No Caution Controversy? I don't think so.

(NOTE: Even though I'm a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan, I'm not posting this article just to defend Jr., I'm posting this to set the record straight on these late incidents, most of which happening in GWC's, when the caution came out.)

On the last restart of the Coca-Cola 600, Kahne runs out of gas. This causes a domino effect behind Kahne. Cars getting into each other, cars become heavily damaged, Jeff Burton spins out, and the caution did not come out. Some people claimed that NASCAR did not throw the caution because Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in the lead at the time this incident happened. If NASCAR kept the old GWC rule, and they happened to throw the caution, these same people will say NASCAR threw the caution flag to give Dale Earnhardt Jr. the win.

There have been many incidents recently where these types of incidents did or did not bring out the caution, I'm only going to mention a few:


- 2009 Sylvania 300: A.J. Allmendinger spun on the frontstretch right after Mark Martin took the white flag. NASCAR did not throw the caution. Allmendinger could not restart the car and the car stalled in the middle of the track. Once Martin got into Turn 4, NASCAR brought out the caution. NASCAR did everything they could to finish the race under green.

- 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500: Kasey Kahne spins in front of several cars, with Kahne nearly going over the wall. NASCAR was going to let the rest of the field race back to the line to finish the race under green. As several more cars became involved, NASCAR threw out the caution. Like the other one mentioned, NASCAR did everything they could to finish the race under green.

- 2007 Daytona 500: Last lap, right after Turn 4. Kyle Busch spins out causing a multi-car wreck. The wreck then caused Clint Bowyer's car to flip upside down. NASCAR kept the race under green because the leaders were so close to the finish.

- 2010 Drive4COPD 300 (NNS): On the last lap, Brad Keselowski bumps Kyle Busch a bit too much spinning him out. Both cars were out of the racing groove and the race stayed green.

- 2010 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (NNS): Robby Gordon runs out of gas with two to go. Being a road course, he was unable to bring it back to pit road. He stopped the car out of the racing groove (in Turns 8 and 9) and the race stayed under green.

- 2011 Drive4COPD 300 (NNS): On the last lap, Kyle Busch bumps his teammate Joey Logano a bit too much, slamming him into the wall. Joey did come back up to the racing groove, but no cars were anywhere near them at the time he spun. Debris flew off the car, some that were in the racing groove, and no caution was given.


My views:
NASCAR does whatever they can to finish the race under green. A spin that brings out the caution with 120 to go might not bring it out with 2 to go. If the driver is able to keep their car out of the racing groove, and be able to get the car moving again (like Jeff Burton did), we probably won't see the caution come out. And it doesn't matter who has the lead at the time; even if the driver in the lead at this incident was Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, or Ricky Stenhouse Jr., NASCAR made the right call. The only time, in my opinion, when NASCAR should wave the caution flag with 2 or on the last lap is when a big incident happens, like a flip, a multi-car wreck/Big One, or heavy impact with the wall that pretty much "kills" the car(s).