NASCAR competition officials made changes Tuesday to race procedures for this weekend’s events at Talladega Superspeedway, reducing the number of attempts at a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
Starting this weekend, drivers will be limited to one attempt instead of the customary three tries at a green-white-checkered finish at Talladega. The change is effective immediately, in time for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the sixth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ next race, the fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).
“Following extensive dialogue with the industry, we have decided to make a procedural change at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. “In the event the race goes beyond the advertised distance due to a caution, we will use a single attempt at a green-white-checker finish. We take very seriously the responsibility of balancing exciting finishes and safety. We’re confident that this is a positive direction for both.”
If there’s a wreck during the green-white-checkered finish, the field would be frozen and the race would end under caution. This is how this year’s Daytona 500 ended with Joey Logano getting the victory.
Title-eligible drivers talked at length about proposed changes two weeks ago during Media Day for the Chase’s Contender Round, a three-race series that ends with an elimination event at Talladega. Drivers said they had discussed changes to restart rules for restrictor-plate events with NASCAR officials, placing a handful of options on the table.
NASCAR instituted the “green-white-checkered” rule in 2004 for NASCAR’s premier series, with a limit of three tries to complete the race under a two-lap, green-flag shootout to the finish. Since 2012, four of the last seven Talladega races have gone into overtime, raising the odds for race-punctuating multicar crashes.
Brad Keselowski, a three-time Talladega winner, was among those expressing his favor for a reduction in the number of green-white-checkered attempts at Talladega and Daytona.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” Keselowski said Oct. 6. “We go there and say we’re going to run 500 miles. You run 500 miles and it ends under yellow, it kind of feels a little uncomfortable. Give another crack at it and see if you can’t finish it off for the fans, and if it doesn’t come together, well, we tried. I would feel pretty good about that if I was a fan. And as a team owner, I would feel pretty good about that, too.”
Chase hopeful Denny Hamlin said two weeks ago that a potential move to single-file restarts for restrictor-plate tracks was also among the options that drivers discussed with competition officials. NASCAR made restarts in all three national series fall under the double-file, shootout-style heading midway through the 2009 season.
