NASCAR still tweaking the new double-file restart rule, just two days before the Pocono 500

   By Mike Mulhern

   mikemulhern.net

   POCONO, Pa.
   NASCAR officials are still working Friday morning at Pocono International Raceway on tweaks and fine points of the newly proposed double-file restarts, to begin in Sunday's Pocono 500.
   And crew chiefs and drivers expressed some confusion about various parts of the new rule, which would seem fairly straightforward but which has some quirks, which could put as many as a dozen lapped cars back on the lead lap.
    Ryan Newman: "It's all for the fans. The drivers have input, and we've been able to give input.
   "But we haven't talked through all this thing. The second-place car isn't supposed to beat the leader to the starting line for the restart, but if it's two-to-go I'm going for it….and suppose the second-place car beats the leader to the line by three inches – you could go from the front back to 40th."
   "I'd would have rather mulled it over for a while, as a competitor," Mark Martin said. "A lot of the rules made are not made for the competitors. But I understand why they did it this weekend – let's go put on a show for our fans. We're trying to give them more in a tough time."
   Kurt Busch says the new rule probably won't be much of an issue here this weekend, because this track is so big it's hard for a driver to get a lap down. Too, a driver pitting under green here is unlikely to lose a lap.
    However at a tight short-track like Loudon, a tour stop in three weeks, things could be much different.
   And Busch says "Sonoma will be a nightmare, for restarts" because the uphill section just past the starting line is very tight and narrow.
   "It's really going to be odd to see how the outside lane works, because the inside lane can box you up high," Kyle Busch says. "So I'll be interested to see how it all plays out, especially at some place like Michigan.
   "It will be fun to try to figure out all the loopholes."
   Denny Hamlin says “I think they’re going to check to see how this works out. I think it's going to take a little time for them to realize all the things that can and probably will go wrong with this restart thing -- when guys start getting trapped one lap down and tail-end of the lead lap. That’s when it's really going to start getting confusing on how this goes."