[Joe Wicked]

Yea, pretty much. The rule was put in after Dale Jarret was crashed on the Front stretch and they came out of turn 4 side by side at full throttle racing back to the start finish line. Since they do not allow you to race back, and earn your lap back, they gave it to the first car 1 lap down. I don't like it as if you were not close enough to the leader to get your lap back, then you would not have had a chance anyway. I say if you are going to freeze the field, then all cars within XX seconds and/or XX car lengths of the leader at the moment of caution get a lap back, it doesn't matter if you are 1 lap or 30 laps down, you got one back. It doesn't matter if there is 1 car or 5 cars that meet the criteria, they all get a lap back. That means the lap traffic would have to run good lap times to get back on the lead lap. No freebees, you have to earn it. I think it would make for more interesting racing as well. I suggested it on the Nascar site, but never heard anything. I also think it would end the lap traffic giving the leader a hard time, but letting the rest go as they are now in the "Lucky Dog" position anyway so it doesn't matter, you have to stay in touch with the leader, so the advantage that 2nd and back get with lap traffic goes away as they will continue to race hard and thereby make more interesting racing.

Edit: The time/distance can vary by track as the different speeds involved will cause the distance/time to be different. Some tracks could be distance, while others are time. You could also vary it by saying if it is on the first lap after a restart then only the 1st car gets back on, as it would prevent some from causing a wreck just to get back on the lead lap right at a restart.