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Post by vshixson on Oct 5, 2011 2:10:48 GMT -5
I was taught that a yellow flag meant :caution, hold your position. (No passing) If the pit lane and boxes are part of the track, how can you legally pass another car in pit lane but not on the track under a yellow flag?(A few years ago someone won the second stage of the bud shootout by pitting after the white flag, but their pit box was just before the plane of the finish line in pit lane, so they left the pit box and drove 30 feet for the win in pit lane. Nascar ruled that the finish line extends through the infield and across pit lane making it part of the racing surface.)
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Post by myles on Oct 5, 2011 7:28:14 GMT -5
Interesting question. I don't really have an answer. It is what it is.
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Post by bentlyj on Oct 5, 2011 21:11:38 GMT -5
I will try to dazzle you with brilliance, but more than likely will end up baffling you with BS...
Only thing I could think is that the caution is only active on the track. Deciding to go in and pit under caution is your decision so you're taking the risk of losing your track position. Obviously if you pit your going to lose track position opposed to staying on the track, so to make it fair for the teams that stay out, positions have to change, you get passed in the pits. I never have heard of a rule, but I guess it's just one of the common laws, if you will, that you race in and out of the pits under caution. I don't know about the instance you are refereing to.
Well, sorry, I don't think I said anything that you didn't already know, but I tried to make it sound like I did..LOL That would be a good question to call in on SPEED or one of the talk shows, ask Spencer....
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Post by vshixson on Oct 7, 2011 23:49:19 GMT -5
I must say, you seem to be a knowledgeable person, and gave a serious effort to answer, and I appreciate that. It just seems to me that if you pit, you should loose positions to those that don't. The cars that do pit should line up in the same order that they entered the pits, behind the cars that didn't pit.
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Post by bentlyj on Oct 8, 2011 13:37:32 GMT -5
I must say, you seem to be a knowledgeable person, and gave a serious effort to answer, and I appreciate that. It just seems to me that if you pit, you should loose positions to those that don't. The cars that do pit should line up in the same order that they entered the pits, behind the cars that didn't pit. I understand what your saying. I think it would take a lot of strategy out of the race and also foresee a lot of other problems that would arise. What if a car was involved in a minor wreck, the caution comes out, half the cars come in to pit. Does the race wait until the wrecked car gets fixed before restarting the race? Same goes if a team has to change a battery or adjust a sway bar, (just examples) It wouldn't be fair to the team that has their car dialed in and doesn't have to make any changes to make them wait for another team that didn't and then let them back in line, (maybe even in front of them.)
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Post by vshixson on Oct 9, 2011 1:08:42 GMT -5
Agreed. It would seem that no pitting under yellow would take care of all that, and make it more safe for crew members.(You don't have 43 cars coming in at the same time.) A bad stop in the pits under yellow would only cost you a couple of car lengths, whereas under green may cost you as much as a couple of hundred yards. Talk about a high pressure stop for the crew.
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