NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Chase Notebook - Kenseth Says Last-Lap Rules Need A Look
Matt Kenseth hopes NASCAR takes another look at the rule that penalizes drivers for getting a tow on the final lap...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 24, 2011   Loudon, NH
Matt Kenseth ran out of gas on the last lap at Chicagoland. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
KENSETH ‘PUSHES’ FOR CHANGES – Matt Kenseth, who finished Monday’s Chicagoland Speedway race with a push from J.J. Yeley and later was penalized, said NASCAR’s approach to the “no pushing on the last lap” rule should be examined.

Kenseth, who ran a superb race at Chicagoland only to run out of gas on the last lap, was dropped to 21st in the finish order after Yeley pushed him to the finish line. Kenseth’s team didn’t seek the assistance, but that is irrelevant in relation to the penalty.

“He was just trying to do me a favor, which is really nice of him,” Kenseth said. “A lot of people wouldn’t do that. It’s easy to forget about that.

“…It probably is something that needs to be looked at because what’s to stop you at the last race of the year and the guy leading the points runs out of gas [and] you get one of your teammates to go push him quick. That, and the under-yellow stuff if a teammate is wrecked or you hire somebody that pushes you around so you can make it on fuel – even at a place like this when nobody else can.

“There are a lot of things with this style of racing that could happen. I know we don’t need more rules now. I
don’t like more regulations or more rules either, but that’s probably something they should think about because it does change the outcome of the race somewhat unfairly.”

HEY, LET’S LEAD EVERY LAP! – It has been virtually impossible for a driver to lead every lap in a Sprint Cup race in the modern era. The last time it happened was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Sylvania 300.

Race winner Jeff Burton, then driving for team owner Jack Roush, led every lap of the Dura Lube 300 on Sept. 17, 2000, after fatal accidents at the track led NASCAR to employ restrictor plates for the race, thus changing the competition dynamic dramatically.

The result was one of the biggest aberrations in recent NASCAR history.

PHOENIX SCHEDULE CHANGED – NASCAR has eliminated a scheduled Sprint Cup practice on Thursday of race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway Nov. 11-13.

Sprint Cup teams are scheduled to participate in an open test at Phoenix Oct. 4-5. Those testing sessions were scheduled because the track has been reconfigured and resurfaced since NASCAR’s last visit.

The Thursday practice apparently was eliminated because of the October testing opportunities.

Teams are approaching the Phoenix race as one of the most important in the Chase not only because it is the next-to-last event but also because the new surface will make most notes from previous PIR races virtually obsolete.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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