Tuesday, January 19, 2016

NASCAR Announces Changes To Dash For Cash, Truck Series Caution Clock

NASCAR's Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell announced today several racing-related innovations to the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, beginning with the 2016 season, designed to ignite and energize the growth of each series.

In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, each event in the annual Dash 4 Cash program will now be comprised of Two Heats and a Main Event. Drivers who win two of the four Dash 4 Cash bonuses are also virtually guaranteed a spot in the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase. 

In addition, the rugged NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races now will feature a Caution Clock, which will be triggered at the start of each green-flag run. When the green flag is displayed, 20 minutes will be placed on the clock. If/when the clock expires, a caution will be thrown. 

“These innovations contain the elements of racing that our fans want the most,” said O’Donnell. “The enhancements put a premium on in-race strategy, and will create an unprecedented level of excitement as teams make tactical decisions that could impact their spot in the Chase.”
 
The NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash will be comprised of Two Heats and a Main at four tracks: Bristol Motor Speedway (April 16), Richmond International Raceway (April 23), Dover International Speedway (May 14) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 23). 

Qualifying for each Dash 4 Cash event will set the 40-car field and the starting positions for the Two Heats with the fastest qualifier awarded the Coors Light Pole Award. Odd-numbered qualifiers (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.) will start in the first Heat in respective order, while even-numbered qualifiers (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.) will start the second Heat in respective order. 

The Two Heats will set the starting positions for the Main with the top two NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars in each Heat becoming eligible for the Dash 4 Cash bonus. The highest finishing driver among the four Dash 4 Cash eligible drivers will be awarded a $100,000 bonus. If any driver wins two of the four Dash 4 Cash bonuses available, he/she is all but guaranteed a spot in the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase. In short, two Dash 4 Cash bonuses are equivalent to one race win in the new NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase format.  

Drivers must have declared to earn NASCAR XFINITY Series points in order to be eligible for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash bonus.  

In addition, a Caution Clock will be utilized in each NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event (except for Eldora Speedway). The clock will be set to 20 minutes and triggered at the start of each green-flag run during race events. When the clock counts down to zero, a caution flag then will be displayed and no beneficiary will be awarded. A caution occurring before time expires resets the clock when the subsequent green flag is displayed and the first truck a lap down will be the beneficiary.  

The caution clock will be turned off with 20 laps to go at all events in the series, with the exception of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Pocono Raceway, where the clock will be turned off with 10 laps remaining.

14 comments:

  1. The dumbing down of NASCAR continues.....
    I have no idea how they will top this act of stupidity....

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  2. Oh for bloody heck, the one series with consistently great racing gets a gimmick clock?!? Why NASCAR why? Leave trucks alone and fix the other series.

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  3. Not a big fan of the caution clock. Pretty much eliminates having a long run set up. Race will just be a bunch of short dashes now.

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  4. They should also throw the caution flag once the leader gets more than a three car length lead.

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  5. Devan6:04 PM

    The caution clock may be the dumbest idea I've seen......

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  6. wouldn't bother me but they will keep counting the laps on each caution if by a clock. Sounds like they found a way to shorten their races. But i will see how it works before I can actually judge it. But truck racing is the best to watch so I hope it don't take away from it

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  7. Dwayne in Memphis9:34 PM

    Caution clock = dumbest idea Brian France has had since he had the thought he could competently run NASCAR. Stop the gimmicks and get back to racing!! This could very well be the prelude to the 12-year-old caller's idea yesterday of a "Daytona 5" - stupid, stupid, stupid. Manufactured competition is never good competition.

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  8. Anonymous2:08 AM

    I am sorry, it seems today the obvious is ignored and they try to sell you bull. If you don't buy the bull and you question it..it is you who is crazy, when in fact you are the sane one. Seem to be the way to do things the past decade or so. NASCAR is wrong, dead wrong, and for Brian's rant on "this is what the fans wanted", I call bull, double bull. His always tired, lazy answer....

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  9. Anonymous11:20 AM

    And after the race everyone gets orange wedges, and capri sun, and a participation trophy.

    They drove me away from cup last year with ridiculous rules, and now they've ruined the last good form of the top three series'. Guess I'll be hoping they don't ruin the modified series.

    I said it before, and I'll say it again. Brian France is the death of NASCAR.

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  10. Not a big fan of heat races for NASCAR events. While the total laps will be same, all i see is more opportunity to damage cars (more starts, restarts and finishes). I feel this hurts the underfunded small teams. The same might be said for the caution clock as well. I'll take the wait and see approach but not particularly pleased with the changes at first blush. Obvious attempt to keep people's attention throughout raceday and I understand that. I wonder if in the end it wont make it more expensive in an already high cost sport.

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  11. I thought NASCAR had already done every stupid thing they could to make racing boring. Nope I was wrong. A caution clock?

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  12. Anonymous1:19 PM

    If they want to build up the truck racing, they could start by paying the racers more money. The rate of pay for truck racing is ridiculous. Some Sprint races pay more for finishing last than is paid for winning a truck race.

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  13. These tweaks might help around the edges, but the races are generally boring when the Cup guys are participating. The disparity in talent is too great to overcome. I understand that the Cup guys help sell tickets to the Xfinity and the truck races.

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