"But the flagger was letting me know I had room..."  

Reading the above results, would somebody tell me when did it become OK for this:  "I thought Alex (Yankowski) was going to be on my tail a little bit better, but the flagger was letting me know I had room, so I backed down at times. It was my race to lose,” said Godown." 

Since when did it did become OK for flaggers to give drivers signals as to how big their lead is or isn't?  Isn't that why dirt tracks don't allow radios or crew guys in the infield with signal sticks?  Seems to me the flagger should be a neutral party to the competition, and only get involved if there is a safety issue that needs to be communicated, or in the case of signaling to driver's that are about to be lapped to hold their line.

Please don't respond with "they've been doing this for a while" unless you can explain to me what the safety reason is for doing so.  What is the reason and why does it make for a better show?

If I was ever involved with a track (never gonna happen...) and had a flagger giving signals to leaders so that they could back it down or pick up the pace when needed, I'd stop it immediately, and if it didn't stop, I'd look for a new flagger.