Double-file restarts make for positive drama in end

JOLIET, Ill. -- Double-file restarts were a hot topic before, during and especially after Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

As was predicted when NASCAR changed the restart rule to place leaders of the race side-by-side after caution flags six weeks ago, it seemed about half the drivers were upset with it following the race and the other half -- predictably, the half that survived to finish in good shape -- shrugged it off and said it was exciting.

He said, he said

In one of the late restarts, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch tangled on the track. While Busch was frustrated, Johnson swore he did nothing wrong.

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• Video: Late restart gets heated

"That's four weeks in a row we've been caught up in somebody else's mess. I've about had enough of double-file restarts," said Jeff Burton, after getting into it with Scott Speed and some others and getting wrecked out of Saturday's race.

Well, as bad as it has been for Burton, guess what? He'd better get used to it because the double-file restarts aren't going anywhere -- and with good reason.

In the first 210 laps Saturday, there were only two caution flags thrown, both times for debris on the track. Drivers tend to like long green-flag runs -- and on these night races, the media does too because it means they might just get home or back to their hotel sometime before 3 a.m. after they're done working.

But when Saturday's event started to look like a carbon copy of Friday's Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland (when there were only two cautions), all you had to do was look around and see the problem with that. The race was boring, uneventful. Mark Martin was running away with it and no one could catch him.

Thousands of empty seats stood out like gaping wounds in the grandstands, which hold 75,000 and used to be packed for every race the place hosted. You could sense television sets clicking off or being turned to other channels all across America.

Mixing it up

Racing purists, which includes many of the drivers, are sure to say the same things in response to this argument that was stated a couple years back when critics dared to call a night race at Bristol "boring" because of a lack of bumping and banging.

They will say too many of us are bloodthirsty Neanderthals who want to see wrecks instead of racing, that we don't care about the health and well being of the drivers involved. Those arguments were ridiculous then and remain so today.

This isn't about wanting to see wrecks as opposed to green-flag passes. This is about wanting to see action on the track. Stock-car racing is different from Formula One or IndyCar racing, and for that we should all be thankful. It's been built on not only speed, but the ability and courage and skill of drivers who can bang into each other at high speeds from time to time and keep on going -- or not.

Without at least the element of uncertainty that something might go awry at ay time, Sprint Cup racing loses the edge that has long been a major part of its mass appeal.

The double-file restarts might be a costly nuisance to drivers when they don't go their way -- and that collateral damage is regrettable and unfortunate. But the fact is that double-file restarts saved last Saturday night's race. (Continued)