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Woes Continue For NASCAR

NASCAR has been under fire in recent weeks to reevaluate their policies and procedures regarding caution flags. After a disastrous race at Dover last weekend, where almost one quarter of the race was run under caution, fans and media cried foul. The most offending caution occurred after Ryan Newman wrecked on pit road, which resulted in NASCAR running 24 laps of yellow to realign the field.

NASCAR President Mike Helton said to media at Pocono this weekend that what occurred in Dover was “unacceptable” and that the sanctioning body would review its policies in an effort to never have such a situation arise again.

And then came Pocono.

Caution flags marred the 200 lap event, with 56 laps being run under yellow conditions. But cautions flags weren”t the only controversy brewing at Pocono. Perhaps, one of the biggest blunders in recent memory almost cost Jimmie Johnson his third win of the season.

NASCAR this weekend changed its policy on how pit road is opened. Instead of the pace car marking the opening of pit road, competitors were told that when the leader passes pit road for the second time under caution, pit road was open.

Yeah. Unless there is some dude on the end of pit road waving a big green flag.

The official at the end of pit road mistakenly displayed a green flag to the leaders the first time by signaling pit road was open. Johnson, knowing from the rule change in the drivers meeting that pit road was not open until the second time past pit road, stayed out.

Three other cars complied; everyone else came down pit road.

Helton said that there was no way to correct the error or reconstruct the running order due to the number of cars that entered pit lane. Therefore, NASCAR did not reset the line-up which sent Johnson from first to ninth.

Luckily for Team 48, Johnson”s car was unstoppable, and he easily worked his way back to the front to earn the victory. While elated at the win, he was clearly not amused by NASCAR”s fumble.

“I really felt this would be the thing that took the race from us,” said Johnson of the pit road incident. “That caution lasted so long. There was confusion as to who was where and what was going on. At one point in time there were only four cars on the lead lap and then it changed. I didn’t know what the heck was going on.”

Johnson”s teammate and car owner, Jeff Gordon, was less diplomatic about the situation, “I’m frustrated with a couple of things that happened to us. We caused a few issues that we went to the back. We had such an awesome race car. I want to congratulate Jimmie Johnson. He probably had one of the best race cars and deserved to win this thing.

“I want to apologize to the fans. That was absolutely uncalled for today to run that many laps under caution and all the disputes on pit road. I’m embarrassed. I want to apologize to them for that.”

As the last portion of the race was marred by a series of caution flags, one coming at lap 197, ending the race under yellow; the fans were clearly dismayed. Debris littered the race track and one overzealous fan tossed a cooler at the assistant flagman, knocking him in the head (he was not seriously injured).

It is the third time this year that a NEXTEL Cup series event has ended under caution and the second time outraged fans have pitched garbage onto the track. At Talladega, beer cans rained down from the stands after a late race yellow gave the win to Jeff Gordon instead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

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