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Nationwide Series amends double-file restarts

Fri 26th, June 2009

Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - NASCAR announced Friday the Nationwide Series will begin using double-file restarts throughout each race, beginning with next weekend's event at Daytona International Speedway.

The Sprint Cup Series instituted double-file restarts earlier this month at Pocono Raceway. The new restart system was introduced in the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.

Under the previous format, cars on the lead lap would restart in a single-file line, while lapped cars would start in a line next to them. With the rule change, the first and second-place cars will line up side-by-side as the green flag is displayed for each restart.

NASCAR said it chose to gauge the format on various configurations before instituting double-file restarts in the Nationwide Series.

"This is going to be extremely exciting for the NASCAR Nationwide Series," Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said. "As they have done in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, double-file restarts - shootout style will add to even more close competition in our series and offer more excitement for our fans. The format will also help give us more standard restarts every time."

Nationwide regular Jason Leffler is among those drivers supporting the rule change.

"Double-file restarts are going to add a lot of excitement to the Nationwide races," Leffler said. "It's going to allow us the opportunity to race for position on the restarts instead of wasting valuable time trying to get by a lapped car."

The Nationwide Series will use the same double-file restart format as Sprint Cup, with the race leader having the option to restart on the inside or outside lane. The second-place car then restarts next to the leader.