NASCAR makes confusing ruling during chaotic Truck Series rain delay at Pocono Raceway

NASCAR threw the red flag in the Truck Series race with eight laps to go, ran a couple of caution laps trying to race again, then back under red. At first, they decided to not count the laps, but when the race was restarted a second time, they took them away.

So, there are only six laps left in this race at Pocono Raceway. The NASCAR Truck Series race has been dominated by Corey Heim today. He swept the stages and has been the best driver on the day.

Grant Enfinger is going to try to take Heim down on this next restart. But why would NASCAR not count the laps, then go back and take them away? Are they worried about not making all of the laps before 8:20 PM?

It’s a bit confusing as Jeff Gluck of The Athletic pointed out.

UPDATE: NASCAR just changed ruling. Those caution laps DID count and now they say there are only six laps to go. https://t.co/AE3vHwRiEF

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 12, 2024

A full breakdown from Gluck.

To clarify, there were eight laps to go on the first red flag. They left pit road and went back under caution. NASCAR then said those laps did not count and put the lap count back to eight during the second red flag. Then they said those laps DID count and there are six to go.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 12, 2024

NASCAR restarted the race with six laps to go under caution. Then the actual green flag restart came with four laps to go. Even though this was a weird decision to make late, we will let it go since the entire race finished under green.

It looked like the rain was going to end this race under the red flag. Thankfully, jet dryers were able to handle it quickly and the track was never lost.

Corey Heim sweeps stages, wins NASCAR Truck Series race at Pocono

Despite starting on the front row, Corey Heim fell back on the initial start of the race. It was not a clear start for the 11 truck. Then we got to see what kind of speed Heim really had when he made his way to the front again.

Christian Eckes had gone out to an early lead. It wasn’t long before Heim would take over. He wasn’t going to have much of an issue winning this race tonight. In fact, it was one of his smoothest and easiest-looking victories of the season.

After NASCAR made the decision to not count two caution laps on a botched restart, they then took those laps away. The race restarted with six laps to go. Despite their best efforts, Enfinger and Eckes had no chance at taking Heim down.

Corey Heim zoomed to the finish line, NASCAR got the race completed under green, and this was the longest Truck Series race ever at Pocono Raceway. We didn’t even have overtime, either.