Are NASCAR officials going to begin guaranteeing green-flag finishes in the Cup series?
Consensus among competitors is that it’s only a matter of time before officials adopt some version of the “green/white/checker” rule used to guarantee green-flag finishes in the Craftsman Truck Series. If there’s a crash near the end of a Cup race under current policy, officials will issue a red flag to bring the race to a halt, giving them time to clean up debris and return to green for the finish. But complaints from competitors and fans about inconsistent (imagine that!) use of red-flag stoppages forced officials to establish a firm cutoff point before each race, usually about five laps from the end. If there’s a crash after that point, officials allow the race to end under caution. Under the truck series rule, if a crash brings out a caution late in the race and workers can’t clean up debris in time to go back to green, officials will add laps to the end of the race to ensure fans see at least a two-lap sprint to the finish. Q: So what are the downsides to the truck series rule? A:
