Throughout Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence race at Watkins Glen Worldwide, two late-race leaders had been penalized for going early and mashing the fuel earlier than reaching the restart zone.
The primary was Ross Chastain, who led 19 laps earlier than penalized with simply ten laps to go. Two restarts later with 5 laps to go, it was Gio Ruggiero, who was even nearer to the road and was getting pushed from behind.
“Whoever was behind me pushing proper earlier than the field, pushing me proper into it — like I am unable to do something about that,” Ruggiero stated over the radio. “You need me to get on the brakes and wreck the entire f****** area?”
It is price noting that the restart zone additionally modified this yr with NASCAR shifting nearer to the doorway of the ultimate nook. Whereas a white line is painted throughout the observe to mark the beginning of the brand new zone, there’s a pale black timing line simply earlier than it. Additionally they added some extra colours and different vibrant visuals to the world on Saturday morning.
Gio Ruggiero leads the sphere on a late-race restart, No. 17 Tricon Storage Toyota
Photograph by: Sean Gardner / Getty Pictures
Chastain’s penalty wasn’t about getting shoved, and was positively extra about having the ability to see the place the restart zone really started.
“I have never seen a replay but when they stated I went early, then I am fairly certain I did,” stated Chastain, later including: “I simply mis-executed. I utterly failed on that restart by going early. Crossed a line and went on the improper line, clearly. That hurts, after which doubling down and I tore it up again for twentieth so a really humbling day right here.”
On Saturday morning, NASCAR was figuring out in that space, eradicating some tire packs simply earlier than the beginning of the restart zone, which sits between Flip 6 and Flip 7, proper earlier than the doorway of the ultimate nook.
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