NASCAR Goes for “Shootout Style” Restarts

NASCAR on Thursday announced a change to its race format with the addition of “Double-File Restarts — Shootout Style” throughout each race. Beginning with this weekend at Pocono Raceway, the first- and second-place drivers will line up side-by-side as the green flag flies for each restart.

“We’ve heard the fans loud and clear: ‘double-file restarts — shootout style’ are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series,” said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France. “This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans.”

via NASCAR.COM – NASCAR adopts double-file restarts in Cup Series races – Jun 4, 2009.

This gets the the slower lapped traffic out of the way on restarts so that the leaders can race it out without getting tied up in cars that aren’t racing for the lead. I should make racing a lot more exciting.