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Season 5 Rulebook

Prior to reading our league-specific rules, make sure you read and understand the iRacing Sporting Code.

In addition to the rules below, we have a few event-specific rules for the Budweiser Shootout, Daytona 500, and All-Star Challenge. Please make sure you review all of that information on the Season 5 Specialty Events page.

Administration

  • Clinton Snead, Mitch Ellison, Gabe Ellison, Michael Garrone, and Joseph Plauger make up the administration group, and they will be responsible for all administration duties before, during, and after each race.

Registration

  • All racers must fill out a registration form with us before their first event.  Once this form has been filled out, you will receive an invitation to our league on iRacing.  This invitation must be accepted in order to join any of our races.
  • Season 5 Registration

Substitute Drivers

  • No driver substitutions will be allowed during the season.

New Driver Probation

  • All new drivers will be placed on a 2-race probation.  During this time, a driver will be monitored for performance, car control, clean driving, and other factors.  After this time, the admin team will decide if that driver can continue to compete in the series.

Rookie Drivers

  • To qualify as a rookie driver, you must have not competed in more than 5 previous SRHC/TNT events.
  • Your career maximum iRating cannot be greater than 2000 at the start of the season.
  • Your Oval license class must be D, C, or B at the start of the season.

Driver Points

  • For Season 5, we will follow the 2007-2010 NASCAR Cup Series Points System
    • 1st Place = 185 points, 2nd Place = 170 points, 3rd Place = 165 points, 4th Place = 160 points… 43rd Place = 34 points.
  • Points are awarded even if a driver completes zero race laps.
  • Bonus points will be awarded as follows:
    • Leading a Lap: 5 points
    • Leading the most laps: 5 points
  • Penalty points will be applied as follows:
    • 1 point for every 1 incident point
  • Drivers will be allowed a maximum of 3 drop races during the regular season.
  • No drop races will be allowed during the Chase; however, Chase drivers will be allowed 1 provisional for those races.
  • The Bud Shootout, Gatorade Duels, and All-Star event DO NOT award points or count against drop races.
  • The top 12 drivers in the point standings after the first 26 races will make the Chase.
  • Each driver’s point total will be reset to 5,000 points plus a ten-point bonus for each race won.
  • In the event of a tie in the standings, drivers will be ranked by:
    1. number of wins
    2. number of Top 5s
    3. number of Top 10s
    4. average finish
    5. average start

Team Points

  • The two highest point scorers from each team at each event will add to the team’s point total.
  • Bonus points and Penalty points will be included.
  • Bonus points awarded to drivers making the chase WILL count towards that team’s total.
  • A maximum of 4 drivers can be assigned to a single team.

Rookie Points

  • Rookie of the year candidates earn points for their best seventeen (17) races of the season. In order to be eligible, a rookie must compete in a minimum of 25 races during the season. All points are based on a ten-to-one system.
    • The highest-finishing rookie earns ten points, the second-highest-finishing rookie earns nine points, etc.
    • One point is granted to all rookies who start a race.
  • Rookie Bonus Points are also awarded to drivers in the following circumstances:
    • A rookie candidate finishes in the top ten in a race. If that candidate wins, he/she earns ten bonus rookie points. If that candidate finishes second, he/she earns nine bonus rookie points, etc.
    • “Segment Bonus Points.” The season is divided into three segments, the first segment being after the first ten races of the season, the second segment being after the second ten races of the season, and the third segment being the rest of the schedule. The candidate with the most driver championship points in each segment earns ten rookie points, the candidate with the second-most driver championship points earns nine, etc.
    • The rookie driver who finishes highest in the driver championship standings at season’s end will receive an additional ten bonus rookie points.

Strength of Field

  • The maximum iRating for an individual driver must be 6000 or less. A minimum iRating of 1000 is required.
  • A minimum of a D-class license is required; No pro licenses are accepted.

Race Times (listed in Eastern)

  • Practice: 7:00 PM
  • Qualifying: 8:30 PM (10 minutes, 2 laps)
  • Race: 8:40 PM (approx. 1.5 hours long)
  • Specialty Events will have a slightly altered schedule.

Car Setups

  • Car setups will be fixed iRacing setups for the track.  
  • If no setup is available, we will choose an appropriate setup that works for that event.
  • Non-iRacing setups will be available on our Google Drive.

Fast Repairs

  •  No fast repairs will be allowed.

