So much talk this weekend surrounded the new policy of double-file shootout style restarts for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The first weekend of the new procedure, many in the garage dissected the new rule for days attempting to play out each and every scenario possible. At the end of the day, the race went off without a hitch and the double-file restarts had little effect on the outcome of the race.

"It was nice not having to race lap-cars on the restarts and you knew that the guys you were with you were racing for position," Jeff Gordon said following Sunday’s race. "It did make it nice. When we get to the smaller tracks that will become more important. It was the perfect place to try it and I think it’s something the fans are going to enjoy in the future."

The double-file restarts were put to the test early, when Denny Hamlin brought out the first caution on Lap 3. When the field took the green flag on Lap 3, they did so doubled up and Jimmie Johnson roared off down the long straightaway with the lead.

Much of the talk this weekend focused on the new ‘wave-around’ procedure. Under the policy, any lapped car that stays on the racetrack when the leaders pit under caution will be passed around the pace car and rejoin the field at the back of the pack. There was a great deal of confusion about this part of the procedure, but on Lap 108, Robby Gordon, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Waltrip received the first wave around. Taking advantage of Pocono’s massive size, the four cars then hit pit road as the field took the green.

There were some winners and losers on the restarts, but overall the comments were positive following the race.

"I think if the fans like it, I think it comes down to it. If it adds a little something to the race for them I think it’s a win-win," third-place finisher David Reutimann explained. "Sometimes it’s going to work for you, and sometimes, there’s a couple of times, I was in the spot I wanted to be and it worked out well, and there’s other times you got shuffled around and you weren’t. Sometimes it’s a 50-50 shot it’s going to work for you. I wasn’t close enough to the front to really see what was going on with the leader. But you know, I’m sure they will refine it and make it better, but I think it came off pretty good for the first time."

One suggestion runner-up Carl Edwards had for NASCAR was to give the leader his own lane on the restart. Currently, the leader has the option of restarting the race from either the inside or outside of row number one, but Edwards believes the leader deserves his own lane.

"I thought one thing that I thought would make it just a little bit more fair, and that would be to let the leader start in his own lane, so he has his own row, I guess is what I’m saying," Edwards argued. "The leader would have no one beside him; he would start inside, outside, do whatever he wanted, and then second and third start behind him with the second-place guy having the option. I think that would be a better way to do it. But, other than that, I thought it was great, it was fun and I thought it made for exciting racing. I think NASCAR is moving in the right direction there."

The new procedure definitely made for more exciting racing, not just up front, but throughout the field. With cars restarting the race beside the guys they are truly racing with for position, restarts have become that much more crucial to the outcome of a race. Like Gordon pointed out, the true test of this new policy will come when the series rolls around to some of the short tracks on the schedule, but that will make for some exciting racing for sure. Kudos to NASCAR for implementing this policy and look forward to better racing to emerge because of it.

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