IRL won’t change restart rules

The Indy Racing League will not adopt NASCAR's system of putting lapped cars at the rear of the field on late restarts in spite of some calls to do so.

While acknowledging a change might make finishes more exciting, IndyCar Series chief steward Brian Barnhart said the system "seems to be artificial."

The IRL's current procedure of the pace car picking up the leader and the other cars following in their natural order came under scrutiny near the end of last weekend's race at Nashville Superspeedway when second-place Dario Franchitti could not make a move on leader Scott Dixon because there were four lapped cars between them.

Franchitti wasn't happy with the situation, but he didn't call for a rule change. Danica Patrick, who was two cars behind Franchitti, was furious with the lapped car in front of her but likewise didn't call for Barnhart to make adjustments. In fact, of the dozen Indy-car drivers contacted by The Star this week, only three said they favored the Indy Racing League going to NASCAR's system of putting lead-lap cars together when restarts occur in the final 10 laps.

"I was actually thinking about that during the caution during (the Nashville) race," Scott Sharp said. "Without the lapped cars, it would have been a much better show because the leaders would be up there fighting it out amongst themselves." More at Indy Star