Some call it full throttle. The late Dale Earnhardt preferred Wide Effing Open (Though when he said it the initials were WFO).

Whatever the name, the principle is the same. Whether you pushed the pedal to the metal or laid that hammer down, you were just trying to go faster -- the mantra every race car driver meditates upon on and off the race track.

It's this desire, paired with technological advances which allow NASCAR drivers to follow it during a before unthought of point in a race, that has got everyone up in arms this week after Robby Gordon offered fodder for debate.

There is no stipulation in the NASCAR rule book which states that a driver cannot race another driver back to the start/finish line once a caution flag comes out -- only that the driver must maintain his spot in line once he takes the yellow caution flag.

But in NASCAR's early days, drivers would sometimes lift their feet off the gas for safety reasons -- just in case the wreck which brought out the caution was ahead. Also, it helped to give the cars -- at that time a much simpler version of what the guys race today -- a little breather.

Sometime in the 1980s, drivers actually verbalized this practice and formed the gentlemen's agreement that some believe should still exist today: Once the yellow comes out, freeze in place and don't pass anybody (unless of course the yellow flag comes unfurling at the end of the race and it's likely that the race will end under that caution).

The thing is, today's stock cars can handle being driven all-out for three, four hours. And spotters are usually pretty quick to let the drivers know where the wreck is on the race track, so it takes some of the fear out of what may be ahead. The gentlemen's agreement is no longer as necessary as it was back then, which helps explain why its existence has become more of an issue today.

"There's always gray area," Dodge driver Jimmy Spencer said. "(NASCAR President) Mike (Helton) said it to us. He said, 'Guys, we know there's not a gentlemen's agreement, anymore.' I think the reason why there isn't is the drivers, me included, we're constantly getting pressure from the media, from our crew members to stay on top of the wheel.

"When I first started in this sport, when you drove real, real hard you'd always get in trouble and not finish races. Today, the equipment, the engines, the cars, the tires, the braking systems are so advanced over where they were 10 years ago that you have to drive as hard as you can once they drop the green flag to the checkered."

	Gordon's pass under yellow caused quite a stir at Infineon Raceway.

Which is what Spencer proposes Robby Gordon was doing when, around lap 70 of the race last weekend, he passed his teammate Kevin Harvick after the caution flag started waving. The move helped win him the race -- which Spencer says is a big deal for drivers in this sponsor-driven era.

"Passing under the caution is a bad deal, but on the other side of it, you can gain a spot," Spencer said. "You can win a race because of it. You win a Winston Cup race and you're set. Your sponsor is set for the rest of the year. The pressure is off. A lot of things put pressure on everybody. I think the pressure of the sport has caused drivers to say, 'I agree, there is a gentlemen's agreement.' Then we put our helmet on, we get in the car and say 'To hell with the gentlemen's agreement.' We try to gain everything we can."

So what's the solution? Should there be a rule etched into the NASCAR rule book? Well, that thing is not that much more binding than a gentlemen's agreement since it seems to change so frequently. Should the drivers just get rid of the thing? Well, not everybody would be on board for that, either.

"Some guys just don't do it the way they are supposed to and that ends up costing the guys who do," Busch Grand National driver Stanton Barrett said. "Some people are just greedy. They take advantage of any opportunity out there, and look at it as a chance to pick up free spots. I think that's wrong. The agreement is supposed to be there for a reason, and the reason is safety."

"I think it's still the best way to go," Dodge driver Kyle Petty said. "Can you freeze 43 cars at one time in one instance? Maybe at Sears Point or Watkins Glen, but how do you freeze a 30-car pack at Talladega? If you revert back to the previous lap, then you might take away a lot of work and effort that took place between the start/finish line and the caution flag. I just can't come up with a perfect way of freezing 43 cars at every track for every caution flag. The gentlemen's agreement isn't perfect but if everyone would go with it I think it would work pretty well."

So then is the solution to convince every driver to abide by an agreement? How do you do that -- especially without Senior Earnhardt's glare to put a young'un in his place?

As a race car driver, you are taught in words and in action to go fast. And if you're going fast, go faster. That's why teams spend millions to develop technology to squeeze even two more horsepower out of an engine. How are you going to convince a guy like Robby Gordon -- someone who's been a contender to win races plenty more than the two events he's actually won -- not to do something that will capitalize on those millions spent and actually get his team the checkered flag.

	"	Passing under the caution is a bad deal, but on the other side of it, you can gain a spot. You can win a race because of it. You win a Winston Cup race and you're set. "
		— Jimmy Spencer

Spencer believes that might be the key, though. Some drivers have abided by the agreement and still made it into victory lane enough that the pressure isn't as weighty on their shoulders. Others are so bogged down that they'd do anything. The trick, perhaps, is to have an agreement that extends only as far as one's willingness to reciprocate.

If Robby Gordon's in the lead the next time a caution comes out, a driver shouldn't hesitate to pass since Gordon isn't a subscriber to the agreement. If somebody else -- say, Mark Martin -- is up front, then go with the agreement knowing it's mutual.

"Some guys push the limit and some guys don't," Spencer said. "I think you have to realize that certain competitors out there are going to give under the caution. There are others that aren't. The drivers have to establish who they are. We know that Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, those guys aren't going to push that yellow light issue, but it's obvious that Robby did and other people are going to and you'll have to do the same thing to them."

A lot's changing in Winston Cup racing. In fact, in not too much longer we'll be saying a lot's changing in Nextel Cup. No longer will the series visit Rockingham twice a year; no longer will fans head south to Darlington for Labor Day ... and no longer can every driver assume that the other still agrees to act like a gentleman.

Rupen Fofaria covers NASCAR for The Raleigh News & Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.