(WOMR file photo)
For the second time in five days, NASCAR has changed the makeup of the Chase for the Sprint Cup due to manipulation of the sport’s regular-season finale. Saturday, officials will hold a meeting with drivers, owners, and crew chiefs with the goal of never having to alter the playoff again.
Penalties this week led NASCAR to call a mandatory meeting of drivers, owners and crew chiefs Saturday morning at Chicagoland to “hopefully address, and make more clear, the path going forward as it applies to the rules of racing and the ethical part of it,” according to NASCAR President Mike Helton.
As has been the custom previously, teammates have always helped one another on the race track. In the past, teammates have long abided by a set of unspoken, and undefined, guidelines that have produced long-accepted tactics, like allowing a driver to get a lap back, or allowing a driver to lead a lap to collect a bonus point. However, with the championship field at stake, those actions become magnified — which was certainly the case at Richmond, where Bowyer spun suspiciously on his own, and Vickers pitted unexpectedly on the final restart, opening the door for Truex to collect a Chase berth.
“We’re going to have as much clarity to where the line is, and obviously we drew a line Monday night with the penalties with Michael Waltrip Racing,” France said. “So obviously what we’re going to do is, and no matter what it takes, the integrity of the sport will never be in question. And that’s what we’re going to make sure, that we have the right rules going forward that are clear, so that the integrity of the competitive landscape of the events are not altered in a way or manipulated. And that will be what we will be addressing.”
The meeting will be part of a process that will entail “clarifying in a significant way the rules of racing, and the rules of the road going forward,” France added. He said the sanctioning body wants suggestions from competitors on how to do that.(NASCAR.com)
And so the saga continues in”The Chase for the Sprint Cup championship!
Now thirteen drivers, ten races, and one championship, who will be the last man standing?
