Far fewer impound races on tap for '06 season

Five races will use procedure, down from 21 in 2005

The impound rule is not dead yet, but the number of races where it will be used will be drastically reduced for 2006.

NASCAR will impound the Nextel Cup cars at five races in 2006: Both Talladega events, both Richmond events, and the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, according to a memo sent to teams last week.

NASCAR used the impound rule at 21 of the 36 races in 2005. Neither of the Talladega events was an impound race last year. The rule was consistently criticized throughout the year as vastly different weekend schedules led to confusion and large amounts of downtime.

An impound race usually featured two Friday practices and Saturday Bud Pole Qualifying instead of the traditional Friday Bud Pole Qualifying and Saturday practices.