Went to nascar....have a question

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

So i watched nascar for first time( live or on TV).

Everytime a accident occurrd a car would go to the front with their lights on and slow everyone down to 20 mph or so. During this slowdown all the cars bunched up. It seemed like no cars cud pass eachother but they could stay very close to eachother.

My question is this car had a massive like half lap lead over everyone, then a accident occurs and all the cars get to catch up. So whats the point of ever getting a lead if it gets messed up. If someone can explain this let me know.

[firedawg]

How else would you restart the field?

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

How else would you restart the field?

Im not saying there's another way but just seems retarded. Take you 270 laps to build a nice lead then boom....and its gone from a accident.

[5mike5]

every type of racing has that...not just nascar

guess u would need to be more of a race fan to understand it maybe

[Vegas39]

Plus leader gets bonus points for leading a lap and if leading most laps so there is incentive

[5mike5]

not to mention there isnt always a crash/caution so makes no sense not to want to get a lead

[Harry N. Lloyd]

It totally enables the higher-ups at Nascar to manipulate a race so that their chosen racer has a better chance of winning. Or a guy on your team who's not in contention can ding his car so his buddy gets to make up half a lap. Stupid rule.

[NrmlCurvSurfr]

It totally enables the higher-ups at Nascar to manipulate a race so that their chosen racer has a better chance of winning. Or a guy on your team who's not in contention can ding his car so his buddy gets to make up half a lap. Stupid rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Formula_One_crash_controversy

[5mike5]

It totally enables the higher-ups at Nascar to manipulate a race so that their chosen racer has a better chance of winning. Or a guy on your team who's not in contention can ding his car so his buddy gets to make up half a lap. Stupid rule.

clueless post

[NrmlCurvSurfr]

clueless

if you dont think crashes can be caused for an advantage, you are clueless...

[5mike5]

if that was case dale Jr. would be winning more than 1 time every 4 years...hes the best driver nascar could hope was winning

but he doesnt

[Vegas39]

if you dont think crashes can be caused for an advantage, you are clueless...

It does happen but not as bad as team orders you see in F1 and indycar

[Optional]

So i watched nascar for first time( live or on TV).

Everytime a accident occurrd a car would go to the front with their lights on and slow everyone down to 20 mph or so. During this slowdown all the cars bunched up. It seemed like no cars cud pass eachother but they could stay very close to eachother.

My question is this car had a massive like half lap lead over everyone, then a accident occurs and all the cars get to catch up. So whats the point of ever getting a lead if it gets messed up. If someone can explain this let me know.

You're right that there is not much incentive to drive out to a huge lead until it gets near the end of the race.

But there also comes a point in F1 where it is silly to keep pulling away, when you can slow down, save your tires and insure your win.

And I'm sure all the cautions started to feel pointless for a first timer. Once you get into you will find part of the interest is how teams strategize around the cautions.

[shaunovery]

I remember a race where massa lead alonso and massas engineer came on and said alonso is quicker than you I.e let him pass you

[Optional]

They were fined 100,000 euro for that.

Although it's legal to do that now.

[hawk 5]

Besides, when your way out front the cautions happen behind you. Lapping cars and getting them a lap down is a plus. Sponsor gets huge air time...... We as fans get to point and say "that dude has the field covered and we are going to win/lose are money today."

[shaunovery]

when i first started watching nascar i thought it was boring until the last 50 laps 4 yrs later i now understand its very exicting strategy lucky dog fuel mileage pitstops you need to watch the full race to understand the race

[Bigbill365]

actually when the race restarts the leader will have a good jump on the gas because you cant pegg the accelerator until after you cross the finish line to restart the race so by the time the guys in the back get to the line the leaders will be quit far ahead