(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

Basketball games are often filled with debates over whether a foul is a block or a charge. Soccer sees players flopping to try to get a red card or a penalty kick in the box. Baseball followers routinely argue over balls and strikes, while football’s devout fanbase remains uncertain of what constitutes a catch, holding or pass interference. 

NASCAR? It has the yellow line rule – at least at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. 

The question at this stage is whether it really should.

In a sport defined largely by black-and-white rules like weight and measurement tolerances, accurately-tracked pit road speeds and clearly-established commitment lines, NASCAR is blessed with comparatively few arguments over rules with margin for error. Restarts cause occasional issues with verdicts issued for jumped starts, cautions can be called into question and there are rare instances of rulings tied to emotions and intent for crashes and off-track altercations. 

But overall these debates are comparatively minimal in the scheme of the season. The only races that constantly seem to provide officiating controversies are the annual trips to NASCAR’s drafting sanctuaries in Florida and Alabama, throwing occasional darkness over four races that sit among the most beloved on the NASCAR calendar. 

In a trip to Talladega Superspeedway in 2001, risk of competitors crashing en masse after being pushed down to the infield grass led to the implementation of the yellow line rule, which constitutes that a driver may not advance their position with a move that goes at all below the line. They can dive down to dodge a crash or move back, but can’t purposefully advance their position. 

The spirit of the rule is sound. Avoiding awkward trips to the apron and the massive crashes that can come with them is generally a good thing given the tight packs and high speeds seen on the two tracks. But over time competitors have come to game the system, while the penalty decisions that have come with the infractions have perceivably varied. 

Such was the case on Sunday, as Denny Hamlin completed an overtake of four competitors coming out of Turn 4 to edge out Matt DiBenedetto at the start-finish line and claim the YellaWood 500. 

The pass was another classic moment for Hamlin in a year filled with a third Daytona 500 win and numerous standout drives. Unfortunately it came well below the yellow line. 

And thus the rule – and, most importantly, NASCAR’s interpretation of it – came to the test once again. 

The resulting verdicts have led to confusion and debate. 

Hamlin dodged a penalty after being deemed to have went below to the line to avoid a wreck and celebrated his seventh win. DiBenedetto was instead penalized for forcing Hamlin and the others into that position from the lead. 

Chase Elliott was penalized for a dive below the yellow line in the ensuing run to the checkered flag, but an hour later that was rescinded and Chris Buescher was instead penalized for putting Elliott in that spot.

One day later, opinions on NASCAR’s decisions remain split. Callers have flooded SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to air their grievances, while industry members have debated the merits of both sides of the issue.

To best understand the issue, you have to know how the series got to this point.

History

Controversy surrounding the rule started shortly after its implementation in 2001, when Tony Stewart was penalized for a dive below the yellow line with five laps remaining in the Pepsi 400. The broadcast was quick to point out the penalty, though an irate Stewart never answered the black flag. 

Two years later Dale Earnhardt Jr. dipped below the yellow line to pass Matt Kenseth at Talladega, but he wasn’t penalized for the move and went on to win one of four-consecutive races at the track. 

Most others in the early days of the rule were penalized regardless of intent. Kenny Wallace, Sterling Marlin, Mike Skinner, Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray were each issued penalties for passes below the line from 2002 through 2007. None of those moves came at the front of the field and most failed to create significant fervor, though Edwards’ penalty in the 2006 Bud Shootout after dodging the pitting Jimmie Johnson ultimately frustrated him to the point of quitting the race after accompanying pit road penalties. 

In the fall of 2008 it was Regan Smith that fell victim to the rule, being seemingly forced below the line by Tony Stewart while making a pass for the lead in the Talladega trioval. Smith led at the line, but saw his first win stripped after he was penalized for the infraction.

With that result in mind, Brad Keselowski held his ground when put in a similar position in a 2009 battle with Carl Edwards. The result was a harrowing crash that saw Edwards sent careening into the catchfence – exactly the sort of thing the rule is meant to stop. 

A few more instances popped up in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with Hamlin notably losing the 2011 Bud Shootout to a penalty. Nearly every infraction resulted in a penalty save for a 2011 Truck race at Talladega, when Austin Dillon was pushed under the line but ultimately avoided a penalty. 

Chase Elliott wasn’t penalized in a 2016 Xfinity Series race at Daytona, being deemed to have been forced below the line by Joey Logano. Justin Haley was two years later, costing him a win at the same track. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was penalized for a pass in The Clash in 2019, while Johnny Sauter became one of the first ones penalized for forcing someone else under the line in last fall’s Talladega Truck race, giving the win to underdog Spencer Boyd. 

One day later Ryan Blaney went under the line in making the winning pass against Ryan Newman. He was deemed to have been forced below the line by Newman and kept the win, but Newman wasn’t penalized for forcing him into the penalize-able area. 

The Debate

Blaney and Newman’s ruling in 2019 stood in direct contrast not only to the prior day’s penalty for Sauter, but now also Sunday’s ruling for DiBenedetto and Buescher,

NASCAR defended its decision-making on Sunday, noting that Logano had been penalized for a similar infraction earlier in the race. 

“The 21 (DiBenedetto) hung a left, drove those guys down below the line,” NASCAR Cup Series director Scott Miller said. “We called that twice on (Logano) during the race, so nothing different there.” 

“On (Byron) and (Hamlin) being down there, I mean, in our judgment they were down there to avoid a wreck.”

