Franchittigate

First off, I whole-heartedly support freezing track positions on a yellow. It's utterly essential for safety and good sportsmanship, laying rest to the preposterous practice of "racin' back to the line".

Here's the way the rule should work. Upon a yellow, a "snapshot" of all field positions is taken, just it has for the past 5 seasons. If a car has committed to a pit stop at this point (i.e. slowed down out of the race line, yielded positions, etc.), the driver has three choices:

* Drive through without stopping and rejoin the field in their "snapshot" position.

* If they are critical on fuel, they may stop for a splash of ethanol, but must then rejoin the field according to the blend line and no better than their "snapshot" position. If there's a problem in the pits or the crew is greedy with the fuel, they could loose positions as they cross the blend line, but never gain a position.

* Stay out on the track.

Dario & Team didn't break any rules today, but it was groaner for everyone else to see him get a "free" pit stop.