Broken cars and restarts

Bucky Badger

Bucky Badger

Go Kyle Go
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So with Truex yesterday and the broken shifter starting near the front only having 4th gear, should cars like these have to start in the back, they are going to end up there anyways...good way to ruin a lot of good cars
 
If the car has a known issue that will obviously prevent it from keeping up on the restart, they should start at the tail, or atleast be forced to start out of line. The stuff that was pulled by Harvick at Dega, or yesterday should not happen.
 
Starting up front tore up a lot of good cars. Somebody had a serious brain fart.
 
These are the best drivers in America (plus Danica and Menard). These drivers ought to be able to use their skill to avoid a slower car on a restart. Failing that, it can be chalked up to the luck involved in racing. Sometimes you get caught in someone else's wreck, sometimes you get stuck behind a slow car on the restart.
 
29-4 said:
These are the best drivers in America (plus Danica and Menard). These drivers ought to be able to use their skill to avoid a slower car on a restart. Failing that, it can be chalked up to the luck involved in racing. Sometimes you get caught in someone else's wreck, sometimes you get stuck behind a slow car on the restart.
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There's a big difference between spinning tires and restarting in 4th gear.
 
The other part of this is that I don't want NASCAR to start black-flagging drivers for potential failed performance. If Truex has yet to be slow on a restart, he should not be penalized just for saying on the radio that he only has fourth gear. NASCAR has always given drivers the chance to maintain speed e.g. a car with no front-end comes out of the garage and has the opportunity to maintain minimum speed for three laps before being black-flagged.

Common sense says that, in Truex's case, he will be too slow. But there are other situations which would make this a slippery slope.
 
29-4 said:
The other part of this is that I don't want NASCAR to start black-flagging drivers for potential failed performance. If Truex has yet to be slow on a restart, he should not be penalized just for saying on the radio that he only has fourth gear.
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I agree with this. I don't want Nascar to be monitoring radio conversations deciding whether someone needs to be penalized or black flagged. I could see very bad unintended consequences coming from that.
 
I noticed that Truex moved out of the way on the restarts, I'm sure his spotter let the other teams know he wasn't going to get up to speed. I think that is the way to do it. He was trying to minimize the number of spots he lost.
 
Zerkfitting said:
I noticed that Truex moved out of the way on the restarts,
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On the first restart when the transmission was stuck in 4th gear he couldn't go and caused a big wreck and tore up several good race cars. Moving out of the way would have meant going to the back before the restart. And as I've said before "I like him".
 
Wonder who will decide which cars may not restart well and have to go to the back . Be funny if it was some guy that hates Kyle Busch.
 
Bucky Badger said:
So with Truex yesterday and the broken shifter starting near the front only having 4th gear, should cars like these have to start in the back, they are going to end up there anyways...good way to ruin a lot of good cars
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I will not reply with words, I will reply with this:

 
I think he should have voluntarily started in the rear out of respect for the other drivers. But I don't want another new rule to enforce matters.

When possible let the drivers own and workout their own code.
 
With as much money on the line as there is in Cup, nobody wants to give away anything. You make your competitors pass you - you can lose your job if you are too much of a nice guy.
But yes, when you know you're potentially a problem there are a few things that smart teams do. Such as move to the side on restarts, and warn the teams starting behind you.

I wouldn't want to drop to the back either, since my car might get up to speed after only losing a few positions (vs. a lot of positions by going to the back). But I also wouldn't want to get rear-ended and put into the wall, ending my race then and there.

I have been in that position before on both ends of the deal (my car in trouble, and restarting behind a stricken car) and the stricken car usually moves over until it gets going. But that was at the local track level where purse and points weren't so high. I imagine that if I were Truex I would have pulled over... but then again there are reasons Truex is a Cup driver and I'm not.
 
AG stated that the Truex crew didn't communicate to them about the problem.
 
Bucky Badger said:
So with Truex yesterday and the broken shifter starting near the front only having 4th gear, should cars like these have to start in the back, they are going to end up there anyways...good way to ruin a lot of good cars
Click to expand...
Bucky Badger said:
So with Truex yesterday and the broken shifter starting near the front only having 4th gear, should cars like these have to start in the back, they are going to end up there anyways...good way to ruin a lot of good cars
Click to expand...

The whole country knew Kevin Harvick was going to jack the field up during a chase race last fall so I don't think they care about cars that won't go. Life threatening hot dog wrappers and plastic water bottles represent a clear and present danger and the race must be under yellow for 10-15 minutes while the liller debris is removed. Only in Nascar and the government does such idiocy prevail.
 
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