NASCAR Mistakes confuse racing officials

The racing body wants to get things right, even if it means rewriting the rules.
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Races marred by long caution periods. A driver forced back in the field because a pit road official didn't understand a new rule. Some of the slowest speeds in decades.
It's been a confusing and controversial few weeks for NASCAR, filled with mistakes caused by the stock car sport's persistent attempts to tweak already complicated rules nearly halfway through the season.
"It's difficult for us as drivers being in the cars to understand what is going on 99 out of 100 times," driver Tony Stewart said.
Apologized to drivers
Last weekend at Pocono Raceway, NASCAR president Mike Helton was forced to apologize -- twice -- for gaffes that largely centered around the elimination of the racing back to caution rule. Timing and scoring issues have also caused headaches.
Even some fans have shown their frustration, throwing debris onto tracks following races that have ended early or under a caution flag. A backup flagman at Pocono was hit with a cooler, but he wasn't hurt.
"We're big boys, we have made some mistakes and our president has apologized, and I can tell you our president is tired of apologizing," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "It's time to get it right.
Hunter said NASCAR will do what's needed to correct their mistakes, even if it means rewriting the rules -- again.
"We're going to do everything we can to restore whatever credibility we've lost with competitors and fans," he said.
Biggest issue
Perhaps the biggest issue is scoring and position on the track when the caution is out. Unlike some racing bodies, NASCAR does not revert back to the order of the last completed green-flag lap.
At the MBNA 400 at Dover two weeks ago, drivers ran 24 laps under caution in a 400-mile race that lasted 4 hours, 47 minutes while NASCAR officials struggled to figure out the correct order of the cars.
That led to the first apology from Helton and prompted NASCAR officials to begin using a new electronic timing system full time -- starting a week later at Pocono. The human system in the control tower will be used as a backup in case of electronic failures.
Trouble at Pocono
There was more trouble at Pocono when the pit road official opened the service lane one lap too early during a late caution period.
As a result, leader Jimmie Johnson was unable to pit while most of the cars behind him did. He had to pit later and it cost him the front spot on the restart.
Instead of penalizing the violators, NASCAR let the field stand. Johnson fell back more than 20 spots before overcoming the mistake to win under a caution. His 112.129 mph average speed was the slowest in a Pocono race since 1974.
"I can't explain why days like [this] happen," Helton said. "I know how much effort we put into training officials, analyzing rules, regulations and procedures to be ready for what happens on race day."
Change already made
One change, Hunter said, has already come out of the pit-stop miscue: From now on, the race director in the tower will tell the flagman when to open and close the pits.
Helton said he only wants to make NASCAR as smooth as can be for fans and competitors.
"The best thing in sports is to keep it as simple as you can so that everybody can follow it," he said, "and you spend a lot less time explaining things."