Car Insurance

FTER THE 2002 WINSTON CUP season began with two different reactions to late-race crashes–officials waved the red flag in Daytona but allowed the next week’s race, in Rockingham, to end under a yellow flag–controversy overtook safety as the series buzzword.

Controversy is nothing new in Winston Cup, but in this case it was perpetuated, if not created, by the series’ inconsistencies and willingness to bend, if not break, its laws whenever it sees fit.

To be fair, in one case the crash affected the outcome more than race officials could have known. Daytona’s late crash offered then-leader Sterling Marlin the opportunity to make a mistake–exiting and working on his car during the delay–that forced officials to banish him to the back of the pack.

Possibly because of that fallout, in Rockingham there was no red flag, and fans yawned as Matt Kenseth sailed across the finish–in front of Marlin.

Further exposing NASCAR’s ineffectiveness regarding the interpretation of the rulebook, in the season’s third race in Las Vegas, a penalty was enforced on every driver–except Marlin, who apparently had already reached his season quota of bad breaks. Unfortunately, instead of embracing consistency, NASCAR seemingly prefers leaving its drivers shrugging their shoulders and having to find consolation that these sorts of things will even themselves out over the course of the season

After the Rockingham race, there inexplicably were calls for more racing instead of more consistency. Obscuring its own errors with potential rule changes, NASCAR officials were swayed to consider adopting some form of overtime for Winston Cup races, most likely similar to the “green-flag rule.” That rule–used, among other circuits, by NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series–dictates that a race must end with at least two laps of green-flag racing. This ignores that an overtime period is enacted to break deadlocks when an athletic contest has no winner. This is not the case in Winston Cup races–the outcome is not in doubt–and giving drivers the chance to make up for caution flags at the end of a race but at no other time makes little sense.

Even worse, it could prove dangerous. Purposefully causing a crash in order to buy time for a hard-charging teammate should hardly be a worry–drivers are competitive, not stupid–but bunching cars up at the end of the race with the results on the line can create some needlessly aggressive driving. NASCAR is considering trading a potentially drab finish for a potentially dangerous scrum. This does not seem smart.

Plus, drivers are making late-race decisions–most importantly, when to refuel–on the basis of running a set number of miles. The best drivers are squeezing everything they can out of their car within a set number of miles. Some elements of strategy, not to mention talent, would be threatened by running unscheduled laps.

The series can’t be accused of not giving the people what they want, but more racing would change the entire rhythm of a race–and may punish drivers more than reward fans.