Choose rule for restarts not coming in 2018

NASCAR drivers may get to pick which lane they want to restart in relatively soon, but it won’t be this year.

Racing tends to have a little element of gambling to it. In NASCAR, we see this play out with pit and fuel strategies all the time, especially when impending bad weather is a factor. But could we see that same risk-taking aspect apply to restarts as well?

Not this season. As NBC Sports reports, while there has been discussion about a so-called “choose rule” for restarts, it won’t be implemented for the 2018 season.

Here’s how the choose rule would start: As drivers approach the start/finish line with one to go before a restart, they would all get the option of which lane to choose instead of being locked into the bottom or top lane. That means that, say, if the first nine drivers wanted to go with the bottom, the 10th-place driver could pick the top and all of a sudden be starting well higher than their position would indicate.

It’s a gamble on track position being more important than the preferred groove, and it would add a definite strategic element to restarts that isn’t in place right now, giving crew chiefs more of a chance to help get their drivers better finishes — or worse ones if it backfires, but that’s racing. Alas, any decision on the choose rule is being tabled for now, which disappointed Denny Hamlin.

"“I know we talked a little bit about cone choose rule on restarts for some tracks. That didn’t come forth this year. I know several of us were hoping so, being that there was such a disadvantage at some racetracks such as (you) happen to come off pit lane in the wrong lane, you’re not going to win the race, and that’s not necessarily fair.“I think giving the drivers a choose rule would be something good to look forward in the future, but overall it’s status quo on the way the stages went. The cars are relatively the same, so there’s good momentum that we need to build on from last year.”"

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Hamlin’s remarks make it sound like the choose rule will be revisited again after the 2018 season, which sounds good to us. Anything that spices up restarts and leads to more intrigue is a good thing.