RIDGEWAY, VA :: If the last two runnings of the MDCU 300 at Martinsville have taught us anything it’s that anything can happen and that rules are left to interpretation.
Green-white-checkered restarts are meant to be exciting and meant to settle the race among the front runners. However, the last two races have seen the race for the win settled before the leader even gets to the green flag. That’s not how it’s meant to be and, going forward, it’s a problem that should be fixed.
Did Lee Pulliam jump this year’s restart? Well let’s break it down a little bit. In the driver’s meeting, MDCU 300 Race Director Lynn Carroll laid out the restart rules. He said that there was a restart zone but that the leader couldn’t be beat to the line. There lies the problem.
If there’s a “zone” (commonly referred to as a restart box), then the leader gets to pick where he wants to gas up and go green. But, what happens when the leader goes all the way through that box or past that line? Can the outside line leader take off? That was certainly the case this past weekend and for that matter it could be applied to the 2013 version of this race when Tommy Lemons, Jr. went before leader Dillon Bassett.
Last year, maybe Carroll and his NASCAR Whelen All-American Series staff had an excuse. The race had run so late that most people in the stands couldn’t even see the track. This year, however, darkness was not an issue. This year, the problem was the rule … or rules. There should be just one rule.
Either the flagman starts the race and either lane can be the first to the line or the leader must be the first there. Look, I’ve been a race promoter. I’ve been a part of poorly handled situations. I understand more than anyone that things happen sometimes. Last year, they had an excuse and this year, now that it happened again, it has to be rectified by next year.
The solution is simple. Just let the flagman restart the race.
That right there will remove any judgment calls. If the flag is in the air, you can take off and, if it’s not and you go, then you will have to give the position back or be black flagged. Does that not take the questions out of it?
Clay Campbell and his Martinsville Speedway staff put on a first class event with the MDCU 300 every year. It’s the biggest crowd you’ll see at a Late Model Stock Car event. It’s the most prestigious event a Late Model Stock Car driver can compete in. Everything about Martinsville is great… except the final restarts the last two years.
I’m pretty sure that, despite Lynn Carroll’s departure from NASCAR in June, he’ll continue to run this event year after year. He’s the guy who’s help build it into the event it is today on the competitor side. He’s the guy who the track feels most comfortable with leading the charge.
With that said, I agree that he should be there next year and every year thereafter until either he or the track decides to do something different. So let’s fix the race’s only major flaw. Make a restart rule that doesn’t include a judgment call. I’m not trying to over simplify this process bu,t after Martinsville gets the NASCAR Sprint Cup race out of the way in a couple weeks, it’s time for Carroll and Campbell to sit down and iron things out on the restarts.
The fans should get to see a battle for the lead on any and every restart. These Late Model Stock Cars are the most competitive in the country and the MDCU 300 is the biggest short track race there is. Don’t allow one foolish rule to keep this race from having the best possible finish it can.
It’s your race Lynn and only you can fix it.
