Burton Wants Safety Changes: Jeff Burton hasn’t always had a spotter in the spotters’ stand when he’s practicing his Cup and BGN cars, but he will from now on. And he thinks NASCAR should require everyone else to do the same. “I think mandating that is a good idea,” Burton said Friday after qualifying second for Saturday’s Little Trees 300 BGN race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Most teams have spotters in place during practices, but there currently is no NASCAR rule requiring that. Spotters most often work from the tops of teams’ transporters in the garage area in practices. Teams must have a spotter in the spotters’ stand during a race. The spotting role has become an issue this week after Wednesday’s crash during an ARCA. Burton said he thinks requiring spotters be in the spotters’ stand for each practice is only part of what should be done to help prevent similar accidents. He supports the installation of more and brighter warning lights in turns so drivers will be more likely to see them when they indicate trouble on the track. He also thinks NASCAR cars should have onboard warning lights, similar to ones used in the IRL and other series, that come on when the track’s lights are activated. He also believes NASCAR should begin penalizing drivers who attempt to make passes while racing back to the yellow flag. NASCAR encourages drivers to adhere to a “gentleman’s agreement” not to race back to the flag, but has no rule preventing it. “The same thing that happened here the other night could happen on Sunday,” Burton said of the ARCA incident. “This gentleman’s agreement crap is just that, it’s crap. There is no gentleman’s agreement. People race back to the line. You’ll be racing for sixth and a guy will beat you to the line with 50 laps to go. It only takes two or three people to screw it up. That’s generally what happens. There are two or three people out there who don’t give a damn. They’ll pass you no matter what. I think NASCAR should step in and stay enough is enough. If they catch you racing back to the flag they should penalize you five laps I don’t think it should be a gentleman’s agreement. I think it ought to be a rule. If they don’t make a rule, we’ll never do the right thing. You’re competitiveness overrides your brain. It puts you and your competitors in situations you don’t need to be in.”(ThatsRacin.com)(10-12-2002)
