DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As expected, NASCAR on Thursday announced changes to its procedure for green-white-checkered finishes.
When late-race cautions keep events from ending under green, there will now be a maximum of three green-white-checkered attempts made to obtain a green-flag finish.
NASCAR officials formalized the rule change during Thursday's meeting with drivers and crew chiefs before the 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. The change applies to all Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series events.
NASCAR officials met with drivers and teams Wednesday.
"We want to do all we can to finish our races under green flag conditions. The fans want to see that, and so do the competitors," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition.
"We felt that putting a cap at three attempts to finish the race under green is the way to go. It gives the fans what they want, and it also gives the teams a better opportunity to prepare for their end-of-race strategy."
Previously - and as recently as Saturday night at Daytona - if the caution came out prior to the race leader taking the white flag, one green-white-checkered finish was attempted. That's one lap under green, the white-flag lap and the checkered flag.
The previous rule was implemented in 2004, making the procedure the same for all three national series. Before then, it once had taken four green-white-checkered tries to finish a Truck race at St. Louis.
Both 150-mile qualifying races Thursday ended under green-flag conditions, so NASCAR's new rule hasn't been put to use.
Patrick improves in practice: Danica Patrick was fifth fastest in Thursday's lone Nationwide Series practice session and was pleased with the improvement in the car since Wednesday.
"I was a little loose. I'm still a little loose. But we've done some things to chase that down," she said.
"You know, the big difference for me from last weekend to this weekend is I think the ARCA car rolled through the corner and there was a lot of grip there. The closing rates were not as dramatic as they are in the Nationwide car."
Patrick was 26th fastest in Wednesday's session. Qualifying for Saturday's Nationwide race is set for 3:10 p.m. today.
Vickers an unpopular guy: Brian Vickers was not a very popular participant in Thursday's second 150-mile qualifying race.
Two drivers - Juan Pablo Montoya and Dale Earnhardt Jr. - launched into profanity-laced tirades about Vickers over their respective team radios. And Tony Stewart gave Vickers a shove out of the way late in the race on his way to the lead.
"We were running up front, and Vickers, on the restart, got inside of me, and it dropped me all the way to the back," Montoya said.
Earnhardt was incensed after Vickers made contact early in the race, forcing him to pit for extensive fender damage. Crew chief Lance McGrew implored him to think about the "squirrels between you and the trophy" on Sunday.
Vickers admitted struggling.
"It was just bouncing around a lot. It was really loose," Vickers said of his No. 83 Toyota. "I think everybody had a handful out there."
