Brad Keselowski Racing Drivers and Crew Chiefs Comment on NCWTS Chase Format and Caution Clock

NASCAR officials announced earlier today a new championship format and caution procedure for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS).


The seven-race NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase will begin at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 24. It will feature eight drivers and two elimination rounds, with four drivers competing in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A win in the first 16 races all but guarantees a driver entry into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, provided that the driver is in the Top 30 in points and has attempted to qualify for each race.

A Caution Clock will be utilized in each NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event (except for Eldora Speedway). The clock will be set to 20 minutes and triggered at the start of each green-flag run during race events. When the clock counts down to zero, a caution flag then will be displayed and no beneficiary will be awarded. A caution occurring before time expires resets the clock when the subsequent green flag is displayed and the first truck a lap down will be the beneficiary. 


The Caution Clock will be turned off with 20 laps to go at all events in the series, with the exception of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Pocono Raceway, where the clock will be turned off with 10 laps remaining.

Brad Keselowski Racing drivers Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric and their respective crew chiefs commented on the new format and procedure changes.  BKR has placed second in the NCWTS Drivers Point Standings in both 2014 (Ryan Blaney) and 2015 (Reddick).


Daniel Hemric – No. 19 California Clean Power/Draw-Tite Ford F-150: 
ON THE NEW CHASE FORMAT: “When the Chase was put into effect in the (NASCAR Sprint) Cup Series, it was an unknown.  Nobody knew how it was going to work or how it was going to propel the sport.  Now, fast forward a couple of years and we see how exciting and intense it’s made the end of the season.   I think it was only a matter of time before we came to this moment.  The sport is evolving; there’s no better time for this format in our series than now, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure the California Clean Power/Draw-Tite team is a part of it.  It’s going to be a serious battle, and I think the fans are really going to enjoy it.”


ON THE CAUTION CLOCK PROCEDURE: “As a driver, you look forward to restarts.  Over the years restarts have been the common ground where you have an opportunity to make gains.  I think it’s going to be exciting for the fans and definitely add another thing to make the crew chiefs lose sleep at night.”

Chad Kendrick – Crew Chief, No. 19 California Clean Power/Draw-Tite Ford 

F-150: ON THE NEW CHASE FORMAT: “To be safe, we’d love to go get that win at Daytona or Atlanta with the California Clean Power/Draw-Tite team.  If we can get that win early, then you don’t worry about it and you can start trying things to get ready for the championship.  It’s all about those last seven races, how you’re going to maximize them and what we need to do as a company to get better.”

ON THE CAUTION CLOCK PROCEDURE: “Before the race, you look at how many sets of tires you have and how you’d like to run each stint of the race. Now, you have to factor in that 20-minute window and how that may fall within tire allocation.   It’s just another variable that you plan for and something else to think about.”

Tyler Reddick – No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150: ON THE NEW CHASE FORMAT:  “It’s definitely going to be interesting.  We’ve seen how much excitement the Chase brings to the Cup Series.  Eliminating mistakes is going to be the biggest thing for myself and the Cooper Standard team.  Consistency and being on your game is more important now than ever before. One bad race can take you out of championship contention. If you win, you’re in the playoffs and if you win early on in the year, you can just focus on developing your equipment and strategy for later in the season.  I like the last five racetracks of the season a lot.  As a driver, you will get a chance to learn what the format is all about, and that will definitely help you in the future.”  

ON THE CAUTION CLOCK PROCEDURE:  “I really don’t think the caution clock is going to change a lot for our racing. I can realistically say most of the cautions we have generally happen within 20 minutes of each other on a regular basis.  It will create more restarts and more pit stops.”

Doug Randolph – Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150: ON THE NEW CHASE FORMAT: “The way we’ve been structured in the past at BKR, we’ve had one team running for the driver’s championship and one for owner’s title.  But this year, we’ve got two guys running for the driver’s title, and that’s important.  We’ve seen on the Cup side that you can have the best year, the best four or five weeks in a row and it really doesn’t matter because something out of your control can cut your season short. It’s good for us as a company because we expect to be two of the eight drivers contending for the championship.” 

ON THE CAUTION CLOCK PROCEDURE: “It’s going to change the way we race.  I can foresee that at some racetracks this might get us in a tire deficit.  You’re going to have more cautions than you did before, and if you’re not frugal with your tires, you could find yourself in a problem at the end of the race.  There are a lot of things to look at with how much fuel you want to put into the Cooper Standard Ford F-150 during a pit stop and how much time you want to spend on pit road.  More cautions are going to mix it up.  There’s going to be more trucks on the lead lap, which is going to make track position that much more important.”

BKR PR