Hamlin naturally agreed, echoing sentiments that the precedent had been set earlier. 

“Finally they put their foot down and said, ‘This is the rule, we’re going to enforce it,’” Hamlin said. “They set the precedent early so you know you weren’t going to get away with it.”

The description from Miller and defense from Hamlin were well-stated, but they stood opposite of statements within the sanctioning body’s ranks about Stenhouse’s penalty at Daytona in 2018.

At the time NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell got into a Twitter spat with driver-turned-analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr., where O’Donnell was adamant that drivers couldn’t advance their position when pushed below the line. 

While he found himself on the right side of a ruling in 2003, Earnhardt has been one of the loudest voices calling for the yellow line rule’s abolishment in recent years. He stood behind that opinion at the end of Sunday’s broadcast on NBCSN, telling television viewers that the rule should be abandoned. 

“Nobody really wants to see the races come down to these types of decisions, and I don’t think it’s gonna crash more cars than we crashed today,” he said. “It’s kind of frustrating to have to make these decisions, I know NASCAR doesn’t want to be put in this position, so let’s just get rid of it from here on out. Just let these guys race it out, at least in the last few laps.” 

Former competitor and broadcast partner Dale Jarrett agreed with his colleague. “I’m not saying Denny shouldn’t have won the race there or what Matt DiBenedetto was doing and the contact that was created on the last lap, I don’t think he deserves to finish 21st,” he said. “… Let’s get rid of that (rule) where you’re not put in that position.”

Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton was also quick to echo Earnhardt’s thoughts. 

To Earnhardt’s point, the initial cause for the yellow line rule is a harder one to justify in 2020 than it was in 2001. In modern times superspeedway races often devolve into wars of attrition with more crash damage than a trip to the half-mile Martinsville Speedway. Upwards of 75% of the field tends to be caught up in accidents, leaving many strong finishers celebrating their runs beside battered machines covered in tape.

Many of those crashes are vicious. Kurt Busch was sent airborne in a wild accident on Sunday. The same happened to Brendan Gaughan and Kyle Larson at the track in 2019. Ryan Newman’s near-death experience in February’s Daytons 500 is well-documented. 

Drafting races have been utter chaos, particularly during the tapered spacer era.

NASCAR argues that they would be even worse if the yellow line rule didn’t exist. 

“I do sincerely believe we need the rule,” Miller said. “You see all the real estate that’s around here. If we started having cars running 12 wide down the back straightaway, imagine what would happen when you get to Turn 3. 

“I think it’s important that we continue to have a rule. You get out there in the heat of battle, things happen. It’s hard when there’s all that real estate down there, but you just can’t do it.” 

Third-place finisher Ty Dillon agreed with Miller’s thought process. 

“The rule doesn’t need to be changed,” he said. “It’s a product of what’s going on right now. These cars are a bit easier to drive, stuck to the ground harder. The runs are happening twice as fast as they ever have.

“Guys going below the yellow line, you got guys going for a win, guys not trying to wreck. … We know the rules before we get here. I think if you were to open it up and take the yellow line away, you’re going to have guys blocking all the way down to the grass, have twice as big of wrecks.” 

“I don’t honestly know what to do to make it better. I know it’s unfortunate when it comes down to the end of the race, it becomes a judgment call. … It is unfortunate when you have to make those calls, put people out of the race for something like that. But I honestly don’t know what I would change if I was in that position to make it any better.”

Both Earnhardt and Miller make compelling cases. Evidence of that was apparent from runner-up Erik Jones, who acknowledged that wrecks could get worse without the yellow line rule while also noting the bad situation the current judgment calls create. 

“I think you’d probably see more wrecks without (the yellow line rule), guys being able to dive down there, trying to make big moves,” Jones said. “You’d probably see more accidents than what we have now.

“I don’t honestly know what to do to make it better. I know it’s unfortunate when it comes down to the end of the race, it becomes a judgment call.

“It is unfortunate when you have to make those calls, put people out of the race for something like that,” he later continued. “But I honestly don’t know what I would change if I was in that position to make it any better.”

Moving Forward

Frustrating ending aside, the NASCAR industry has little time to waste focusing on Talladega. The paddock will quickly shift focus to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and setting the field for the Round of 8. From there the flow of “normal” races will make the yellow line rule a non-factor for the rest of the year. 

But in February the Daytona 500 will come around and the line will be among the main topics of discussion once again if a change isn’t made. 

For both the sanctioning body and competitors, a new precedent appears to have been set. Whether a result of staffing moves in race control or simply a change of heart, blocking drivers are now perceivably more at risk of a penalty than those they force below the line. The wronged competitor can also seemingly advance their position without repercussion.  

In theory that’s a smart move, should the rule stay around. Providing a driver pushed below the line with incentive to avoid contact without asking them to sacrifice pace or track position could pay dividends in the future, while penalizing overzealous blockers provides an opportunity to mitigate some of the contact and crashes. 

But if the rule is sticking around then another controversy still rests in the horizon. A few races may go by without incident, but eventually another driver will go below the line and claim that they were blocked. A judgment call will be made, someone will be penalized and everyone will be upset all over again. 

Then people like me will probably end up writing these same hot takes and stories debating the merits of each side of the argument. 

It’s up to NASCAR and the industry to decide if those future headaches are worth whatever perceived safety risks are currently being mitigated by the rule. 

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Aaron Bearden Featured NASCAR Cup Series Talladega Superspeedway