Feelings mixed on green-white-checker finishes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Competitors had mixed feelings when NASCAR first kicked around the idea of green-white-checkered finishes earlier this month.

Perhaps the most outspoken were two members of the Petty family, which has raced with NASCAR all 54 years of its existence.

ALSO  Starting with the Siemens 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway next weekend, Nextel Cup and Busch Series races will get one green-white-checkered restart if needed, NASCAR announced Thursday. So it's conceivable that the Daytona 500 may be more than 500 miles long.  •  Complete story, click here

"I don't think NASCAR needs to make a rule so that all races finish under the green flag (because) there are no guarantees in racing," Petty Enterprises CEO and lead driver, Kyle Petty said. "There is no guarantee that when you buy a ticket to a race that you are going to see a green-flag finish.

"It's like the weather. There is no controlling the weather on race day, and there is no controlling the outcome of a race.

"A fan buys a ticket to a baseball game, but is he guaranteed to see nine innings played? If it rains the game could be stopped after six, but the game is over.

"The deal behind sports is you never know what is going to happen. It might rain after six innings, or the game might go 20 innings. It might be decided by a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, and it might be decided by a 20-run first inning.

"That's the same thing we have in racing. If the caution flag comes out at the end of the race, whether it is for a wreck or whatever, the race should finish under the yellow flag -- that's the way it is. There are no promises from NASCAR or the tracks that you are going to see a green flag finish, and there shouldn't be."

Petty's father, Richard, who holds the NASCAR career record with 200 Cup victories, says NASCAR's problems began when it first threw a red flag to attempt to finish a race under green at Richmond International Raceway in 1999.

"That was a mistake and they're going to pay for it from now on," Petty said. "If they had just left it like it was, we wouldn't be running into all this controversy right now.

	John Andretti

"We'd still be running our races like what they're supposed to be run and everything would be OK.

"It's very, very confusing to the competitors and the fans, and the press don't know what to write because they're confused, too. On top of that, nobody is as confused as NASCAR.

"I don't see any way to back up the fans have got used to that now. They want green-white-checkered to finish under green. They did all this stuff originally to keep from racing back to the flag because it was dangerous.

"It's not near as dangerous as throwing that green flag with two or three laps to go -- that's the worst thing in the world that can happen to the racers no matter if they run second or third instead of winning the race. It's still very unsafe."

Not all the competitors saw it that way, including Petty's own driver, Cheerios Dodge pilot Jeff Green.

"I don't really have a problem with it," Green said. "You have (two) green-flag laps at the end of the race and you have one shot to get it done, then. If you do, great -- if not, you finish under caution."

As usual, Green said whatever end of the finishing order you're on might dictate your opinion on it.

"Circumstances dictate how you feel," Green said. "The first time I am really close on fuel and we go extra laps, I'm probably not going to like it very much.

	Kyle Petty says other sports have no guarantees and NASCAR shouldn't either. Credit: Autostock

"If I'm leading the race, I'm probably not going to like it very much. But if I have plenty of fuel and I'm second place on back -- yeah, I'm really in favor of it.

"I understand the fans wanting a green-flag finish, and they should have that. We just have to be careful not to go over the line accomplishing that, and I think this particular plan is right where it should be."

Green was actually in the minority with his opinion. Strategy and fuel mileage were many competitors concerns.

"Race distance is race distance, and I think that's the way we should continue to look at it," Dale Earnhardt Incorporated driver John Andretti said. "The standards NASCAR has gone by are the most fair for the competitors, and most fair for the fans, too.

"Now, when the yellow comes out after a certain point late in the race -- and everybody knows what that point is before the race starts -- that's the end of it.

"It doesn't mean the wrong guy won by any stretch. A (Cup) race is tough enough to lead at any point. If you have the lead with five laps to go, you've pretty much earned the win.

"To extend the race distance when everything is on the line from fuel mileage to other circumstances, that would be unfair -- that would change who should win the race, and that would not be fair.

"After four hours of racing, a green-white-checkered is no better way to determine a winner than what four hours of racing have already done."

"They tell us 500 miles, or 400 miles or 500 laps or whatever -- that ought to be the deal," veteran driver Ken Schrader said. "We base everything we do on that race distance. That's our base. I can see the fans wanting green-flag finishes and I don't blame them for wanting that -- and I don't blame NASCAR for wanting to give it to them.

"But it's like changing the rules in the middle of the race -- not even the middle, the end of the race. It makes it difficult for the race teams to figure, and it can easily change the outcome in a way that is probably not going to be fair in the long run.

"Nobody is a bigger believer in giving the fans what they want than me. But we need to make sure we're doing it in a way that is not only good for them, but good for everybody else."

The Craftsman Truck Series has had a rule mandating green-white-checker finishes that has been in place since the series' inception in 1995. Not surprisingly, its competitors see that as the way it should be.

"For the fans, it's a better deal (and) for pure racing, it's a better deal," Truck Series rookie Brandon Whitt said. "In the long run, yeah, a guaranteed green-flag finish is the best way to go. But, again, a lot of that depends on where you are at the time.

"If you're leading, it stinks. If not, it's a great idea. And it's probably a little easier to do that with a 200-mile race than it is a 500-mile race. We just don't have that many fuel-mileage races."