By Jeffrey Hrunka - Motorsports Today Contributor
Consistency is the facet of sports that keeps it legitimate. If you remove it, the significance of winning is lessened because it was governed differently from other wins. On July 21, this issue was brought to the forefront after NASCAR’s trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
During the final overtime period of the Brickyard 400, Ryan Preece ran out of fuel on the back straightaway, leaving his #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse stranded on track with nowhere to go. Many expected NASCAR to throw the yellow flag, as it would be unsafe to continue with a car on the racing surface. NASCAR waited to put out the caution until race leader Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camero, took the white flag, officially ending the race.
Fans were outraged by the decision not to throw the yellow before the white flag because it was apparent that Preece would not get his car going again. NASCAR's Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer's statement on why they did not throw caution only enhanced this anger, as it was on NASCAR.com, with the interviewer, Alex Weaver, being a NASCAR.com employee. There was no independent voice that could represent the fans' dismay at the call.
A similar incident occurred earlier this season when NASCAR made the trip to Nashville Superspeedway for the Ally 400. Austin Cindric, the driver of the #2 Penkse Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, had a solo spin down the apron on the back straightaway, forcing the caution to come out. This sent the race into overtime, with numerous drivers on the edge of their fuel numbers. The race had five overtime periods because multiple teams attempted to stretch their fuel until they ran out, causing the ensuing chaos.
Many speculate that NASCAR wanted to avoid a similar situation from happening again at the Brickyard 400, so they let Larson reach the start-finish line before throwing the yellow flag to end the race. This was evident by multiple cars running out of fuel on the cooldown lap of the race. It showed that if NASCAR had thrown the caution, it would likely have caused more cars to run out of fuel on the upcoming restart, further fueling many fans' theories.
If NASCAR was more transparent about which incidents indicate a caution and which do not, the controversy surrounding the subject would dissipate because fans know what to look for. Instead, the line is blurred of what a caution is.
A change NASCAR can implement to solve this controversy is to have the same race director making each call. Throughout the late 1980s and into the 2010s, NASCAR had one race official, David Hoots, calling the shots for the Cup Series. This has changed since Hoots retired, with NASCAR creating depth in the position.
“When it came to cup David [Hoots] called all the races. A very talented individual, but we needed depth,” Sawyer told the Dale Jr Download. “It took us a while to continue to build depth in that department, so today we have Jusan Hamilton, Tim Bermann, Chase Brashears and Jesse Little.”
Depth takes the load off of race directors during the grueling 41-week season. If something comes up with one director, the other can fill in. On paper, having multiple race directors makes the most sense because it provides contingencies in emergencies. The issue that arises with multiple directors is that they all have different opinions on how an incident is penalized or called, which provides a lack of consistency.
A solution for this can be the establishment of a full-time race director. In the event something comes up, they can have a backup race director take his place when needed. This concept can be built upon; however, they need to establish consistency with their calls to allow for legitimacy when it comes to what happens at the end of races.
Every solution has its positives and negatives, but NASCAR needs to consider the long-term success of the sport. If they don’t hold themselves accountable for the lack of consistency, their calls will continue to get worse, hurting the sport along with it. NASCAR is responsible for what happens next.
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