Dale Earnhardt Jr. points out big problem with NASCAR explanation of controversial late caution at Indy
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had one major problem with NASCAR‘s explanation of why they decided to throw the caution during the second overtime restart of Sunday’s Brickyard 400 after the leaders had taken the white flag.
Earnhardt, speaking on “The Dale Jr. Download,” said that he felt it was clear Ryan Preece wasn’t gonna be able to move after his spin in Turn 2 by the time the leaders were in Turn 4. Instead, NASCAR allowed Kyle Larson to take the white flag before ultimately throwing the yellow flag, thus signifying the end of the race. Larson took the checkered flag under caution, his fourth win of the season.
“He [Preece] spins out. I think he hits the wall, got flat tires, he’s off out the way. But then he tries to right his car and gets it out there towards the racing surface and onto the apron and so forth,” Earnhardt said. “But he’s in the way now. And he’s spinning his tires. As I watched it live, I felt like that I personally realized Preece was not going anywhere before our leader got to Turn 4. There’s gonna be a ton of people that will have a frickin’ timeline. Like a perfect amount of here’s how long they have to decide.
“Listen, Elton Sawyer says, ‘you know, we like it to play out naturally. We want teams to race to the checkered flag, we did everything we possibly could to make that happen. We kept an eye out on the 41, he was giving it an effort to get going, he had flat tires, he wasn’t going to move, and we had already taken the white.’ That, to me, is a great explanation but the only problem with that is I felt like I knew he wasn’t gonna be able to move before they got to Turn 4. And I think a lot of people feel that way.”
Elton Sawyer defends NASCAR’s decision making in Brickyard 400
Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said they wanted to allow Preece every opportunity to get rolling so they could finish the race under green.
Had the caution been called before Larson took the white flag, a third overtime restart would have commenced. Sawyer, however, believes NASCAR made the correct decision.
Earnhardt added that he believes the size of Indianapolis Motor Speedway played a role in the decision as to when to throw the caution flag. IMS is a 2.5-mile-long racetrack and if it were a smaller venue, Earnhardt believes the caution would have come out sooner.
“This isn’t like an intentional goof by NASCAR. This decision has a lot to do with the size of the racetrack. So, if this happens at a short track, I think it’s a caution before the white. If it happens at a smaller track, even Nashville,” Earnhardt said. “But it’s such a large racetrack that there’s time to wait. And they took advantage of that unique aspect of the day. And so, they waited. They can wait and wait and wait. Now, they could have thrown the yellow flag and coulda regrouped and re-racked. I’ve got no problem with that.
“I don’t care about guys running out of gas, that’s their problem, they put themselves in that situation. I don’t think that NASCAR should try to avoid throwing the yellow because it might ruin a strategy for several cars. That’s their — NASCAR’s decisions and race control and race teams’ strategies, should never be going out to dinner. So, I don’t want that.”