What's with the long Nascar Cautions

[brianf]

I love all types of motorsports and racing. Next to F1, Nascar was always next on the list for me for the constant lead changes and action.

Well after watching the last 2 races I've just turned off the TV.

What is it with the long cautions? At lap 93 or 94 of todays race, a piece of tire was on the track, out came the yellow. OK. You see the truck pick up the tire and head off. What happened was another 6 laps of yellow???????

Nascar seems to have gone out of their way to have cars only pit under yellows. Nothing more exciting than green flag pitting. Even more so now with the small fuel tanks, but Nascar wants to kill the excitement .

Same thing last week. I think a fan spit on the track and we had about a 6 lap yellow . I just don't get it.

They are constantly killing the flow of the race.

brianf

[muggle not]

Gotta agree with you. The cautions seem like they last forever and there is no reason for keeping them under yellow so long.

[gstark76]

Was there one cycle of green flag pitstops in the aaron 499? 5caution laps to finish the race because of a spin that created no damage or debrise now there is quality entertainment. Of course maybe this was NASCAR's way of making up to Jeff Gordon for the martinsville mess. 5 caution laps for nothing but let the guys race at martinsville with chunks of concrete laying on the track.

[kingfloopy]

The end caution was caused by people throwing beer cans and garbage on the track. If people wouldn't have done that it may have finished under green.

J.D.

[KC]

Yesterday I heard a stat quoted on sports radio, three years ago the average caution period lasted around 4 laps, this year so far the average caution period is just over 8 laps. Eight laps at Talledega is a long time, long enough to clean up a car that has spun and hit the wall about three times over. I think it is a byproduct of the race being affected for television. There are about 3 minutes of advertising out of every ten minutes of TV time right now. They can throw out a yellow and go away for longer now with longer caution periods for more advertising time without losing live racing action. Unfortunately they cannot seem to sort out how to finish a race under green.

Certainly the fans need to stop throwing anything on the track, but maybe this incident will serve to get the attention of NASCAR who seems intent on ignoring the fans. NASCAR is not all that far away from how F1 does their business these days and that methodology will not fly for very long with the American racing fans.

[lnin0]

How about keeping the pits closed during cautions so an entire race doesn't come down to a race off pit lane. How can anyone suggest tv doesn't like the cautions -- hell, it's during the race they goto commercial. Maybe if pitting and racing where under green then NASCAR would be more concerned about getting out from under cautions.

[Kicking-back]

Problem with American TV - you get about 18 minutes of commercials an hour.

Most countries during any form of programming don't allow more than 9 to 10 minutes an hour.

[brianf]

I'll bring this thread back to life. I'd swear the cautions are longer this year and happen for almost no reason at times.

A car will have a little wobble and you shut down the race for several laps.

I used to love Nascar for all the action but I'll agree with my son who says "Everytime I flick on a nascar race it running under yellow".

The Nascar folks are not a foolish bunch. They have to know that this is upsetting fans???

brianf

[kingfloopy]

I admit I've kinda quit watching the actual races as much because they are getting really long and really boring because of the cautions. For the most part I just look at the race results the day after or on the internet anymore. Is someone out in the lead by a good distance when the flag is thrown? I haven't really noticed this but NASCAR used to through the yellow flag fior "debris" on occasion to close the field up and prevent drivers from stinking up the show. I think Bill Elliot got this a lot in the 80's when his Fords were dominant. It also seems like there is a caution in every single race within 20 laps or so of the finish. Are some of these cautions trying to bunch the field back up or create a green-white-checker finish?

On the other hand the yellow flags might just be part of NASCAR's increased dedication to safety. Just trying to make sure a small shunt doesn't turn into a huge pile up or someone doesn't hit parts or oil from a wreck and crash themselves. NASCAR does need to figure some way out to solve this problem, other race series work as fast as they can to get racing back under way and do not have any extra safety problems. Maybe they need to introduce a safety team like the open wheel series?

J.D.

[Hazza]

Originally Posted by kingfloopy

On the other hand the yellow flags might just be part of NASCAR's increased dedication to safety. Just trying to make sure a small shunt doesn't turn into a huge pile up or someone doesn't hit parts or oil from a wreck and crash themselves. NASCAR does need to figure some way out to solve this problem, other race series work as fast as they can to get racing back under way and do not have any extra safety problems. Maybe they need to introduce a safety team like the open wheel series?

J.D.

I am sort of ambivilant about this, you can understand the methedology behind the cautions.

Take this for example: A piece of bumper falling off a car, can cut a tyre, in a closely fought race like Atlanta or something (Not to mention a restrictor track) could cause a huge pile-up.

Spinning cars is annother thing, I remember a Busch race from Texas where it took them 3 goes to get going on the final restart cos people kept spinning on the restart, and in the interests of saftey they had to throw the flag again.