know about giving free laps back," Kenseth said. "Some day I'm going to want a free lap back and I'm going to think it's cool, but I still don't know if that's the best policy. You can be a half-lap behind the leader and slower than the leader, but as long as you're the first car a lap down, you get a free one back. A free pass isn't really racing."

Todd Bodine got two of them Sunday, so clearly his feelings are different from Kenseth's.

"When I heard the rule was going to be changed, I had mixed feelings," Bodine said. "I first thought that once you lost a lap, you lost it. When I actually heard the ruling, I thought it was very fair -- maybe even generous. NASCAR really made the right call. Driver safety is most important, and it still gives you a shot to get back in it, if you have a decent day. I couldn't be happier."

Neither could Newman.