NASCAR's "lucky dog" rule explained 8 Articles

by Meg A Wright

"Caution! Caution on the racetrack! There's a big wreck on Turn 3 involving four cars. And the Lucky Dog' of this one is Bill Elliott." "That's a big break for Bill. He was running as fast as the leaders, but was a la...read more

by Alexandra Heep

Although the NASCAR rulebook calls it the "Beneficiary Rule", it is known to most people as the "lucky dog". This expression probably comes from the TV announcers. When the free pass rule was first implemented in Septemb...read more

by Lynn Jordan

NASCAR's Lucky Dog Rule was first used at Dover in 2003 in an attempt to increase safety in NASCAR races. When a caution flag would come out, the drivers would race to the start/finish line before they slowed to caution sp...read more

by Mr. Ewe

In NASCAR, the "lucky dog" rule says that when a caution comes out, the first car 1 lap behind the leader gets to move back onto the lead lap. It may sound simple, but here are some parts of the rule that make it very conf...read more

by Marsha Coles

Just think, you're racing your heart out in one of America's biggest sport. You're at the top of the world. How lucky could you be to be driving in a NASCAR race? It doesn't even matter that your not leading the pack what ...read more

by Maggie Larkin

The recent "Lucky Dog" Rule in Nascar was put in place to increase competition and give one driver per yellow flag another chance to race with the drivers on the lead lap. This rule is a supplement to the ban on racing to ...read more

by Sherrill Fulghum

In times past when the yellow or caution flag was waved drivers were allowed to race back to the start/finish line where drivers who were a lap down could try and make up the lost lap. But after several dangerous situatio...read more

by TC

Until 2003, cars in a NASCAR race used to race back to the yellow, meaning that if caution was required on the racetrack and the yellow flag was waved, cars would continue to race one another at full speed until reaching t...read more