NASCAR exec Elton Sawyer addresses confusion with caution, red flag after Talladega wreck

Elton Sawyer set the record straight on the confusion with the caution and red flag after the big wreck at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. While speaking to reporters after the race, the NASCAR vice president of competition explained why the caution car didn’t move when the red flag was lifted and resumed under yellow.

“We had all intentions to roll the caution vehicle as soon as we pulled the red and displayed the yellow,” Sawyer said, per Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “The race director noticed some things that were still going on down in Turn 3 where he couldn’t do that restart. Cars were still moving, we still had safety equipment that was still moving around there. So just for the safety of all, held the caution vehicle for a little longer.

“Totally understand the competitors. They had some cars on pit road that got the opportunity to do a little bit more work before those other cars could get there. Totally understand that, but that’s the reason we made that decision that we did. Every circumstance is different and we’re gonna do our absolute best to make the best calls with the best information we have in front of us.”

Elton Sawyer talks more about the wreck at Talladega

Sawyer was then asked why NASCAR didn’t re-throw the red flag to avoid less confusion. “I think that once you started in that cadence then once you’ve pulled the red and displayed the yellow, you want the sequence to kind of start to unfold. We weren’t anticipating that to take very long. …We’re still a couple hours after the race and dissecting all that stuff. Our team will look at it this week as we do every week and digest what we did well, what we didn’t so well, what we’re going to do to get better.”

Over 20 cars were involved in the wreck that happened during the final laps of the race. Eight of the 12 playoff drivers were involved in the accident that started when Brad Keselowski bumped Austin Cindric. When the race was all said and done, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the YellaWood 500, and it was his first victory since the 2023 Daytona 500.