Did nascar think the 34 was a piece of tape???

Anyone know officially why Nascar ** waited to ** throw a yellow at the end of the race yesterday? Geez they threw a caution earlier for paper and another for some rubber off the 44, yet the 34 spins at the SF and no yellow. I just keep thinking about Sonoma and the Caution that did Robby in. I just wish Nascar called it the same every time. ** Corrected said "didn't" before **

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Permalink Reply by Scott B on October 26, 2009 at 10:58pm

1.) Again it is impossible to determine if in fact anyone would have been injured.

2.) I am guessing the spotter assumed NASCAR would do the smart thing and throw the caution when the lead cars were entering turn 3 and a car is still sitting backwards at the start/finish line.

3.) So you are saying that if Andretti stayed on the wall you think NASCAR should have never thrown the yellow?

4.) Consistency does matter. It is a huge factor in the officiating of EVERY sport.

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Permalink Reply by Wheaton56 on October 26, 2009 at 11:01pm

I would havd like to know what the 34 team thought of that whole deal and i guarantee you if the 48, 14, 88, 24, ect would have spun out in the same spot we would have seen a caution ASAP

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Permalink Reply by Scott B on October 26, 2009 at 11:29pm

Exactly. No consistency in NASCAR. It is amazing what they get away with.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on October 26, 2009 at 11:47pm

Here is what the #34 team thought:

John Andretti defended NASCAR's decision not to throw a caution when he couldn't move his disabled car from the finish line at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.

Andretti crashed on the frontstretch during the next to lap of the race, and NASCAR apparently believed he could move his car out of the way in time for the field to race its way across the finish line. Because he couldn't, the caution wasn't called until the cars were coming out of the final turn and quickly closing in on Andretti.

"It wasn't a bad call," Andretti said in a statement on Monday. "To me, I wasn't in a great position, but I wasn't in an overly dangerous position. NASCAR focuses on the race itself, and they want to see the winner come across the finish line.

"It's probably the call I would've made. I would've gotten out of the way if I could've. But I had a couple of issues. The car was too damaged."

It's second time since the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship that NASCAR waited until the last moment to call a caution for an accident near the start/finish line. A similar incident occurred last month in the Chase opener at New Hampshire.

Three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished second, said NASCAR was consistent with its effort of waiting as long as possible to throw the caution in an effort to not spoil an exciting finish.

But, "it makes me a little nervous as I'm charging into the start/finish line and there's a car sitting there," he said. "I wish it would be thrown a little bit earlier for safety reasons. Might as well be on the safe side."

Race-winner Denny Hamlin said he thought Andretti's car did not pose a threat to the other competitors and NASCAR made the right call.

"I think they're at least doing a good job of not letting it affect the top five finishing positions," he said. "They're doing all they can. They don't know what's going on inside that race car, if that guy has given up on starting it or is he continuing to try to get it going. I think as long as they let it play out, it's fine."

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Permalink Reply by Scott B on October 27, 2009 at 5:05pm

Exactly. Jimmie is right when he says NASCAR needs to be on the safe side. They should have thrown the caution a little earlier. There is no reason to risk injury or tearing up race cars for 1-2 positions. Jimmie already had the race won either way. I understand that the 34 was not in the actual racing line, but cars can loose control exiting a turn at Martinsville...especially when they are racing for a position on the last lap in a Chase race.

Could you imagine the mess if heaven for bid a car hit Andretti and seriously hurt or killed him? NASCAR doesn't need any bad publicity with the already struggling economy...and the huge number of empty seats at tracks on the circuit. Especially when they would have been directly responsible for the injury.

It's called being pro-active...not reactive...

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on October 27, 2009 at 5:25pm

...Jimmie already had the race won either way.

Actually, Denny Hamlin won. Of course youl'd barely know that from watching the TeeVee coverage, so it's an excusable mistake...

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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on October 27, 2009 at 6:09pm

" but cars can loose control exiting a turn at Martinsville" Exactly...

Look at the PIX TOG posted and see how the 48 is either loose on exit or the 42 has gotten into him. Has a handfull of steering wheel and the tail is hangin out. Could have been much worse.

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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on October 26, 2009 at 11:19pm

Well I know we will beat this to death, but one thing is clear to me. Nascar with throw or not throw the caution if they think it bennefits Nascar. Hot Dog wrapper, throw it will make for a fun "Shootout Style" restart. 34 is DOA on the SF line on the last lap. Well lets let them race back to the SF then throw it a the last second. The hypocracy is a hot dog wrapper will not ever hurt someone (other then the guy that ate that nasty red mystery rmeat tube or maybe a motor if it gets on a grill). A car sitting sideways at the SF line with 25 lead lap cars running side by side right after a "shootout style" restart could kill someone.

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Permalink Reply by Karen on October 27, 2009 at 12:34am

We call those the 'BRCs' (aka Boring Race Cautions) -- you see those most often after a long green flag run. Any object on the track, real or imagined, can result in one of these. :-)

The opposite of that is the Exciting Race Non-caution, when a caution flag should be thrown but isn't for the sake of ...... what I don't really know.

We have seen examples of both throughout the season.

In the case of the #34, where it was sitting on the track it was relatively safe assuming that cars were not wrecking across the start-finish line. Which is not necessarily a good assumption for Martinsville.

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Permalink Reply by vak7 on October 27, 2009 at 9:22am

Lack of consistent calls is an issue facing every sport, not just NASCAR. Watch any two football games on Sunday. What exactly constitutes an interference penalty? With rules as strictly defined in the NFL playbook, it's often still a judgment call. Don't get me started on unnecessary roughness or roughing the passer/kicker... How about a baseball game? Different umps will call balls/strikes differently. It's either over the plate or it isn't. Doesn't seem all too gray area to me. Yet controversy ensues.

Only consistency is that if you call it one way, folks will complain. Call it the other way, it's different folks complaining.

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Permalink Reply by Scott B on October 27, 2009 at 5:08pm

Exactly. The level of consistency in sports these days is horrible.

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Permalink Reply by vak7 on October 27, 2009 at 6:07pm

It's not a new problem. Probably always been this way, ever since they allowed humans to make the calls. We just all see things in our own little way. Folks still complain about Michael Jordan never being called for a foul. The Steelers Immaculate Reception was an incomplete pass!