[Phils20]

Taken from the Thatsracin.com site.

Caution: Slippery road

NASCAR official tries to quell rising storm of drivers' questions

By DAVID POOLE

With high-profile drivers openly questioning officiating after Sunday's Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton on Monday defended the sanctioning body.
"We stand by what we do and the calls that we make," Pemberton said. "Obviously, no matter what call we make people are going to be divided on whether it's right or wrong. But I feel we do a good job.
"We're going to march on and we're going to make the best calls possible for the entire field."
Winner Jeff Gordon and runner-up Denny Hamlin both leveled criticism at NASCAR about why a caution for debris on the track was not called in the final laps.
"There was somebody's entire fender and underbody on the race track," Hamlin said. "I saw that and I literally pumped my fist in the car because I knew a caution was going to come out. But no caution, and Hendrick (Motorsports) gets another break. I don't mean to open up another can of worms on that one."
It's not a new can. Tony Stewart, Hamlin's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, said after he finished second to Gordon at Phoenix last month that NASCAR throws cautions for debris when there's no debris to manipulate competition, and he compared stock-car racing officiating to that seen in professional wrestling.
But it's not only the people finishing second who are questioning NASCAR.
"Absolutely (there) should have been a caution at the end," Gordon said after a fourth straight Hendrick victory and eighth in nine races. "But there shouldn't have been one before that when we really checked out and those guys never even had a chance at catching us. That comes back to the inconsistency."
Pemberton said NASCAR would be criticized either way. If a caution is thrown and Hamlin wins, Gordon's fans are angry. With no caution, partisans say NASCAR is "helping" Gordon.
Pemberton, who is in the tower where decisions on the caution are made, denied NASCAR plays favorites.
"We don't throw cautions for no reason, we really don't," he said. "To me, the cars are just dots on a screen. There are no numbers or names associated."
At one point Sunday, television replays showed a shredding tire on Joe Nemechek's car knocking debris off the car. This happened during green-flag pit stops, but no yellow came until the cycle of stops was done.
"I think at that time, there was some debris that was down out of the groove," Pemberton said. "As teams made their stops and came down off the track in a normal fashion, some of it could have been kicked up into the racing groove."
Similarly, since the debris Hamlin referred to late in the race was sufficiently out of the groove so as not to cause safety issues, Pemberton said no yellow was displayed.
NASCAR has spotters around the track who are in radio contact with the tower. Officials also have access to television camera shots with up to 18 angles showing the track or views from inside cars.
"We are always going to err on the side of safety, and some calls are easier than others," Pemberton said.
Note
Pemberton said improper brackets found on the rear wing of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 8 Chevrolet during Saturday's prerace inspection were also on the car when Earnhardt Jr. qualified 21st fastest Friday. Earnhardt Jr. was allowed to keep that spot because the wing was within NASCAR's rules of zero to 16 degrees during Friday's prequalifying inspection, but outside of that Saturday.
Pemberton said NASCAR is weighing penalty options.

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[jks812]

They were talking about this on Inside Nextel. Biffle said there was debris on the track and it was not in the primary grove but he saw Martin run over it when passing a car. So there was bebris with no caution. Also I don't think they are whiners when they complain about what's there. Hard to believe Gordon said there should have been a caution, cause Hamlin probably would have gotten him on another restart, but I guess since race was over he was safe saying that. Makes him look good.

[Phils20]

I don't think it makes them whiners either, but I look forward to some of the comments once the morning rolls in! I hope this ends up being a fun post, and that my title to it doesn't get anyone too wound up! I just wanted it to stand out!

[Souporscotty]

After Tony blew the whistle (sort of) about the debris cautions, I thought NA$CAR would go out of their way to make sure there wasn't any doubt about them. I guess I was wrong. But I still don't understand why they would want Gordon to win.

[jks812]

I'm not saying they do it cause they want Gordon to win. But after so many times of it, you have to wonder whats going on.

[Souporscotty]

I think you're right. I don't think they want him to win either, but they are just so freaking inconsistant about the way they do everything.

[Souporscotty]

It's dejavu, all over again.

