NASCAR has decided to implement a new format of double-file restarts starting at this weekend's Sprint Cup race at Pocono in order to give a better spectacle for the fans.
In the past, drivers on the lead lap would line up one behind the other for every restart until 20 laps to go, while lapped cars would form a line on the inside.
But from the Pocono race on, cars on the lead lap will restart from every caution in two lines, without any backmarkers interfering in the order at the front of the field. Cars a lap down will stay on the track but at the back.
On every restart the race leader will be able to choose to take the green flag from the inside or the outside but behind the front row, drivers in odd number positions will restart from the inside, while those on even number spots will do so from the outside line.
The 'free-pass' rule, which allows the first lapped car to get back on the lead lap on every caution, will now apply for the entire race, as before it wasn't used for the final ten laps.
photo:NASCAR - Getty Images
In the past, drivers on the lead lap would line up one behind the other for every restart until 20 laps to go, while lapped cars would form a line on the inside.
But from the Pocono race on, cars on the lead lap will restart from every caution in two lines, without any backmarkers interfering in the order at the front of the field. Cars a lap down will stay on the track but at the back.
On every restart the race leader will be able to choose to take the green flag from the inside or the outside but behind the front row, drivers in odd number positions will restart from the inside, while those on even number spots will do so from the outside line.
The 'free-pass' rule, which allows the first lapped car to get back on the lead lap on every caution, will now apply for the entire race, as before it wasn't used for the final ten laps.
photo:NASCAR - Getty Images