Caution and optimism about bump draft penalties.

NASCAR's decision to penalise drivers for too much bump-drafting in Sunday's Daytona 500 has been met with cautious optimism from many of the drivers, who agree that something needed to be done but also voiced concerns about the series' ability to correctly enforce their new rulings.

In the hope of avoiding the number of multi-car incidents that generally characterise restrictor plate races, NASCAR will place extra officials in the turns of Daytona's 2.5-mile tri-oval both in Thursday's two Gatorade qualifying races and in Sunday's Daytona 500 in an effort to clamp down specifically on drivers continuing to push the car in front of them into the corners.

"I'm for it," said defending Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon. "I question how you're going to make a judgment call and how you're going to make that call and what constitutes a penalty because there are some circumstances when you've got a guy pushing you from behind and you might run into the guy in front of you. They've got to be careful with that.

"In the instances where guys are going it through the tri-oval and the corners, I think it would be very easy for them to make a good call on that. I'm for it. I've been asking for the past year, maybe even longer, every since the bump-drafting started, to do something before it got out of control.

With NASCAR saying that they will only penalise 'over-zealous' bump drafting however, Gordon's reaction and subsequent worries mirrored those of many other drivers.

"How are they really going to know what is and what isn't? There are so many instances out there. Obviously, anything in the tri-oval or the corners is completely out of line and shouldn't happen. You've got a ton more momentum than the guy in front of you and you don't even check up, you just run straight, square into the back of him and you start to see the guy get out of control. Then, that's obviously out of control and too much.

"I haven't talked to NASCAR to see how they're going to govern that. But I am curious to talk to them about it."

Daytona 500 polesitter Jeff Burton was in agreement with Gordon, saying that bump-drafting had gotten out of control in the past couple of years.

"I think bump-drafting is something that the drivers have definitely taken too much freedom with," said Burton. "It used to be used in a special situation, an every now-and-then kind of thing. It used to be when people sun up behind you and gently push you. But now, they just knock the hell out of you and it's used every lap.

"I think it's NASCAR's place to say, 'Hey look. You guys are complaining about it, so we're going to help you with it and if you bump-draft somebody and it causes an issue, we're going to penalise you'. In my opinion, you can't bump-draft cars into position to have to make the call every single time somebody pushes somebody. As long as the result's okay, then no harm no foul.

"The only way to say for this race we'll stop, is for NASCAR to step in and penalise you. If you run into the back of somebody and you caused a wreck, we're going to penalise you. It's a tough situation. I think the drivers need to huddle up and do go. Let's be smart about this. Let's use good judgment about this. It's not wrong to do it, it's just wrong to do it all the time in all circumstances."