Double-file restart rule has drivers excited, waiting

LONG POND, Pa. -- The fans asked. And NASCAR delivered.

According to the parties involved, it was as simple as that when it came to the decision to initiate the new double-file restart rule that will go into effect with this Sunday's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Double the fun

NASCAR announced a change to its race format with the addition of double-file restarts throughout each race, and many welcome it.

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Asked Friday why NASCAR felt the need to "trick it up" if the racing has been so good lately, which many agree it has been, Ryan Newman smiled and replied: "We've tricked it up for the last 50 years. This is just another step of delivering to the fans what they want. This is something that I think will make the racing better from an excitement standpoint -- and that's what we're here for."

Some drivers said they knew double-file restarts were coming soon to their sport, but added that they were surprised NASCAR would implement such a dramatic rules change in the middle of a season. Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said Friday that the decision to do so was made swiftly after watching the excitement generated by double-file restarts during the recent Sprint Cup All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"I don't know if I can pinpoint any one thing. But the fans have been heard loud and clear," Pemberton said. "They seem to be a little more vocal this time around. It comes on the heels of one of the best All-Star events we've had. That was pretty exciting."

The All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 points race nine days later were followed by a "town hall-style" meeting at NASCAR's Research and Development Center that involved interaction between NASCAR officials and drivers, as well as owners and crew chiefs and other team personnel. Changes to the restart rule were discussed there, and some left the meeting with the distinct feeling of what was coming next.

But not everyone, pointed out Jeff Burton.

"I'm shocked that we are doing this this year. I have become very used to the shipliner analogy about how it is hard to turn a big ship real quick. I have become pretty used to hearing that," said Burton, laughing.

"I told someone at Charlotte that there was no way ever that we would do double-file restarts in 2009. I believed that we would do it in the Nationwide and Truck Series [the rest of this year] and do it in Cup Series in 2010. I'm shocked that they made the decision and are doing it this year. I don't normally see them make big procedural changes like this in the middle of the year. I am not saying it is wrong, but it is very surprising."

Newman said the new rule is all about generating excitement, even though he and others, even including Pemberton, admitted that no one knows for certain what the ripple effect will be of allowing the lead-lap cars to line up double-file instead of the old way of having lead-lap cars line up single-file on the outside with lapped cars lined up single-file on the inside for restarts.

"We're delivering the entertainment to the fans," Newman said. "If the fans say they want us to start the third restart in reverse and then switch around two laps later and run forward, we're probably going to do it." (Continued)