Go Back To Racing To The Yellow

NASCAR takes another credibility hit with the finish of the Daytona 500. The 2007 Daytona 500 spent most of the day as the worst 500 in years, and then erupted into some of the wildest racing in years, ultimately ending in the most exciting finish since 1993. But that wild finish has caused controversy because NASCAR did not wave the yellow as the field behind the top two crashed.

NASCAR ostensibly has a rule whereby the cars do not race to the flag. The field freezes when the yellow flies with positions determined by the most recent scoring loop around the racetrack. This rule was adapted in September 2003 after an incident at New Hampshire where Dale Jarrett crashed to a stop off Four and the leaders on the backstretch slowed down, except Michael Waltrip as he bullied through to put a car a lap down and nearly hit Jarrett coming to the stripe.

Before that, NASCAR's rule was to race to the yellow; positions were determined by the running order hitting the stripe. Racing to the flag became controversial in the early 1980s, notably in the 1981 World 600 when Neil Bonnett, trying to keep Cale Yarborough a lap down, drilled Bobby Wawak and both hit the wall. Race winner Bobby Allison called it "a 1914 rule. Racing back to the caqution has no place in today's racing, it's just too dangerous."

Controversy erupted again at Daytona in 1983 when Dale Earnhardt blew up. Race leader Dick Brooks was slowing down when Lake Speed swerved into his path getting a lap back; Brooks braked hard as Darrell Waltrip charged toward him, Waltrip spun sideways, then hammered off an earthen bank back onto the track in front of Cale Yarborough and Joe Ruttman.

Another such controversy erupted at Pocono in 1989 when Bobby Hillin Jr. crashed off Three; safety workers had gotten to his car but Geoff Bodine and the field, despite being alerted by spotters, raced toward the third turn anyway before belatedly slowing down; NASCAR gave a stern pep talk to crew chief Waddell Wilson immediately after that.

Controversy erupted again in 2003 at several races, as drivers began operating under an ostensible gentleman's agreement about racing to the yellow. At Texas Ford leaders backed off to let Ricky Rudd unlap himself but Jeff Gordon burst through to put him a lap down and got reprimanded by NASCAR for it.

The new rule from September 2003 onward carries a critical caveat; the first car not on the lead lap is arbitrarily awarded a lap back. This "Lucky Dog" rule has allowed hundreds of drivers to finish on the lead lap and even sent more than one to victory.

However, the unsoundness of freezing the field soon became apparent at Talladega in April 2004; in what turned out to be a race-ending yellow, NASCAR ruled that Jeff Gordon was leader in Turn Three, in a finish that earned a bombardment of debris from enraged fans cheated both out of a green-flag finish (following a similar albeit much smaller outburst at Pocono that June, NASCAR implemented its present Green-White-Checker finish rule) and also cheated because the winner was declared based on a scoring loop instead of at the stripe. In Talladega's Die Hard 500 in its four runnings since the Lucky Dog rule's implementation, the rule has played havoc with the outcome; in 2003 Ward Burton stormed from midpack into the lead with seven to go, but the pass was nullified by the yellow for Elliott Sadler's tumble into Three. The final lap of the  500's last three runnings has seen the yellow fly and nullify passes for position each time - Tony Stewart was robbed of a victory bid by a yellow in Turn Three in 2005, while Kasey Kahne was similarly robbed in 2006.

There has also been the damnable inconsistency of NASCAR in officiating the rule. In the 2004 Firecracker 250 Michael Waltrip swerved into the lead ahead of Jason Leffler on the final lap; Leffler slammed Waltrip into the inside wall, then Dale Junior rocketed from midpack to challenge Leffler, but Leffler swerved Junior into the wall in Four and Mike Wallace shot the gap into the win - all the while the green staying out. Now we have the 2006 Daytona 500, as Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin race to the flag as the field crashes behind them.

The balance sheet is that freezing the field is a failed rule. Racing to the caution remains the only credible way to sort out the running order under yellow. The safety argument against racing to the yellow is one that can be addressed differently with a rule proposed by Mike Joy back in 1990 - a "red light" rule where the red and yellow flags fly if a crash that can impede safely racing to the stripe occurs, with scoring reverting to the last completed lap for the running order.

The extra angle to freezing the field of course is the Lucky Dog angle, and this is a rule that has to go as well, as no one deserves to arbitrarily get a lap back - this is especially pertinent after the embarassment of Watkins Glen where Kyle Busch lost five laps and got all of them back on Lucky Dog yellows.

Go back to racing to the yellow, because the start-finish line is the only area that can determine the running order, not scoring loops elsewhere around the speedway.