If Dale JR did not gain a competitive edge by passing the pace car, why did he pass it?

Question

don't say quit beating a dead horse just answer it because I am curious

Answer 1

TO SAVE FUEL AND NASCAR WOULDN'T HAVE SAID ANYTHING BUT HE DID IT ONE TO MANY TIMES.

Answer 2

Well, he knew that it would annoy sooooooooooooooo many people on this forum, he just could not pass it up.

It would appear that he has done his research into us well.

Does anyone else feel like you are being watched??????

Answer 3

he shut off his engine and started coasting...his momentum carried him past the pace car...if he hit the brakes, so as to not pass the pace car, he would lose momentum and he would have to turn his engine on earlier and use more fuel in order to keep up with the pace car....if that happend we'd be looking at 78 races without a win...or is it 77?

SAVING FUEL- that all he was doin

Answer 4

Thanks for the 2 points!  This question is getting really old!

Answer 5

He gained an advantage by passing the pace car by saving fuel.  Passing the pace car is illegal.  If dale jr hadn't passed the pace car, he would have run out fuel. WIth all that being said, he cheated. He shouldn't have won the race.

Answer 6

What Junior did was well within the rule as regularly interpreted in the past. To be penalized Junior must pass the pace car and not resume his position behind the pace car before crossing the Start/Finish line. If he did that, he would have put the field a lap down which is the reason NASCAR frowns upon actually passing the pace car.

Competitive advantage within the rules will never result in a penalty.

NASCAR changed the interpretation of the rule on the spot and Junior complied.

They informed all the drivers in the meeting in Sonoma how the rule would be interpreted hence forth.

Saving fuel during a race or under caution, even for competitive advantage, is not against the rules.

Any other driver, under the rule, would have been able to conserve fuel the same way, if they had been smart enough to realize the possibility.

Kind of makes me wonder if they would have changed the rule on the spot if it had been anybody other than Junior.

Answer 7

He was coasting. When you coast, you save fuel. When you coast, you can not stop the car or else you'll lose lots of fuel and you'll cause ANOTHER caution flag for stopping. And probably get parked. Jr. coasted by the pacecar. And Rowdy fans, don't forget. Even if Jr. did CHEAT (which he didn't because he wasn't in the gas while passing the pacecar) NASCAR let Kyle go at Talladega when he clearly went below the yellow line.

Answer 8

he could have just been toying with him just search dale earnhardt sr pace car and look what he used to do to pace cars

Answer 9

Because Dale Jr. fans have the amazing ability to rationalize any questionable behavior by their driver.

Nascar realizes this, and plays along with special treatment so that these throngs of fanboyz will continue to spend massive amounts of money decorating themselves with advertisements for the worst-tasting energy drink of all time.

Answer 10

Because it's what he did at the time.  I don't know the answer he doesn't relate those things in our talks in my dreams.

Answer 11

Well as he was coasting & using the brakes would force him to re-fire the engine sooner which would make him use more fuel & therefore run out sooner. So he coasted pass it instead, but not too far. Worked out pretty well for 'em.

Answer 12

Why don't you go look for the other 567 questions like this..maybe you'll find the answer you want there..

Answer 13

Because he was coasting to save fuel for the win and NASCAR told Him to back off

Go Dale Jr #88

Answer 14

Just speculation here, but I would imagine it had alot to do with the fact that he knew he had a 99% chance of winning that race, ending his drought, I don't think he was doing it to try to get a competitve edge, I think he just got a little ahead of himself with the anticipation waiting for the green flag to drop.

His adrenaline I would imagine had to be pretty high at that point.

Or maybe he was cheating..