A potential turning point of the Iowa Corn 350 on Sunday came on Lap 282, near the end of the second stage, when a caution came right in the middle of green flag pit stops when Daniel Hemric cut a tire in Turn 2.
Because the pit cycle wasn’t complete, it trapped several contenders who had just pitted a lap down, while also cycling some slower cars to that point back towards the front. For example, Denny Hamlin was having a dreadful race to that point and it got him track position.
Ricky Stenhouse got track position, chose not to pit, preventing several of those teams from taking a waive around back to the lead lap.
But what made the caution so controversial was that there were several instances that looked exactly like what happened to Hemric, that did not draw a caution, and it was immediately called out on the broadcast by television analyst Jeff Burton.
Even though he benefited from it, Hamlin conceded that it was a questionable caution call as well.
“It was close,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin podcast. “He did hit the wall, but I think there’s … I don’t know how long we had gone green during that moment, but I’m always of the opinion that if we go really long stretches of time without a caution, be aware you’re going to get one for something superficial at times.”
While it’s true that NASCAR seems more trigger happy calling cautions after long green flag runs, it’s also But NASCAR also has shown less of a willingness to call it during the middle of a green flag pit cycle, given how that can drastically change the outcome of the race.
For example, Christopher Bell had just pitted at the time of the caution and it trapped them a lop down and drew the ire of crew chief Adam Stevens as a result.
“That was the most ridiculous bullshit caution I’ve ever seen in my life,” Stevens said. “You had 17 guys blow tires and you have one guy blow another tire and you throw the fucking caution. That’s chickenshit.”
Bell was able to rally to fourth by the end of the race but it took the entire third stage to get back there, which was why Stevens was so mad.
Hamlin added that it was a close call and that ultimately, it did not change the results too much.
“Did they hit the wall, though? You know what I mean? Like the 31 hit the wall,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know that he brushed it, but he hit it pretty good. I was right somewhat near him when this happened. Yeah, it’s just, it certainly did not help some of the leaders, but the 12 had pitted and then he came back and won the race. So I think that it’s still the fastest cars found themselves up front at the end.”
Watching from home, NASCAR Hall of Famer and former NBC television analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he doesn’t believe that warranted a caution.
“They don’t want to call a caution during the cycle. They don’t. So, because instead of one crew chief yelling at them, they’ve got 10 or 15 yelling at them,” Earnhardt said on his Dale Jr Download podcast . “NASCAR doesn’t want to cause a caution or call a caution in the middle of the cycle because I imagine they just want the cycle to complete if it can, to not throw a big monkey wrench into a lot of strategies or favor a team that’s taken… But I don’t look at it that way. I don’t love that mentality, I don’t love the way we look at yellows and why and when they should be thrown. I feel like that, you know, if it’s lap 25 or 10 to go, a caution is a caution.
“In my mind, I’ve got an idea, you know, if a car brushes the wall like Hemric did, or remember at Richmond with Kyle Busch. That ain’t a yellow, man. Not a yellow. Never a yellow. And we ought to calm down and not throw it. In my mind, if I’m, I’ve been watching racing and this sport since the early 80s, the way they throw yellows has always changed every probably 10 years or so. In the 70s and 80s man it took a lot to get a yellow flag. It took a lot. It was a crash, you know? Cars crashed on the track. Someone brushing the wall, no, never got a yellow.”
