Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants NASCAR to eliminate overtime line at tracks without restrictor plates

NASCAR’s most popular driver would like to see the overtime line eliminated so that races can finish under green flag conditions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants NASCAR to largely eliminate the overtime line, a procedural rule that he and fellow drivers had a role in implementing and one that impacted the finish of Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.

Earnhardt advocated on Periscope Sunday for NASCAR to abolish the green-white-checkered flag policy it has in place for when a caution pushes a race past its scheduled distance and into overtime. NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver would like to see an amended rule for all tracks, with the exception of restrictor-plate tracks Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

“I kind of helped come up with that idea, so this is going to be kind of strange, but I think they should get rid of the overtime line at all the racetracks except for Daytona and Talladega,” Earnhardt said after finishing 11th in the AAA 400.

NASCAR’s current rule states a race that goes into overtime is considered official once the field reaches a predesignated point on the backstretch under the green flag. If a caution occurs before that point, the race will be restarted. Once the leader crosses that the point the race will not be restarted should a caution occur.

The rule was instituted prior to the 2016 season at the behest of the driver’s council, a select group of drivers that meets with NASCAR executives and officials regularly, after a 2015 second-round playoff elimination race at Talladega ended in controversy. That race saw Kevin Harvick trigger an 11-car accident on an overtime restart, which some competitors alleged was intentional so that he wouldn’t be knocked out of the playoffs.

On Sunday, Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, passed leader Kyle Larson on an overtime restart and cross the overtime line just before a nine-car accident transpired. Johnson was declared the winner of the AAA 400, with Larson second.

“I think we should race it out everywhere,” Earnhardt said. “No overtime line, just keep on doing green-white-checkereds until you get it right everywhere. And then at Daytona and Talladega, you probably can do something different.”

Because of the risks associated with double-file restarts at Daytona and Talladega in addition to the frequency that violent multi-car accidents happen, NASCAR is against having multiple overtime restarts at the these two tracks. As such, that policy will not be changing soon, NASCAR executive vice president of competition Scott Miller said Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“That’s black and white and straightforward,” Miller said. “We don’t want the races to end that way, but we put that procedure in place starting last season, and that’s how we do it.

“There was a lot that went into that, a lot of conversation that were had. One of the big considerations was superspeedway racing, and the havoc we typically have on restarts and the green-white-checkered there. It was a way to not have to do that three times at those racetracks.”

But Earnhardt contends there are ways to both eliminate the overtime line and combat the kinds of accidents that have marred recent finishes at Daytona and Talladega. In 2015, Austin Dillon’s car was launched into the frontstretch catchfence coming to the checkered flag during the July Daytona race, scattering debris into the grandstands.

“Get rid of the plates — change engines to a smaller size but no plate,” Earnhardt said. “That way cars would get spread out so the green-white-checkered wouldn’t be too bad. Or you could have single-file restarts at Daytona and Talladega for green-white-checkered.

“There are a couple of things you could do. The overtime line was a good idea, but I don’t know about doing it everywhere.”