NASCAR warns drivers not to block at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton cautioned drivers to watch their blocking in Sunday night's Coke Zero 400.

After Brian Scott's ill-timed block attempt wrecked the leaders in Saturday night's Xfinity Series race, Helton addressed the pre-race drivers meeting Sunday with a fatherly lecture.

He began by giving drivers a history lesson on why NASCAR instituted the double yellow line (out of bounds) at restrictor-plate tracks, then drew a comparison to blocking.

"It got to a point where you were comfortable enough to make moves where it ended up putting the rest of the field or other cars in jeopardy," he said. "Over time, we tried to figure out how NASCAR would respond to that. And we created that double yellow line that's only at Daytona and Talladega.

"I point to that because blocking is kind of peaking that way here and at Talladega. Last night's race was an example of the unintended consequences that can come from a blocking move.

"I'm not telling you how to drive a race car, because Lord knows, I couldn't do that. But drivers, be conscious about the moves you make on the racetrack, particularly when it comes to what we call blocking. Just think about that in tonight's race."

NASCAR has given such lectures before, with the best comparison coming three years ago before the Brickyard 400. In that meeting, race director David Hoots essentially told drivers to clean up their act on restarts before NASCAR had to step in.

"Let's do it right and do it the way we know how to do it so we don't have to take the extra steps of getting out there with micrometers and measurements and bring the field down," Hoots said then. "Usually, when we get involved to that point and you ask us to, you don't like the results! So I'm asking you to accept your responsibilities and do it properly."

That fits with NASCAR's basic approach to officiating. Officials would rather not have to take steps to enforce rules, so they warn drivers to fix it themselves – or else.

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