Race Start/Restarts

  • The initial race start will be on the green flag displayed by iRacing.
  • At tracks where the Start Zone is available, that option will be enabled.
  • Otherwise, restarts will be in the control of the leader once the pace car pulls off the track below the white/yellow line on the apron. This includes green, white, and checker restarts.
  • The leader has the option to pick the outside line if he chooses to do so for the initial start.
  • All racers are required to stay in line until the Start/Finish line unless a car in front of them is unusually slow.
  • There will be two (2) available green, white, checker attempts.
  • All normal restarts will be double-file*.
    • *Repeat cautions will trigger a single-file restart on tracks less than 1.100 miles in length.
  • There will be Lucky Dog.
  • NO laying back on restarts; you will be penalized if you abuse this.

Passing

  • When passing another car:
    • It is your responsibility to make a clean pass.  We know that sometimes there will be slight contact, but if a crash occurs from a ‘bump and run’, then that is on you, and you will be penalized accordingly.
  • When getting passed:
    • It is your responsibility to hold your line.  If you change lanes and make contact with the passing driver, then you may be penalized.
  • Lap Cars:
    • Give extra room to the leaders.  If you are getting lapped, there is no reason to run right on the leader’s door through the corner.  Give a little extra space, run your race, and maybe you will get your lap back through the free pass, wave around, or pit strategy.

Cautions

  • Full course cautions will be ON for every race and will be iRacing controlled.
  • An admin may also throw a caution at any time.
  • When the caution comes out, please do your best to (safely) get caught up to the pace car and field so everyone has a fair opportunity to go down pit road together and pick up spots.
  • If a driver does not yield for an accident (i.e. going full speed into the crash well after the caution has been displayed), he or she will face penalties after the race.

Pit Road

  • Stay towards the outer lane until you get close to your pit box.  
  • Drivers who cause a wreck by not staying on the outer lane will be penalized.
  • Drivers who try to gain an advantage on pit road by driving through boxes will be penalized.

Black Flags

  • We will follow iRacing Rules. Black flags for speeding, pit road entrance and exit violations, etc. will be enforced and will not be cleared.
  • Meatball black flags will not be cleared.  Hit pit road and repair your damage.
  • Black flags for passing under caution* or hitting the pit entrance/exit cone to avoid wrecks may be cleared by an admin
    • *This is for guys who are not able to continue and others are trying to catch the field for pit stops.
  • Any black flags cleared will be reviewed by the Admins, and those drivers found to be lying will be penalized.

End of Lines

  • No EOLs will be given at the start of any race.  If you run a qualifying time, you will start in the position you qualify in.
  • You may request an EOL from Race Control later in the race if you are slow due to damage.

Minimum Speed

  • Your pace will be monitored throughout each event and throughout the season to ensure that the entire field of cars provides clean, competitive racing.
  • The Admins have the final say on a driver’s speed and competitiveness.  If they feel that you do not meet the series standard, you will be asked to retire from the event.

Incidents/Penalties

  • Incident limit threshold: 30x
  • Incident warning threshold: 20x
  • If you accumulate more than 50x in a 3-event window, you will receive an EOL and have to serve a drive-through penalty to start your next race.
  • If you accumulate more than 75x in a 3-event window, you will be suspended for 1 race.
  • If you accumulate 60x in a 2-event span (i.e., you get DQ’d from two events in a row), you will also be suspended for 1 race.
  • The Admin group will review all major incidents and assign penalties as a result.
  • We reserve the right to assign points penalties, withhold payouts, give suspensions, and ban racers from the league as necessary to provide the best competition for the group.

Appeals

  • If you feel that you have unjustly received a penalty, then you may appeal that penalty.  
  • For an appeal to be considered, you must have video and/or photo proof defending your case.  
  • If there are any signs of ‘doctored’ evidence (i.e. driver inputs such as throttle and brake do not match the original replay), you will be banned from the series.  
  • Appeals must be submitted within 48 hours of the penalty being announced.  
  • All appeals will be handled by a third-party group.

Protest

  • If you feel that a driver intentionally wrecked you and that driver was not penalized, you may protest that driver.  
  • For a protest to be considered, you must have video or photo proof defending your case.  
  • Protests must be submitted within 48 hours of the event.

Race Chat – Discord

  • Be respectful to other racers both inside and outside the “car.” We will not tolerate abusive language in the race chat or on Discord.  If you have an incident with someone during the race, please wait until after the race and talk about it amongst yourselves.  
  • Discord team chat channels are meant only for that team.  Do not enter a team chat other than your own unless you are specifically invited by that team.