NASCAR set to make rule change on a car pushing another on track

NASCAR likely will make a rule change before next season _ if not sooner _further defining when cars can push another car during a race, John Darby, Cup series director told me Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Cars assisting another have been an issue in the Chase. NASCAR penalized Matt Kenseth for being pushed on the last lap at Chicago after he ran out of fuel, putting him 21st in the lineup (behind all the cars that finished on the lead lap). In the past the rule book stated that a car could not receive assistance on the last lap. Last weekend, NASCAR seemed to change its feelings about the situation when Austin Dillon pushed Kevin Harvick with about 50 laps left while under caution.

Part of the issue with Dillon and Harvick last weekend was that Harvick backed up to Dillon and was not “maintaining reasonable speed’’ under caution as the rule book dictates. NASCAR also then told Dillon not to push Harvick. So, what’s the deal?

Well, here’s my conversation with Darby on the matter:

Q: Based on NASCAR’s reaction to Dillon pushing Harvick at Kansas, has the rule changed since the Chicago race?

Darby: “I think it will. Here’s what is going on, we did address everybody in the driver’s meeting (at New Hampshire). Basically it was a simple message that we would look at every situation of somebody assisting somebody else. And that we had the latitude to go outside the person that was getting pushed and maybe look at who was doing the pushing (NOTE: This is stated in the rule book under Sections 10-7-B and 10-7-C).

“It was a reminder if things got far enough out of the box, if they were aggravating enough that we could react to an actions detrimental type of deal. I believe before it’s all over that we’ll probably make an official change in that whole deal.’’

Q: Would you make the rule change this season or before next year?

DARBY: “I don’t know. It depends on how gross everything gets between now and the end of the year. Our definition of assistance is helping a guy get to pit road so he can get serviced and maybe avoid a caution or something of that nature. Our definition of assistance does not include pushing a teammate for five laps under caution to help him save fuel.’’

Q: That’s similar to what Harvick did at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600 under the last caution before he won.

DARBY: “You see something happen and you’ve got to take time to sit back and think about it. I think what we already know now is the frequency of that at least stands a high potential of going up. The problem with it is that not every dancer has a partner. To keep competition even, we may, going forward, do some extra writing in regards to assistance.’’

Q: Yes, but Kenseth was not pushed by a teammate but a fellow Ford, one that also received Roush-Yates engines. Just about every one-car team has someone that can help them or do you have to make the rule for that one car that might not have help even if others could get help?

DARBY: “If there’s one guy that can’t get a push from somebody when he needs it then we’ve got a problem. Our responsibility is to keep stuff as equal as we can all the way across the board.

“You’re right in most cases somebody is going to find another Chevrolet or whatever to do it. The other part is you’ve got to look at it in regards is it good for the race, is it good for the sport? I don’t think it is. Strategy races and fuel-mileage races are extremely interesting and when they’re played out correctly, they can have a ton of drama at the end of them, but, again, that should be the guys on the (pit) box computing their fuel mileage, the guys on the ground making sure they get all the fuel in the car and the driver taking care of that while he’s racing. The fact that a caution comes out, I don’t think should be a situation where everybody shuts their engines off for six laps and goes back (on) when the green comes out.  If they’re going do that, we might as well throw red flags instead of cautions.’’

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