Why did the officials at the race not keep the rules the way they were?

Question

The officials took the win from Mark Martin..One could only hope that eventually there will be someone who makes a fuss of this other than the fans

Answer 1

I guess your talking about the yellow flag and why it wasn't called even though all the wrecks were behind him. I don't know it just doesn't sound like they are very consistent about when they have yellow flags.
I'm more upset about who won though. I really don't like Harvick at all. He seemed to come out of nowhere (was it Kenseth that "helped" him. I don't know. I was just real disappointed when Harvick won.

Answer 2

Bottom line, the yellow should have come out for the safety of the drivers. It doesn't matter who you are a fan of , we all want the drivers to live to race another day. Just because the LEADERS were ahead of the wreck doesn't mean that the potential for more wrecks and injuries was any less behind it. When you have David Gilliland screaming through the infield grass and back up into traffic for the finish and Biffle backing around Bowyer's burning car (because he never saw the caution) you are asking for more trouble. If anyone had died or been seriously injured at the end there I think you would see a very large lawsuit against NASCAR or at least I would hope you would. Shame on them for not practicing what they preach. They should have used those 90 cameras they were bragging up during the red flag. They said something to the effect of, "If the caution comes out we will know the exact position of each driver at that instant."

Answer 3

Nascar changes rules at will.Any other time the caution would have been waved as the wreck happened but a sudden let's race to the start finish changed the out look of the event.If you want to call it a conspiracy for the fact that Dale Earnhardt Senior died Feb 18 ,2001?Kevin Harvick now drives for the owner that owned Earnhardts car?
Mark martin is a gentleman and will not complain.It was not right not throwing the yellow but that is history now.

Answer 4

If you go back and watch other races, the yellow isn't always immediate. Sometimes it takes a few seconds. That being said, sometimes a simple spin or light crash won't invoke a yellow at all. I assume that Nascar Officials just felt like they were so close to the finish that they ought to wait the 4 seconds it took to finish. What I don't understand is that when the yellow finally came out, isn't the field suppose to be frozen? It appears from watching my tivo, that Nascar did not give the proper placements to cars if the field was indeed frozen.

Answer 5

I'm not really a fan of either driver, But the rules as they stand now should have gave Mark Martin the win. I don't like the yellow and freeze rule, but the rules are the rules. Seems to me NASCAR got caught cheating on this one, and should be fined by the fans by not watching or buying tickets to........say, the next 5 races

All I can tell you is Welcome to Brain Frances new NASCAR, I don't care much for it, and if the ratings don't drop , it will get even worse

Answer 6

Nascar will not throw the yellow if all cars are sliding to the bottom of the track out of harms way.

Jr and Johnson both spun to the bottom of the track out of traffic thus not needing a yellow.

Same applies at the 500. They did however throw it when Bowyer did come back up the track on his roof. Harvick and Martin had already crossed the finish line if not they were just about to cross it, so yeah Harvick was in the lead by then anyway.

Answer 7

Let me get this straight. NASCAR throws a red out so that we can see the race finish in a GWC (Green-White-Checker), the hitch being that any wreck or yellow flag ends the race IMMEDIATELY! As in, that nanosecond. Harvick gets around Mark, they start dragging down the dogleg. Wow, this is gonna be cool, I say to myself. I see Kyle "I'm too young to be racing with the grown-ups, but I do it anyway" Busch spin, takes out like 25 cars. Mark is leading by a sparkplug at that instant. I think he wins. I'm whooping and yelling (Martin is my all-time favorite driver), but wait!!!

No Yellow. Biggest wreck of the day, no yellow. Until AFTER Harvick edged out Martin at the line. THEN the caution comes out. Kinda pointless then, huh? Seeing as how all the other cars were already wrecked or finished.

I love NASCAR, have for years, but they lost a lot of respect in my eyes for not enforcing thier own rules.

Answer 8

Stop whining, we got to see a great finish, one of the most exciting finishes you'll see. If they threw the caution when Vickers wrecked Jr and Jimmie last year at the right time the chase would have been a lot closer than it was.

Martin raced hard and ran a great race but in the end Harvick got the push when it counted.

Answer 9

I know They want excitement and I like both Mark and Kevin. However someone earlier pointed out (and I agree) that the ones that really got punished were the ones in the melee. Any other time the flag would come out immediately and if your wrecking, but in 5th you finish 5th. The way they handled it you may have wrecked 5th and finished 35th just so they could have an exciting finish. Also, if Clint Bowyer had been seriously injured or killed would they have been thrilled with their "exciting finish"?

Answer 10

I agree. I know what he said in the interview, but that really has to be a heartbreaker for him. After trying for 23 years to win and doing so well up until the last straight away. The officials should have thrown the flag like they were supposed to.