Somebody’s Wrong: NASCAR Officials, Drivers at Odds Over Wrecks

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By Jared Turner

 

So multiple drivers – most notably Chase drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch – were livid after Sunday’s race, claiming the track was not suitable for green-flag racing after an oil cleanup for fluid spilled on the track by Justin Allgaier’s crushed radiator. Shortly after the race restarted following an extended cleanup period, multiple drivers hit the wall and were emphatic that they had run over oil, causing them to lose control of their cars. NASCAR officials later insisted they checked and that there was no oil on the track, however. So who’s telling the truth – the drivers or NASCAR? Although both are probably sincere in their claims, only one can be right. Here’s betting that NASCAR really thought there was no oil on the track, but actually goofed this one up. It just seems too farfetched to think that multiple drivers could all wreck in such a short period of time and there not be a good reason for it. Then again, stranger things have happened.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It’s been quite awhile since there was a race day more miserable than Saturday was at Charlotte Motor Speedway. From early morning until late at night, there was virtually no letup in the rain despite forecasts that suggested the wet weather would move out in time to allow for a full night of racing. When NASCAR realized what it was up against – and that the weather prognosticators had gotten it wrong – the sanctioning body made the call before 7 p.m. to postpone the race a day rather than keep everyone there waiting around until some ungodly hour. This was the right call for many reasons – unlike at the July race in Daytona where NASCAR waited out the weather and made the ill-advised decision to put drivers on the track just before the clock struck midnight.