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Green-White-Checkered

A green-white-checkered is an overtime restart used when a caution falls near the end of a race, restarting the field under green so the race finishes with a lap run at speed instead of under caution.

Also called:
GWC, green-white-checker, overtime, overtime finish

In practice

Even the lap count is not settled. DIRTcar’s Super DIRTcar Series and the American Sprint Car Series both write that “all races must be completed in a ‘green-white-checker’ finish,” meaning a caution before the leader takes the checkered sends the field back to a restart to “run for two consecutive laps before completion” — with officials free to allow a one-lap “white-checkered” finish instead. Florence Speedway gives exactly one try: “if a caution occurs, the race will be given one chance at a ‘green-white-checkered’ finish. If another caution comes out, the race will be considered completed at that point.” Florence runs a clock over the top of it too, a one-minute-per-lap time limit on every regular show event from the initial green.

Why it matters

How many attempts your track allows decides whether a late caution is a chance to win or the end of your race, so learn the rule before you are sitting third with two to go.

Go deeper

Read the full post:

Race Night Format Explained: Hot Laps to Feature, in Order

Sources