HAMPTON, Ga. — NASCAR stated Sunday that it should have thrown the caution flag on the last lap of Saturday night’s Xfinity race and if the situation happens again in today’s Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the caution flag will wave.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, made the comments during the drivers meeting about an hour before Sunday’s Cup race.
“My last comment will be, based on (Saturday) night’s race, our goal is to finish our races under green conditions,” Sawyer told drivers. “That’s our No. 1 goal. Also, we’re not going to be racing through a debris field. So you can expect cautions to come out based on (Saturday) night. That was on us.
“So a situation that comes up today like (Saturday) night will be a caution.”
As the leaders exited Turn 2 on the last lap of Saturday’s Xfinity race at Atlanta, a few cars in the top 10 crashed. Behind the initial incident, three other cars crashed.
The race stayed green as Austin Hill beat Justin Allgaier for the win. The caution came out shortly after Hill crossed the finish line but at least a couple of cars had to drive through both incidents while the green remained out.
When NASCAR throws a caution flag at the end of a race has been an escalating issue since last week’s races at Daytona.
NASCAR threw a caution in the second qualifying race at Daytona with the leaders in sight of the start/finish line. Jusan Hamilton, a NASCAR race director, said on the NASCAR podcast “Hauler Talk” that the race should have finished under green.
“That’s one when you look back I would say we could do it differently,” he said. “I would say that we could let them get to the start/finish line but that’s looking back now on a Tuesday, going back on all our reviews and having the luxury and time to review the full situation.”
In last week’s Craftsman Truck race, a couple of vehicles spun off the track near Turn 3 and the race remained green. Multiple trucks wrecked in between Turns 3 and 4. The race ended under caution because some trucks would have to drive through the incident.
In last weekend’s Daytona 500, a crash on the backstretch on the last lap did not bring out the caution.
Instead, NASCAR allowed William Byron to race back to the finish line, throwing the caution after he took the checkered flag.
NASCAR stated that with the field bunched and past the incident site — along with no one in immediate need of emergency aid — NASCAR could call for some emergency vehicles to head to the site. Since the incident area was more than a mile from the finish line, drivers would have time to slow before reaching the scene.
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