The last couple races have seen some things in NASCAR that are both cut-and-dry, and also can be changed for extreme circumstances.
Last week, early in the Coca-Cola 600, one of the nylon ropes that was used on the FOX tracking camera, which debuted at Daytona and goes across the race track, suddenly broke, and despite fans trying to alert officials, it snapped into some of the cars that were on the track. Taking the most brunt of the damage was race leader Kyle Busch. NASCAR threw the red flag to clear the debris, and originally were going to keep things the same, where teams could assess damage, but not touch until the caution came back out.
Instead, because the incident was not caused by an incident on the track itself but rather an issue with broadcast equipment, decided to bend the rules. Teams were brought back to pit road, and the teams that suffered damage had 15 minutes to work on their cars to get them back in race-ready condition, without loss of position.
It was unusual circumstances that caused the problem in the first place, so NASCAR was willing to have some unusual rules to let the teams, and the fans, see the best race possible.
Fast forward to this week at Dover, and now there’s a case where one rule is cut-and-dry, no way around it.
With 19 laps to go, race leader Juan Pablo Montoya got the lead on pit road, beating the dominant driver at the time, Jimmie Johnson. Montoya elected for the high line for the start, much like everyone did all afternoon. Coming to the green, both drivers made it to the restart zone, and the flagman waved the green.
Johnson got a huge jump, about four car-lengths, entering the first turn, but the problem was that he wasn’t the leader. NASCAR rules state on the start, or restart, the leader must be the first across the line. Should that not happen, the second-place driver must give back the position.
In this case, Johnson didn’t do that, and when officials reviewed the footage, they agreed and Johnson was given a penalty for jumping the restart. NASCAR gave him the black flag, and after his pass-through penalty was scored 17th at the end of the race. On the opposite side, Johnson did not agree with the call, and went as far as saying he was planning to give the position back, knowing he wasn’t the leader at the green flag.
“I just don’t know. I’m running half-throttle down the frontstretch waiting for him and he doesn’t come. My vision is so limited inside the car, I’m really a sitting duck. They decided to call me on it. I totally disagree with the call.”
NASCAR has a restart zone marked on the inside and outside of the track along the wall. With the exception of the initial start to the race, the leader must hit the throttle and start the race in that box. Should the leader not do so, it’s then the flagman himself that will start the field, with the same rule applying that the leader must be the first to cross the line. In this case, according to Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton, it was an easy call.
There will for sure be a lot of controversy this week when this call comes up, but wasting breath on it now will not do anything. The call is official, and all fans and drivers alike can do now is just understand the rule, even if they don’t agree with the ruling.
RESULTS: 1-Stewart 2-Montoya 3-Gordon 4-Kyle Busch 5-Keselowski 6-Bowyer 7-Logano 8-Harvick 9-Martin 10-Earnhardt Jr.
NOTABLE FINISHES: 14-Edwards 17-Johnson 23-Kahne 24-Patrick 34-Hamlin 40-Kenseth
CAUTIONS: 7 for 32 laps. Lap 81-84 (Debris-T2), 128-131 (Debris-T3), 161-164 (Debris-BS), 280-285 (Fluid on Track), 301-306 (#38, 39 Accident-BS), 318-321 (#5 Accident-T2), 378-381 (#11 Accident-T1).
LEAD CHANGES: 21 among 11 drivers. Hamlin 1-23, Kyle Busch 24-72, Kenseth 73, Keselowski 74-75, Kyle Busch 76-127, Truex Jr. 128, Kenseth 129-156, Kyle Busch 157-160, Truex Jr. 161, Kyle Busch 162-205, Johnson 206-235, Kyle Busch 236, Kahne 237-238, Johnson 239-279, Hamlin 280, Johnson 281-300, Hamlin 301-317, Kurt Busch 318-325, Johnson 326-377, Harvick 378, Montoya 379-397, Stewart 398-400.
TIME OF RACE: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 51 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 123.172 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.788 Seconds
POINTS: 1. Johnson, 473 points; 2. Edwards, -30; 3. Bowyer, -50; 4. Kenseth, -74; 5. Harvick, -74; 6. Earnhardt Jr, -75; 7. Kahne, -81; 8. Keselowski, -98; 9. Kyle Busch, -99; 10. Menard, -102; 11. Gordon, -112; 12. Almirola, -119.\