Condensed from NASCAR LIVE with Eli Gold on MRN from 6/9/1998: Mike Helton, NASCAR V.P. of Competition was a guest on NASCAR LIVE with Eli Gold Tuesday night. Helton responded to questions regarding the controversy surrounding NASCAR’s decision to red flag the race at Richmond on Saturday night. According to Helton: “It isn’t a change in policy. We’ve had them before. Saturday night allowed us to help the effort to have a green flag finish. The drivers, control tower, and NASCAR officials’ felt as if there was a problem in turn 2 based on the number of incidents there with 30 to go. Also, the driver’s were reporting and complaining that there was oil and grease on the track. The red flag let us see what was wrong in turn 2, and address the oil problem. With 6 to go it was either finish under caution or red flag the race.” Eli then asked Mike if there will come a time where NASCAR extends the number of laps of a race in order to have a green flag finish? Helton responded, “No. We are not changing our philosophy. We prefer and maintain to run the advertised distance of a race.”(StockCarFans)(6-10-98)
