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Team orders is the term given to the practice of teams issuing orders to drivers instructing them to deviate from the normal racing procedure of racing against each other as they would another teams' drivers. This can be accomplished in advance by establishing a pecking order at the team or during a race via instructing the drivers.

This is generally done with the goal of protecting one drivers' championship position; typically, it occurs when one driver is ahead of the other in the race, but the trailing driver is ahead in points. In this case, the team will give the drivers orders to swap positions in order to award more points to the driver who is ahead in the championship. Similarly, if both drivers establish a significant margin over the remainder of the field, teams will often order them to hold position during the race to prevent unnecessary fuel burning and reduce the potential of a wreck.

While team orders are common across multiple forms of motorsport, in stock car racing they tend to be controversial, and often cause great acrimony between the affected driver and team.

Team Orders in the World Stock Car Championship[edit | edit source]

Team orders are a controversial topic in the World Stock Car Championship; the sanctioning body has officially banned outright team orders which affect the race results, but has stated that teams are free to designate a pecking order.

Team Orders in Eurocup[edit | edit source]

Team Orders in the American Stock Car Tour[edit | edit source]