Cautions breed cautions - 2013 compared to 2012

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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I was just reading this article comparing cautions from last year to this year. There has been a huge increase over the previous year. Some are blaming the new car. What do you think?

Here's some of the numbers.

Through 13 races this season:

- There have been 52 cautions for accidents according to NASCAR race reports. There were 29 cautions for accidents at this time last year. In 2011, there were 51 cautions for accidents.
- There have been 28 cautions for multi-car accidents compared to 17 last year.
- There have been 68 cautions for accidents and spins this year. That total was 36 a year ago.
- Ten of the 13 tracks had more accidents this year than in last year’s race.
- There have been 104 cautions this season compared to 73 at this time last year.
 
I remember last year from Texas-Dover there was a ton of green flag racing with very few cautions and people were starting to get upset. Wish the article would go back one more year as maybe last years green flag streak is skewing the data just a bit.
 
I just looked through this same time period in 2011.

There were 111 cautions in that season through the 13th race. Basically the same as this season.

There were 52 accident related cautions through this same point in 2011. Again, the same as this season.

If you add simple spins to the equation, accidents and spins accounted for 70 cautions in 2011.

The rest were for debris and stopping on the track, out of gas etc.....
 
FLRacingFan said:
2012 looks to be an anomaly.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. Looks like by 2012, the CoT hand reached the end of it's innovation run, and drivers were very comfortable with the cars. Now the rear canter is replaced by rear camber and plate tracks have the 'made to wreck' aero package installed.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Here's the debris caution count for the first 13 races over the past three seasons.

2013 - 24 debris cautions through the first 13 races.
2012 - 23
2011 - 23

The debris caution count is basically the same through the first 13 races over the past 3 years.
Click to expand...

The crazies will still believe what they want to believe .
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Here's the debris caution count for the first 13 races over the past three seasons.

2013 - 24 debris cautions through the first 13 races.
2012 - 23
2011 - 23

The debris caution count is basically the same through the first 13 races over the past 3 years.
Click to expand...

ted@economy said:
The crazies will still believe what they want to believe .
Click to expand...

funny how such a "random" thing as debris on the track has remained relatively constant for the past three years . . .
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Here's the debris caution count for the first 13 races over the past three seasons.

2013 - 24 debris cautions through the first 13 races.
2012 - 23
2011 - 23

The debris caution count is basically the same through the first 13 races over the past 3 years.
Click to expand...

The track workers must be unionized.

Quota??? ;)
 
I can just see the board meeting: Ok guys, wrecks are up 20% that's good, plenty of time to get our sponsor revenue in. good job on the debris cautions, they are keeping the field bunched up..and good for sponsor revenue ha ha you know what they say "cautions breed cautions" We are liking that slick hard tire on the new faster Gen 6, plenty of wrecks and that 25ooo fine at the first of the season sure shut up the complainers about the product..Brilliant move Robin.
 
pjmolo said:
funny how such a "random" thing as debris on the track has remained relatively constant for the past three years . . .
Click to expand...

There you go ...positive proof of a plot . Hope they give us some on Sunday .:D
 
Apparently the sarcasm didn't come through :)

In all seriousness, Debris Cautions jumped from about 1 per every other race to in the 1990s to a peak in 2005 of 2.4 per race to its current rate of 1.5 per race.
 
sloggie said:
Apparently the sarcasm didn't come through :)

In all seriousness, Debris Cautions jumped from about 1 per every other race to in the 1990s to a peak in 2005 of 2.4 per race to its current rate of 1.5 per race.
Click to expand...

That is because of global warming
 
I remember some discussions last year about cautions being down and the reasons why. It looks like things are back to normal.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Here's the debris caution count for the first 13 races over the past three seasons.

2013 - 24 debris cautions through the first 13 races.
2012 - 23
2011 - 23

The debris caution count is basically the same through the first 13 races over the past 3 years.
Click to expand...


Damn facts always ruin a perfectly good conspiracy theory :(
 
Last year was incredibly boring. This year has been the polar opposite of 2012. Even the racing on the long runs, for the most part, has been better.

Tires are a large part of it IMO. Last year, the tire wear was so minimal that it took strategy right out of the race. The car that was good on the short run was just as dominant on the long run because the tires didn't drop off. Not to mention, the amount of newly paved tracks - some of those tracks are starting to lose grip.

Now, drivers have to take care of their cars a little more and it makes for better racing in the homestretch. The guys who dominate the race and don't take care of their cars or tires fade towards the end and the smarter racers, people like Kenseth and Harvick, end up popping up at the end of the races.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Last year was incredibly boring. This year has been the polar opposite of 2012. Even the racing on the long runs, for the most part, has been better.

Tires are a large part of it IMO. Last year, the tire wear was so minimal that it took strategy right out of the race. The car that was good on the short run was just as dominant on the long run because the tires didn't drop off. Not to mention, the amount of newly paved tracks - some of those tracks are starting to lose grip.

Now, drivers have to take care of their cars a little more and it makes for better racing in the homestretch. The guys who dominate the race and don't take care of their cars or tires fade towards the end and the smarter racers, people like Kenseth and Harvick, end up popping up at the end of the races.
Click to expand...

TRD has been helping their teams save some serious bucks on tires and may soon be getting two races out of each set ;)
 
As DPK has mentioned with the statistics he posted on post 7, last year was abnormally low for cautions due to fewer wrecks than normal. This year we're pretty much back to normal. I'm a little surprised the debris caution count wasn't a little higher last year (2012) than in 2011 since there were fewer normal cautions last year.
 
:)
dpkimmel2001 said:
Here's the debris caution count for the first 13 races over the past three seasons.

2013 - 24 debris cautions through the first 13 races.
2012 - 23
2011 - 23

The debris caution count is basically the same through the first 13 races over the past 3 years.
Click to expand...

pjmolo said:
funny how such a "random" thing as debris on the track has remained relatively constant for the past three years
Click to expand...

AndyMarquisLive said:
Damn facts always ruin a perfectly good conspiracy theory
Click to expand...

quite the opposite actually . . .:)
 
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