Blocking might be a part of racing by NASCAR made it a point to discuss it with all of the drivers prior to the start of the Daytona 500 this past weekend.
Rubbing is racing in the world of NASCAR, or at least that is what many NASCAR fans believe. When it comes to restrictor-plate tracks like Daytona, blocking often leads to rubbing, which leads to wrecks and upset drivers.
Prior to the start of the Daytona 500, NASCAR made it clear to drivers what their take currently is on blocking. NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France used the drivers’ meeting prior to the running of the Daytona 500 as an opportunity to express his and NASCAR’s view on blocking to the drivers.
"It’s my one chance, too – my first chance, rather – to tell you …what, uh, starting our season, obviously this is a big event. This is our biggest event. And partly it kicks off, if everything goes accordingly, and this event rolls and goes, and we’re excited about that. This is for the drivers. And what I want you to think about. We realize blocking is part of racing. We understand that. We accept that.Do not look for NASCAR … when you block somebody out there, and it’s going to happen today. It causes almost all the big incidents. Do not look for NASCAR … you better hope there’s a Good Samaritan behind you who is going to accept that block, because they have that lane and the right to it. And I don’t often make those statements. But I think it’s important today as we go into our most important event to make that really clear with our competitors."
The gist was pretty clear, if you block and driver and get dumped as a result, don’t come crying to NASCAR and looking for them to do something about it.
It’s interesting but not surprising that NASCAR would take this tact heading into the start of the 2017 season. While this isn’t NASCAR recreating their famous “boys have at it” stance from a few years ago, they do seem to be telling drivers they there is a bit of rope out there for them on the track.
Often times in Daytona cars will block rows of charging cars in a effort to maintain their spot on the track or to ride to momentum to the front of the field. If not done right and if the car being cut in front of doesn’t give, it will lead to a wreck. Most drivers who get run over on the track aren’t very happy about it, but NASCAR made it clear they didn’t want to hear about it if they chose to block aggressively.
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One would have to assume that the governing body will promote the same thing at Talladega and where the series returns to Daytona later this season.