NASCAR will continue to prohibit passing below yellow line at Daytona, Talladega
CONCORD, N.C. – After much debate, NASCAR has decided to leave its yellow-line rule in place for the restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega.
NASCAR officials had considered rescinding the rule, allowing drivers to pass below the yellow line throughout the race.
The feedback it got from drivers, however, was overwhelmingly against lifting the rule.
NASCAR has already decided to allow bump-drafting at the two high-speed tracks, which will likely lead to more aggressive racing. Drivers felt allowing passing below the yellow line was going too far.
“The general consensus is the yellow line needs to stay, and it will for now,” NASCAR Vice Preisdent of Competition Robin Pemberton said.
Pemberton said the rule will be enforced from the green flag to the checkered flag.
“It was a lot of debate,” Pemberton said. “We threw it out there, like everything that we have been doing lately. We work closely with the drivers and the teams, but we respect their opinion, and I would say it was not 50/50. Probably wasn't even 70/30. Most of the drivers said, ‘Look, we have got enough changes, let's move forward the way we are, and we can continue to look at it.’”
NASCAR has also increased the size of the restrictor plate for Sprint Cup races that will be used at Daytona. The diameter of the holes in the plate will increase from 59/64th of an inch to 63/64th, giving teams the largest plate since the 1989 Daytona 500 and more horsepower.
