NASCAR

Sprint Cup

CUP: Green-White-Checkered Races Pulses

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rules now give drivers three chances to finish under green...

Mike Hembree | Posted March 13, 2010 Charlotte, NC

It took two attempts for Kurt Busch to finally get the checkered flag at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

There is no denying that the air was electric in the concluding laps of the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway last Sunday.

There was anticipation and uncertainty as what remained of the 43-car starting field approached a first, then a second, green-white-checkered situation. And there was every expectation that there might be a third, the day having already seen a considerable amount of tumult.

This is exactly what NASCAR anticipated when it expanded the green-white-checkered policy from one attempt to a possible three. Fans were on their feet. Drivers were on edge. Pit crews were standing on the wall. Tension was in the air.

No one knew exactly what would happen; everyone expected something dramatic.

And that’s what occurred. The first green-white-checkered ended in a massive turn four crash, temporarily spoiling a daring green-flag move by eventual winner Kurt Busch to take the lead.

Busch held his breath for the first lap of the second green-white-checkered to keep the lead and finally was home free to end an eventful day.

Even if their favorite driver didn’t win the race, most spectators went home from Atlanta Motor Speedway having enjoyed an interesting finish, and the television audience was treated to 24 extra miles of racing, the last few miles happening in very intense fashion.

These are the benefits of the multiple green-white-checkereds. The downsides? Increased danger, particularly at a high-speed track like Atlanta. Battered equipment – numerous cars were mangled in the crash that ended the first green-white-checkered attempt. And driver nerves.

“It raises the intensity, there’s no question about that,” said Jeff Burton. “These restarts are intense. They’re crazy intense. When you throw on top of that the idea that this restart is going to be the last one – every time you drop the green on the green-white-checkered you’re thinking it’s going to be the last one.

“People don’t want to give up a spot because they think it’ll be the last one. It’s intense. But it’s fun, man. That’s what it’s about. It’s racing, and you’re trying to get to the finish.”

It’s somewhat unfair, as Burton points out, because the ultimate result of a 500-mile day can be packed into a very short, fiercely competitive two-minute drill.

“The end result of your day is based so much on just two laps,” he said. “You’ve been in that car for four and a half hours, and now your result is going to come down to the next two laps. In many cases, all the work you’ve done prior to that means nothing. It’s the finality of it. It’s time to go get the finish you’ve worked all day for.”

Along pit road under these circumstances, crew chiefs and teammates are virtually powerless.

Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief, watched from his war wagon perch as the final laps of the Atlanta race played out.

“I used to get so nervous that I’d want to puke there at this situation,” he said. “I said, ‘Now it’s out of our hands. There’s nothing we can do.’ We can’t control any of this stuff. So you just sit there. You take what it is. You’ve got to have confidence in your driver that he’ll get it done.”

The new reality of the possibility of multiple green-white-checkereds has increased the level of uncertainty at the end of races, particularly for crew chiefs. It’s difficult to plan pit strategy over the closing portion of a race when you’re facing the possibility of – as at Atlanta – running 24 miles past the advertised distance.

In the final analysis, though, said Todd Berrier, crew chief for Burton, the idea is to race as if the event will end at its scheduled point.

“You still have to shoot for the race finishing the way it’s supposed to finish,” he said. “You think about what might happen. And you like to be able to say, when you pit, that you’re good for an extra five or six laps because you know you might need it. But, at the end of the day, you have to race like you’re not going to have any (green-white-checkereds).”

That thinking might be doctored to a degree next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, however. Wrecks typically are plentiful at the fast half-mile oval, and racing over the closing laps might be frantic enough to take the new green-white-checkered policy to its limit.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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