Insiders question NASCAR for not throwing caution flag during Daytona 500 finish

There were a handful of controversial elements to this year’s Daytona 500 in the NASCAR Cup Series, not the least of which was that the race didn’t finish under caution despite a decent-sized wreck in the final lap.

Denny Hamlin spoke out questioning the lack of a caution flag after he was caught up in a wreck with Cole Custer and Austin Cindric.

That the caution didn’t come out left one NASCAR insider stunned after taking in various other races on the week.

“There was no caution? They completely let it play out?” The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “OK, listen, all right, I guess I’ll have to tune in for the new officiating podcast that NASCAR is doing with Mike Forde, Nate Ryan and Amanda Ellis, because what the hell? What the hell?”

Instead of throwing a caution, NASCAR let William Byron fly to the finish line, finishing ahead of Tyler Reddick for the win.

But that wasn’t what NASCAR had done earlier in the week on two separate occasions. That’s what triggered Gluck’s confusion.

“Let’s go back to earlier in this speed weeks,” Gluck said. “So we start the speed weeks with the duels and Duel No. 2 — we had a green flag finish in Duel No. 1 — Duel No. 2, there’s a caution, there’s a wreck coming out of Turn 4 like halfway to the line and they hit the button and call a caution less than 100 yards before. So Erik Jones thinks he won because he crossed the finish line first. They say, ‘No, we actually threw the caution right before he crossed the line. We did not let the leaders finish.’

“And they got pushback on that, right, because I have been going around telling people it’s pointless for them to hit the button there because nobody’s lifting. If the racetrack opened up and Satan came up from the depths of hell and was sitting there on the giant Satan with pitchfork on the start/finish line, all these drivers would still stay in the gas and drive straight into it. Nobody’s lifting at the end of the Daytona 500 or any superspeedway races. They’re all just going for it. So I was like why would they throw the caution?”

Then, in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, a similar thing played out, only with a different result.

“Truck race they let it play out a little bit more, because there was an initial wreck in the truck race,” Gluck said. “Then the second wreck they said, ‘OK, caution, finish under caution.’ Parker Kligerman was ahead, he obviously ends up getting DQd.”

Gluck wondered if those two results predispositioned NASCAR to gun for a green flag finish if it was at all possible.

“So then you get to tonight and again, I don’t know if it was because NASCAR said, ‘Yeah, you know, the way that we did these two, we didn’t like that or we didn’t like how that played out. We need to try to get a green finish. We need to try not to let this happen under caution,'” Gluck said. “But like that was a pretty big wreck tonight on the last lap.”

Gluck’s cohost on the podcast actually pushed back some on the finish to the Daytona 500.

To his eye, the drivers were fine, so NASCAR made the right call.

“Here’s the question, though. Did any of the cars not make it back?” Jordan Bianchi said. “Because the 11 made it back, the 41 made it back and the 2 made it back. It’s legit, because if those guys are still moving and they’re still driving, NASCAR’s going to see that and they’re going to be like, ‘OK, these guys are OK and they’re driving still.’ These guys were able to keep moving.

“I’m not saying they’re consistent. I agree with you they need to be consistent. But if the guys are rolling away, they’ve said this so many times, they know the car’s OK. But if a guy slams into the wall and other guys are piling in and other guys stop, they’re going to throw that caution.”

After making the case that NASCAR needs to be a little more consistent for the viewers, Gluck actually sided with NASCAR’s decision in the end.

“Listen, I’ll just say this: I like that they let it play out tonight,” he said. “I like that they did that. I’m in favor of that, because I don’t think there’s any, unless somebody is in a real bad spot, on fire, airborne or something, deploying the safety trucks a couple seconds (after), I don’t know that it makes a difference. So by letting them race back I think that’s correct on the last lap.

“However, just the fact they didn’t do that in the same weekend on the same track and then they change it or it seems like they did a little bit different call, I just want to know as a viewer what’s going to happen, what to expect here. OK, here comes caution, here comes whatever and we know. They’re probably going to let them race back here. They’re going to let them race back. That’s great. I like that, but just is that going to be it going forward now? Next week’s Atlanta.”