NASCAR races at Martinsville Speedway are sometimes decided by blind luck and the simplest answer can probably be found within the track’s annual Late Model event each September.

The answer is a ‘choose cone’ rule.

But first, let’s establish the problem we’re trying to address. The historic Virginia short track has a one-groove surface and drivers that restart on the outside are at a natural disadvantage. Simply put, the odd-numbered restarting positions are preferred over their even-numbered counterparts.

To tackle this issue, a leader will sometimes work out a deal to allow the outside driver to pull ahead, as long as that driver immediately gives up the lead and agrees to fall back to second. Without such a deal, the second-place driver could drop well outside of the top-5 before finding a hole to get back to the bottom.

Remember how much criticism Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano earned for a similar strategy two years ago? They were accused of rigging the race in their favor when they were running 1-2 and preventing anyone else from breaking up their stronghold.

"It’s awful to be up top," Logano said. "It’s hard to find a hole. If you can’t find one quick here you’re in big trouble. I was watching the race from the fall and we were fifth coming out of the pits and (Kevin Harvick) had a penalty and we started fourth because of it and we fell back to 12th-place from fourth. It’s really bad to be up top."

So to avoid it, drivers engage in shenanigans on pit road to ensure they restart on the bottom. It’s an absolute spectacle. Spotters coordinate with their drivers to make sure they don’t reach pit exit until they are in an odd-numbered position.

"That’s why you see all the games being played on pit road since everyone is trying to get in a better spot," Logano said. "It’s challenging. As much as everyone keeps that gap closed it’s hard find a hole back in."

Sometimes that means coming to a dead stop while another car zooms by at pit road speed. It’s absolute madness and its remarkable this hasn’t caused a crash yet. Thus the choose cone, or some derivative thereof, is the answer.

Here’s how it works at the short track level -- including the Late Model race held at Martinsville itself.

Once pit stops have concluded, the field returns to the track single-file behind the pace car or the drivers who chose not to pit. As cars reach the frontstretch to take the one-to-go signal, drivers have to choose either the top or bottom as they cross the start-finish line.

That’s how they double-up.

Sure, at a place like Martinsville, the first four or five drivers will select the bottom since it’s the preferred line. But what about sixth on back? Surely someone inside the top-10 will take the top in the hopes that they can force their way to the bottom before losing more positions than where they would have started otherwise.

That’s how it works at many short track Late Model events across the country, including those that Denny Hamlin has participated in before becoming a NASCAR star.

"It has come up, especially for tracks like these where people were playing games on pit road to try to get an inside position," Hamlin said. "You see the restarts, sometimes there's a lot of games being played between teammates trying to let each other in. So yeah, it definitely would be interesting to try it one time and see how it turns out."

This eliminates the random nature of restart positions where a fast driver is fourth for an overtime finish and immediately falls out of contention while the third and fifth-place drivers are able to battle for the win.

It happens more than you realize so Kyle Larson is in favor of the concept.

"Here at Martinsville you’d probably get the first three or four guys to choose the bottom and then you’d get the guy in fifth like, ‘hey I’m going to go try it out and see if I can get the top lane to work and maybe gain one spot,’ which is usually a success," Larson said. "I think it would be pretty cool at a place like this, for sure."

A choose cone (also called a selection cone) allows drivers to control their own destiny. And while it makes sense for short tracks like Martinsville and Bristol, the rule could easily be applied to speedways with a distinctive faster groove.

It adds a strategy element and is just fairer for the competition.

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