Step Aside NFL! When NASCAR Introduced Its Own Weird Rule to Improve Racing That Backfired

Earlier this week, NFL rules were put under the scanner once again when the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. This was because of an overtime rule which denied the Bills a chance to win. Of course, there are other sports which are no stranger to controversial rules, and one of them is NASCAR.

Back in 2016, the organisation introduced a new rule to ‘spice up racing’. Unfortunately, it did not go over well with the fans, as it introduced a new-fangled system called the ‘Caution Clock’. In it, during a green flag period, there is a 20 minute timer. When the timer reaches zero, the caution flag waves for a while until the clock is reset to another 20 minutes.

If there was a caution before the timer ends, the clock is reset to begin after the race restart. The clock only stops if there are less than 20 laps remaining in the race. Honestly, this system sounded a lot more complicated than it actually is.

What did NASCAR say about the decision?

The sport’s justification was, “Why is it important for us? We think it’s going to add to the strategy during the race. If you look at the Camping World Truck Series, that is an area where some of our younger drivers, our newer teams really can use the competition caution to be able to adjust on the truck.We’ve seen that in the (Sprint) Cup Series when we’ve had a competition caution early in the race. It’s allowed teams to make some last-minute adjustments in the race. We think that’s going to be huge for the teams in the trucks throughout the race.”

Many fans were fuming because they saw this as a thinly veiled attempt to placate sponsors. To be precise, more cautions would lead to more commercials being aired. In addition to that, nothing is stopping the Truck drivers from racking up laps under yellow flag conditions. Thankfully, it’s a thing of the past now.

READ MORE: What Is the Choose Rule In NASCAR? How Does It Work?