[Phils20]

What did I miss overnight?? There were more responses than this when I went to bed??

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Phils20

What did I miss overnight?? There were more responses than this when I went to bed??

Somehow there were two identical threads created with this topic - I went ahead and merged them.

[Phils20]

Cool! I thought maybe things turned ugly, and some posts were deleted! I was gonna edit the title if that had happened. I don't want this turning ugly, I just thought it was an interesting article.

[Racer X]

Okay…. It called OFFICIATING. It is what it is! There is no insidious plot to control the outcome of the race! It is just human error and inconsistency. Nothing more, nothing less. It is the exact same thing as a backfield judge missing a pass interference call late in a football game. He is not trying to control the outcome of the game – he just missed it. Unfortunately, we cannot institute some type of “instant replay” in NASCAR.

I do agree that the debris cautions are doled out inconsistently, but no one is trying to affect anything. Why would NASCAR risk the integrity of the sport by arranging a race’s outcome? What is the benefit of that? How does NASCAR gain if a Hendrick car wins? To find a criminal, you follow the money trail. How does NASCAR make more money if a Hendrick car, or a Rousch car, or a Gibbs car wins? The only way I can think of is that Bill France has $100 G’s on that car to win at the MGM sports book. But I have not seen that accusation yet…..

[jks812]

They are extremely inconsistant. One race a car starts smoking and no caution for almost a whole lap and then caution. Sunday car smokes and instant caution. One race no debris but caution for debris and Sunday debris but no caution. And yes the cautions do sometimes change the outcome of the race.

[Racer X]

I don’t disagree with that – debris cautions, or the lack thereof, can change the outcome of a race. If they had called a caution on the last lap this past week, Denny Hamlin most certainly would have gone to Victory Lane while Gordon’s team swept up shards of his engine. And I also agree that they are applied inconsistently. I just find it impossible to subscribe to the theory that NASCAR is altering the outcome of these races on purpose.

[Phils20]

Originally Posted by Racer X

Okay…. It called OFFICIATING. It is what it is! There is no insidious plot to control the outcome of the race! It is just human error and inconsistency. Nothing more, nothing less. It is the exact same thing as a backfield judge missing a pass interference call late in a football game. He is not trying to control the outcome of the game – he just missed it. Unfortunately, we cannot institute some type of “instant replay” in NASCAR.

I do agree that the debris cautions are doled out inconsistently, but no one is trying to affect anything. Why would NASCAR risk the integrity of the sport by arranging a race’s outcome? What is the benefit of that? How does NASCAR gain if a Hendrick car wins? To find a criminal, you follow the money trail. How does NASCAR make more money if a Hendrick car, or a Rousch car, or a Gibbs car wins? The only way I can think of is that Bill France has $100 G’s on that car to win at the MGM sports book. But I have not seen that accusation yet…..

I don't think is a conspiracy either. But I would call it almost incompetence, as opposed to inconsitancy.

This is the only Major sport where the owners of the sport also own the tracks, and also make most of big calls. Such as when to throw a flag.

It's time to get an outside agency to enforce the rules they have written.

NASCAR is way too involved. As I said, they own a lot of the tracks, the governing body, make the officiateig calls, dole out punishment. It just feeds into those who think things are fixed. Never said I was one of them.

Oh, and cold you please tone down the writing size. We are all smart enough to understand you without the larger letters. It comes off as a bit condenseding, in my opinion. If I'm out of line, moderators can feel free to let me know. I don't mean any offense, but my first reaction to that is the same as it would be to a post in all caps.

I stressed at the beginning I wanted this to be civil, and since I started the post, I'm gonna ask agian. No underlining, no all caps, large letters, just a fun exercise. I'm thinking a change in title may be in order to keep folks from getting fired up.

[Racer Duck]

Whiners? Depends on your perspective.

When your guy is affected negatively, it's not whining. When your guy is affected positively, it's whining. When you don't have a horse in the race, it's racing luck.

I'd like to see NA$CAR be consistent. Then everyone would know what's coming and when. The way they are now they're like a goose at sunrise - it's a brand new world every time.