2008 Woodie Awards
Controversial Rule Should Stay
Nascar
Greg Sjovall
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Sports
This weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway, won by Carl Edwards, ended with a green-white-checkered finish. The race ended with actual racing as opposed to ending with the drivers going 60 mph under caution - which is precisely the rules intent - to create better finishes for the fans. While most fans were probably pleased with the finish, not everyone went home happy.
The green-white-checkered rule has been in place since 2004 and has been used in the completion of thirty Sprint Cup races. It essentially tries to make it so every race with a late caution ends with the two laps of racing as opposed to cruising to yellow flag finish under caution. For instance, if there is a caution towards the end of the race, it can go into an overtime type setting where a 500-mile race could be extended to 504 miles.
While it rewards the fans who go to the tracks or watch the race for three or four hours on television, there is still some opposition to the rule. On Sunday, Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Mike Ford, made some disparaging remarks about the rule after Hamlin was involved in a minor incident on the green-white-checkered finish. Calling the rule "asinine" among other things, Ford voiced his displeasure with the overtime finish.
Hey, Mike, deal with it.
If Ford felt the need to voice his opinion, then I do as well. While the green-white-checkered finish may take away from some of the pure competitive integrity of the sport, it certainly does not detract away enough to remove it and deprive fans of seeing an exciting finish. I've been in the stands at Pocono Raceway when it feels like its 100 degrees outside, sitting on bleacher seats for four hours watching a race. As a fan, all you can ask for your time spent being involved with the sport is for an exciting finish with actual racing. It's not worth it to spend your whole afternoon to see cars cruising to the finish going to same speed you go on the highway - if you are 87 years old.
The rule is for the fans and fans like me want it to be a permanent change. Would NASCAR lose many fans if they decided to scrap the rule and go back to having every race finish at the stated amount of miles as the race is supposed to go? People would probably be upset, but not many would turn their back on the sport. However, the point is that as sports are becoming more and more of a business - their main goal has to be making the sport more attractive to their fans. After all it is the fans that generate the massive amounts of revenue.
If a rule can be put in place that does not greatly affect the competitive integrity of the sport and at the same time makes the sport more fan friendly, then it should be within the best interests of the sport to implement it.
While it might make it a little bit tougher on the drivers and the crew chiefs to manage towards the end of the races, they need to have better outlook on things. Listen, these drivers and crew chiefs make hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars - it should be within their capacity to adapt to a minor change.
Show a little bit of respect for a rule that benefits the fans of your sport. After all, they are the ones that keep you in a job.
Greg Sjovall's NASCAR
column runs every Tuesday.
He can be reached at
Gregory.Sjovall@UConn.edu.
The green-white-checkered rule has been in place since 2004 and has been used in the completion of thirty Sprint Cup races. It essentially tries to make it so every race with a late caution ends with the two laps of racing as opposed to cruising to yellow flag finish under caution. For instance, if there is a caution towards the end of the race, it can go into an overtime type setting where a 500-mile race could be extended to 504 miles.
While it rewards the fans who go to the tracks or watch the race for three or four hours on television, there is still some opposition to the rule. On Sunday, Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Mike Ford, made some disparaging remarks about the rule after Hamlin was involved in a minor incident on the green-white-checkered finish. Calling the rule "asinine" among other things, Ford voiced his displeasure with the overtime finish.
Hey, Mike, deal with it.
If Ford felt the need to voice his opinion, then I do as well. While the green-white-checkered finish may take away from some of the pure competitive integrity of the sport, it certainly does not detract away enough to remove it and deprive fans of seeing an exciting finish. I've been in the stands at Pocono Raceway when it feels like its 100 degrees outside, sitting on bleacher seats for four hours watching a race. As a fan, all you can ask for your time spent being involved with the sport is for an exciting finish with actual racing. It's not worth it to spend your whole afternoon to see cars cruising to the finish going to same speed you go on the highway - if you are 87 years old.
The rule is for the fans and fans like me want it to be a permanent change. Would NASCAR lose many fans if they decided to scrap the rule and go back to having every race finish at the stated amount of miles as the race is supposed to go? People would probably be upset, but not many would turn their back on the sport. However, the point is that as sports are becoming more and more of a business - their main goal has to be making the sport more attractive to their fans. After all it is the fans that generate the massive amounts of revenue.
If a rule can be put in place that does not greatly affect the competitive integrity of the sport and at the same time makes the sport more fan friendly, then it should be within the best interests of the sport to implement it.
While it might make it a little bit tougher on the drivers and the crew chiefs to manage towards the end of the races, they need to have better outlook on things. Listen, these drivers and crew chiefs make hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars - it should be within their capacity to adapt to a minor change.
Show a little bit of respect for a rule that benefits the fans of your sport. After all, they are the ones that keep you in a job.
Greg Sjovall's NASCAR
column runs every Tuesday.
He can be reached at
Gregory.Sjovall@UConn.edu.
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