Yellow fever: at restrictor-plate tracks, NASCAR's inconsistent enforcement of the "yellow-line" rule is leaving a lot of drivers seeing red

Auto Racing Digest, June-July, 2003 by Chris Dolack

YELLOW HAS NEVER LOOKED AS gray as it does at the Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Introduced in 2001, the "yellow-line" rule is supposed to create a sort of out of bounds for drivers attempting to pass at Daytona and Talladega, the two largest speedways on the Winston Cup schedule. It has generated so much controversy that it has supplanted restrictor plates as the central topic of debate at those two racetracks.

Many drivers believe that treating the line that marks the bottom of the racing groove as an inner wall is a positive step in NASCAR's ongoing effort to eliminate the massive chain-reaction crashes that have become too familiar on restrictor-plate tracks. The problem, however, is the rule's application.

The rule states that drivers are not prohibited from dropping below the line to avoid another car, but they will be black-flagged--which forces them to make an unscheduled pit stop before returning to the track--doing so in order to improve their position. Knowing this, drivers often use the line to block faster cars behind them, which muses more trouble. The faster drivers are then forced to either break the rule or abruptly slow down and risk being run over at 190 mph by drafting cars.

In the drivers' meeting before the 2003 Daytona 500, NASCAR president Mike Helton expanded the rule to include a black flag for any driver that forced another below the line in an effort to avert a pass. A black flag virtually eliminates any chance of victory at Daytona or Talladega because it takes about a lap to get a restrictor plate-laden car back up to speed. In many cases, a penalized driver will drop at least a full lap behind.

"What we are beginning to see happen, and we saw it [in the Busch race], is some of you have figured out that to protect your spot, you can move down against the yellow line to prevent someone from going on your inside," Helton told the drivers. "That is OK. But if you do it while that guy is trying to get around you and you move him down there while he has a quarter-panel or fender alongside of you, if you make him go down there, then you are subject to a black flag, too."

It seemed clear enough but 71 laps into the race, Sterling Marlin was making a charge to the front and was on the inside of Elliott Sadler coming off of the second turn. Sadler came down the track and squeezed Marlin, briefly forcing the left side of his Dodge below the line. When Marlin got back "in bounds" he had moved ahead of Sadler into fifth place--and NASCAR waved the black flag. The penalty dropped Marlin to 38th, and considering there had already been one rain delay and another was looming, he no longer had a chance to earn his third Daytona 500 victory. There was little debate about whether or not Marlin had improved his position, but it was also clear that he dipped below the line to avoid wrecking with Sadler. Had the two bumped, a massive crash would have ensued.

"[NASCAR] needs to get its story straight," says Marlin. "I had a good run on [Sadler]--me and a whole pack of cars. I thought something happened to his car. I pulled down, I was still in bounds, and all of the sudden he hooks a hard left and it's either get out of the gas and get run over from behind, get hit in the right front and send it into Lake Lloyd, or keep going. I went over the line by probably a foot."

The rule has been controversial ever since it was first applied in the July 2001 Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Tony Stewart, racing for the lead and a potential $1 million bonus, was at the bottom of a four-wide pack late in the race. With little room to run four wide, Stewart dipped below the line rather than give up his position. NASCAR black-flagged him, but he ignored the penalty. While Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip went on to finish first and second, NASCAR dropped Stewart to 26th, the final position on the lead lap. That decision prompted an ugly incident in which Stewart had to be restrained by team owner Joe Gibbs.

While that was an extreme reaction to the rule, most drivers agree that when enforced uniformly it is an effective way to improve racing. "It's kind of like the restrictor-plate question," says Kevin Harvick. "Nobody has a better answer. The restrictor plates are doing the thing they're intended to do and that's kept the people in the grandstands safe. I think that might be part of the reason why everybody is on the bottom, because you know you can't go below the yellow line. It's just the way it is. If somebody has a better idea, I wish they'd tell us. Daytona is still a good track, and if you get enough cars you can go to the top and do what you need to do anyway. Right now, that line is like a having a second wall."

Jeff Burton believes drivers need to exercise more patience, a difficult task in the drafting situations at restrictor-plate tracks. "The yellow-line rule is kind of like paying taxes," says Burton. "It's for the overall good, but boy it sure hurts when you do your part. The yellow-line rule has kept people from putting themselves in positions in which they don't need to be. If you're forced below the yellow line and a guy squeezes you down there, then you just have to lift. Overall, it's a positive thing. It's definitely changed the way I race, but it's the same for everybody. I didn't really think I was going to like it, but I think it's the right thing to do.