JOLIET, Ill. — NASCAR will govern restarts with assistance from an extra, dedicated set of eyes going forward in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.
A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the sanctioning body will use an extra official to monitor a camera aimed at the restart zone in all three national series. The change went into effect Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway for the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series, and will be in place Sunday for the myAFibRisk.com 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the opening race in the 10-race Chase postseason.
Restarts have been a hot-button issue in recent weeks, highlighted by two high-profile incidents. Last month at Bristol Motor Speedway, race leader Ryan Blaney was black-flagged for jumping a restart in a truck series event; he rallied from a lap down to win. Last weekend at Richmond International Raceway, Joey Logano cried foul after race winner Matt Kenseth was not penalized for gaining an advantage on the final restart.
Drivers are reminded about double-file restart procedures in every drivers’ meeting. The leader — also termed the “control car” — must restart the race between double red marks and the single red mark on the outside wall beyond Turn 4. In Friday’s Camping World Truck Series’ drivers meeting ahead of Saturday’s rain-delayed race, series director Elton Sawyer warned drivers not to put officials in a position to make a call.
Chase-eligible drivers voiced opinions about policing restarts as they made the media rounds at Chase Media Day in Chicago. Several offered up the idea of expanding the zone, but a common refrain was for NASCAR officials to be more proactive in enforcing the rule.
“They’ve got a tough job,” said Denny Hamlin, one of four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers with Chase berths. “If they want to officiate from above, that’s a very, very hard thing to do, especially as far away from the race track as they are. I think yeah, you try to make it as black-and-white as possible, but restarts are important and everyone’s always going to try to get an advantage, but I am a believer that the leader should have the advantage.”
It’s the second time in two years at Chicagoland that NASCAR has added a wrinkle to double-file restarts, which debuted as a standard procedure during the 2009 season. In the drivers’ meeting before the 2013 Chase opener here, NASCAR clarified the restart rules, stating that the second-place driver could beat the control car to the start-finish line once the green flag emerged.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer, said in an appearance earlier this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that restarts remain a “ball-and-strike” judgment call.
“It’s still one we want to leave in the drivers’ hands,” O’Donnell told SiriusXM. “If we have to get involved and make those calls with more video, we’ll do that. But we’d still like to see it play out the way it does through the final 10.”