In what has already been a bad year for race control in the NASCAR Cup Series, Sunday at Indianapolis hopefully was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A slew of brutal calls from the tower will now dominate headlines this upcoming week. Instead of a pleasantly surprising win by road course ace A.J. Almendinger. A downright horrifying level of negligence demands some level of an overhaul in NASCAR’s race control department after Sunday.
Race Control Negligence Begins
To begin this breakdown of race control’s complete failure, we first go to the pass-through of turns five and six with five laps to go. You can spot a massive amount of sheet metal fly up once Joey Logano goes over the curbing. This also caused Martin Truex Jr. to spin in the aftermath.
The No. 19 spins, but we stay green! @dennyhamlin remains in front! (📺: NBC) pic.twitter.com/JUQ4dzGfaV
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2021
If this was just Truex spinning with no debris, this should not have been a caution. However, that is an alarming amount of debris that came up all at once. Even scarier was that not a single person in the tower saw a reason to throw out a caution here. Especially alarming since the caution before this was for debris in this same area. What then happened on the next lap was 150 percent on race control’s negligence.
Take a look at what happened to @WilliamByron, @joeylogano and other drivers late at @IMS. pic.twitter.com/KS6qIjRZFD
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2021
The perfect word to describe this chain of events is embarrassing. Well over a dozen cars obtained some form of damage because not one person in the tower somehow did not see thousands of dollars worth of sheet metal cover up the IMS infield. Luckily, Logano, and no one else for that matter, did not get hurt in this incident, but this easily could have been worse if any of the other cars spun into him. In the nearly half-hour red flag, NASCAR opted to completely remove the outside curb.
A Few Moments Later
You may be asking right now, “This doesn’t get worse right?” Well, it somehow did. Not even one full lap into the ensuing restart, there was yet another massive incident.
.@Mc_Driver, @austindillon3 and others spin, bringing out the caution flag. pic.twitter.com/NKMG7MTfd8
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2021
The two major problems here are first, why was the second curb, which was a ramp by all accounts, not removed on the previous red flag? Secondly, why was Bubba Wallace given a tail-end penalty for avoiding a wreck? Better yet, why was the old Formula 1 configuration not in use here either? An all-around frustrating situation for teams, drivers, and fans alike.
But Wait There’s More (Seriously)
On the final restart, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe started on the front row. Entering turn one, Hamlin forced Briscoe off track and well into the grass. Briscoe, in spite of giving up the lead after he re-entered the track, was given a penalty Again, just to clarify, Briscoe, not Hamlin who forced him off track, was given a pass-through penalty.
Near the end of that lap before serving that penalty, Briscoe (justifiably) dumped Hamlin. Briscoe claimed it was an unintentional incident post-race however, which Hamlin believed. But how does the driver forced off the track who also gave up the position he gained off course penalized? Someone make it make sense.
CHASE BRISCOE TAKES OUT DENNY HAMLIN! pic.twitter.com/lZOC4e7LOh
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 15, 2021
New Management Needed
This was far from the first really bad day that race control had. Look at the 2010 Coke 600, 2012 Fall Phoenix Race, 2015 Auto Club 500 in years past. Not even mentioning the absolute disaster at COTA just this year. By all accounts, this will not be the last bad day that race control has either, but accountability is needed here. To have a slew of screw-ups this bad across the board at the premier level of Stock Car racing is a disgrace. Calling for people’s jobs should never be taken lightly, but that is exactly what should happen here. Something must change going forward.
People said our race last weekend was a mess. What do we call this!? 🙈🤣 @NASCAR #Verizon200 #NASCAR #NeverEndingRace
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) August 15, 2021
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