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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"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.

Beginning with the melee that took Burton out and also involved the cars driven by Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the last 42 laps kept you on the edge of your seat if the first 225 hadn't already caused you to slump into a peaceful slumber beforehand.

Martin still won the race, but it no longer became a foregone conclusion. Three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson proved to be human when he bobbled on the next-to-last restart, got bumped from behind by Denny Hamlin, and then drifted back into a three-wide fracas with Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon that ultimately left Busch in an absolute tizzy afterward.

When one more caution came out on Lap 262, Martin and his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, were forced to make the difficult decision on whether to choose the outside or inside lane on the restart. No one knew what was going to happen.

It was, to be honest, highly entertaining and stood in stark contrast to the first two-plus hours of the race.

Entertainers should entertain

Frankly, sometimes these drivers tend to forget that they're in the entertainment business. Yes, they also are athletes and this is a legitimate major-league sport.

But what's good or easy for them might not be what puts on the best show for the fans. And when it comes right down to it, putting on the best show for the fans is what it's all about and what they must get back to in order to boost sagging television ratings and disappointing attendance figures.

Some drivers get this; others don't.

Johnson may have lost Saturday's race because of the troubles he had on that next-to-last double-file restart. But he didn't seem to have any problems with it.

"I think we're all getting more comfortable with them," he said of the double-file restarts. "The car, you can actually lean on each other and make bumper-to-bumper contact in the straightaways. It's like racing on a short track at 190 (mph). It was great.

"They certainly make things exciting. They give everybody a chance. And when you group everyone up that close at the front, and they know the checkered flag is not that far away, the racing just gets really intense."

Intense is good. Yes, there are winners and losers on the double-file restarts. That's not going to change. Neither is the rule.

After Saturday's wild finish, in which he ultimately finished second to Martin, Gordon was asked what he had expected on the double-file restarts going into the race.

"I didn't expect anything any different than when it was implemented," he said. "Fifty percent of the guys out there are gonna like it; 50 percent of 'em are gonna hate it. It's not for us. It's for the people in the grandstands and the people at home. That's what it's for.

"I think it's a great move. I think it changes how we have to race one another. You know, we have to pick and choose how aggressive we're going to be, whether you're on the inside or outside. Sometimes one lane is better than the other. ... You start 11th or seventh one time and shoot by two or three cars -- and then you'll be on the outside row the next one, get passed by two or three cars. To me, it's always crazy on the double-file restarts. It's exciting, man. That's putting on a heck of a show."

That's why the rule is here to stay, and rightly so.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.