NASCAR on Thursday announced new caution procedures for its three national touring series that will go into effect beginning with the Aug. 7-9 race weekend at Iowa Speedway.
If a “natural” caution occurs within 10 laps of a scheduled stage yellow, the stage will be official at the time of caution, with the following caution process serving as the scheduled stage break. NASCAR says that the procedure will be used through the rest of the 2026 season.
Why NASCAR made the change
The change from the sanctioning body comes after frustrations from fans regarding stage cautions in general, but especially those that significantly impact how long it takes to get back to racing. Previously, if a caution came out late in a stage, NASCAR would line up for a one-lap dash to the end of the stage before throwing another yellow that served as the stage break, which dragged down the pace of the event.
NASCAR said after the Brickyard 400, which featured several lengthy caution flags and a one-lap dash to finish Stage 1, that it would take a look at its procedures regarding stage cautions. The change should cut several minutes from races that have cautions occur late in stages and allow green-flag racing to resume quicker.