NASCAR Drivers have been violating a gentleman's agreement not to pass after caution flag

There is less gentlemanly behavior on the track in the Winston Cup.
By MIKE HARRIS
AP MOTORSPORTS WRITER
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- It's getting tougher to win in the Winston Cup, and tougher to find a gentleman on the track.
Several times this year drivers blatantly ignored the so-called gentleman's agreement that prohibits passing after a caution flag is waved.
More of the same could be in store today in the Brickyard 400, where passing is difficult on the tight 21/2-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The biggest flap this season came in June in Sonoma, Calif., when Robby Gordon passed Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick under caution and went on to win.
Criticized Robby Gordon
Harvick and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon criticized Robby Gordon -- no relation -- for the move. The winner insisted he did nothing wrong.
"I didn't break any rule," he said. "I was trying to win a race. That's my job."
As unhappy as Jeff Gordon was over Robby Gordon's decision at Sonoma, he said, "I think you do whatever you feel like doing.
"Obviously, the correct way to do it is to have a system in place that you can freeze the field when the caution comes out, and then we'll have the controversies you had here," he added, laughing.
Gordon was referring to the 2002 Indianapolis 500 in 2002. The dispute concerned whether Paul Tracy had passed Helio Castroneves before or after a caution came out near the end of the race. In the IRL, positions are frozen when the caution flag waves.
Castroneves was awarded the victory, his second straight at Indy, but Tracy insists he was the real winner.
Debate in NASCAR
It has always been a matter of debate in NASCAR whether racing back to the flagstand when a caution comes out is too dangerous, with the possibility of crashed cars or debris on the track. NASCAR allows the practice, but the gentleman's agreement to slow and hold position has been around since the early days of the stock car series.
"That was started by guys who did an awful lot for the sport in the early days, and it meant something then," former series champion Dale Jarrett said. "Some guys just don't want to go along with it now."
Jeff Gordon acknowledges it's not a clear-cut situation.
"There are so many different scenarios," he said.
"If I've got a fender inside of a guy and we're side by side and the caution flag comes out and I feel like we were racing before the caution came out, you keep racing. If a guy tries to pass me on the caution, I'm going to try and keep him from passing."
Personal code
Jarrett has his own code.
"Since there's no rule, I'll take care of it in my own way," he said. "Until NASCAR makes a rule that you can't, and until we have the technology available to know where every car is on the track, you just have to make your own decision in each instance."
John Darby, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, said the gentleman's agreement still works most of the time and that the stock car sanctioning body would not want to have an Indy-type controversy on its hands.
"I'm confident our drivers have the ability to make the right decision when it comes time to apply the gentleman's agreement," Darby said.
But Jeff Gordon points out that the increasing competition level in NASCAR's top series is the main reason for the lack of gentlemanly behavior.
"When it's that difficult to pass and win races, you look for any advantage you can possibly get," he said. "If there's one you can get when that caution comes out then you might think about taking it."