NASCAR announced via a release a revision to one of its race procedures, allowing a maximum of three restart attempts prior to the White Flag under NASCAR’s Green-White-Checkered flag finish. According to the release, if the leader has taken the White Flag and the caution flag is displayed, the field is frozen and the race will not be restarted.

Previously, there was only one restart attempt.

The new procedure will be implemented beginning with today’s running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Gatorade Duel at Daytona and will apply to all three national series.

NASCAR officials met with drivers and teams Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway to discuss the change and get their input. The announcement was made during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ drivers and crew chiefs meeting Thursday morning.

“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 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.”

The change amends procedure 9-14C of the 2010 NASCAR rulebook.