The most pivotal race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup – the Dickies 500 – will have an added element of excitement as NASCAR’s double-file restart will make its Texas Motor Speedway debut Sunday, Nov. 8, for the eighth race in the 10-event Chase.

The format, first implemented at the June Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway and since added to both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, has energized the restarts following a caution. All lead-lap cars are now lined up side-by-side with the race leader owning the option to restart on the inside or outside lane. Under the previous format, cars on the lead lap would line up single file and the cars a lap down would line up to the inside. The double-file format allows for more passing for the lead on the restart as well as for positions throughout the pack, and could lead to some late-race drama. 

“The double-file restarts are more advantageous at the bigger race tracks, especially the wider ones,” Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman said. “When we get to Texas you can get three and sometimes four wide in the corners, so I’m looking forward to it. Texas will be a great place for it.”

If history is any indication, the double-file restart will make things interesting in the late stages of the Dickies 500. In three of the four previous Dickies 500 races, there has been a caution with 30 or less laps remaining, including a green-white/checkered finish in the 2006 event in which Tony Stewart beat runner-up Jimmie Johnson by 0.272 of a second.

The points leaders following the Dickies 500 the previous four years have gone on to win the Sprint Cup Series championship coupled with a history of late cautions in this event could change the complexion of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  

“There is no doubt that the addition of the double-file restart will make for exciting racing during the Dickies 500,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “History doesn’t lie, so the Chase contenders will do everything they can to make sure they finish the night in Victory Lane. It’s going to make for some great high-speed drama.”

The double-file restart also will be featured for the first time at TMS in the O’Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race and WinStar World Casino 350k Camping World Truck Series race during the Dickies 500 triple-header weekend. The new format was not in place at TMS for the Samsung 500 Sprint Cup Series race and O’Reilly 300 Nationwide Series race in April or the WinStar World Casino 400 Camping World Truck Series in June. 

Don’t miss how the weekend will unfold. Purchase tickets for all three exciting races by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling the TMS ticket office at (817) 215-8500.