At Daytona, Greg Biffle Says He Supports Mandatory NASCAR Cautions

Though Bruton Smith’s idea to implement mandatory cautions to spice up NASCAR races doesn’t have much support in the garage, at least one driver is speaking out in favor of the idea.

Greg Biffle said Thursday at Daytona he supports the concept of throwing periodic competition cautions if the races go green like they have in many instances this season.

“I would not be against it if we see the races continue to run green the whole way with one or two cautions,” Biffle said. “I think that that, over time, could lose the fans’ interest. Sitting in the stands and watching on TV, I think they could lose interest, and that’s not what we want.”

Biffle said he doesn’t know how NASCAR would determine when to throw the cautions – he suggested perhaps after one full fuel/tire run plus three-quarters of another – but agreed with Smith that “we are somewhat in the entertainment business.”

The problem is, Biffle said, drivers are focused on racing and get upset when there’s a “bogus caution” – the cautions he described as a non-obvious debris cautions.

“Somebody always benefits, so we go, ‘Oh, that’s not fair,’” he said. “Because that guy got the lucky dog and (another) guy got saved from the leader passing him. It happens every race, it just isn’t talked about because there’s always that situation.”

Biffle said that concern needed to be balanced with the concern over long, green-flag runs, which he said “has lost people’s attention a little bit.”

But NASCAR president Mike Helton, also speaking Thursday, said NASCAR fans want to see the races unfold naturally and added the sanctioning body had no plans to implement multiple competition cautions.

“I think at the end of the day, our product of racing on the racetrack is exciting,” Helton said. “Sports is a true reality show as it unfolds. You have to be careful when you think about artificially creating the outcome of that.

“We go through cycles being accused of creating cautions. It’s kind of interesting to be accused of not having enough cautions. Time will swing back (in the other direction).”

Not all drivers were enthusiastic about Smith’s mandatory cautions idea.

“Same guy who ruined Bristol,” Kevin Harvick said.