Racing back to the caution

Racing back to the caution is a procedure in stock car racing, most notably in the World Stock Car Championship, that is in effect once the caution flag is displayed.

Usage

The procedure is currently used in the World Stock Car Championship when the pace car is deployed due to an on-track incident, such as a crash or light rain. Rather than immediately ceasing, racing would continue until the field crossed the start/finish like to "take" the caution flag and be picked up by the pace car. Passes for position are counted, as are lapped cars passing the leader to regain a lap. If the yellow comes out on the last lap of the race, racing continues as normal until cars cross the finish line.

Current Rules

The World Stock Car Championship outlines the procedure for racing back to the caution as:

• When the caution flag is displayed, drivers may, at their own discretion, continue to contest their position until crossing the start-finish line to be picked up by the pace car. Drivers are to maintain a reasonable pace irrespective of whether they choose to contest a position further or hold.
• Drivers are forbidden from contesting a position while racing back to the caution until they have cleared the incident for which the caution was called.
• Drivers who race back to the caution in a manner deemed reckless or otherwise dangerous by race officials will be subject to conduct penalties during the race, in addition to fines and points penalties post-race.
• A driver who causes an incident while racing back to the caution may be subject to severe penalties during and after the race; this can include revocation of a driver's Super License.

Potential Problems

Racing back to the caution remains controversial among teams, fans, and drivers.

Notes

• Due to the fact that it is illegal to modify NR2003's EXE, racing back to the caution is necessarily still part of the rules.