A vehicle includes an engine and transmission assembly, the latter having a stationary member, a plurality of gear sets, an input member, a friction clutch, a binary clutch assembly, and a transmission control module (TCM). The binary clutch assembly includes a freewheeling element and a binary device such as a selectable one way clutch or dog clutch. The TCM selectively delays a release of the binary clutch assembly via a binary clutch indicator method by detecting a requested shift of the transmission requiring an engagement of the friction clutch, and commanding the release of the binary clutch assembly. The TCM determines an amount of slip across the binary clutch assembly and executes the requested shift of the transmission only when the determined amount of slip exceeds a calibrated slip threshold. Slip may be measured or calculated.