Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle hopes NASCAR enforces yellow-line rule at Daytona
Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle in ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings after 17 races this season. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Roush Fenway Racing driver Greg Biffle said he hopes NASCAR will be stronger in its enforcement of the yellow-line rule after controversial Sprint Cup Series finishes at Talladega Superspeedway in the last year.
The rule forbids passing below the yellow “out of bounds” line at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway, site of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.
At Talladega last year, Regan Smith ducked below the yellow line while trying to pass Tony Stewart for the win on the last lap but was penalized. Smith said he was forced below the line.
And at Talladega earlier this year, Brad Keselowski held his groove above the yellow line and started a horrendous accident when Carl Edwards tried to block. Edwards ended up flying through the air and slamming into the retaining fence.
Biffle said he hopes NASCAR will live up to its threats of penalizing a driver for forcing another driver below the yellow line to prevent accidents like Edwards’.
“They have threatened, if you force somebody below the yellow line, that you be black-flagged,” Biffle said. “If you go below the yellow line, you will be black-flagged. And nobody’s been penalized for forcing someone below the yellow line to date, so far.
“And so I think that people are going to continue to test that until somebody says, ‘You are black-flagged. In our judgment, he was inside of you and you forced him down there or chopped him down there and you’re going to get a pass-through.’”
That ruling would all but eliminate blocking low at restrictor-plate tracks, Biffle said.
“Once that happens then people are going to [be] more reluctant to turn left when someone is inside of them because they know that guy’s got to let up on the gas,” Biffle said. “And if that guy doesn’t let up on the gas, we’re going to have a wreck, just like we did at Talladega.
“The last [fall] Talladega race, [Regan Smith] took the high road and went down below the yellow line, and that was the alternative situation. There was that one and then there was Carl, and they were both identical situations.”
