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CHRISTIE: Inconsistent Rule Book Calls Marred End of Talladega Race

Toby Christie

Nigel Kinrade, NKP for Ford Performance

I don't care what the rules are, those aren't up to me to decide. All I care about is that they are properly enforced, and enforced consistently each and every week. NASCAR race control has had a big issue with that over the years, and perhaps the most egregious display of the incompetence in the tower came during last Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

There was a rash of Rule Book inconsistencies that broke out over the closing laps of the race, which infuriated competitors and fans alike, including NASCAR ignoring the rule, which they have defiantly defended, where cars unable to drive away from accident scenes are out of the race per the damaged vehicle policy.

Despite what has been the rule all along, NASCAR opted to pick and choose some cars from the carnage, including Playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe, and towed them back to pit lane so their teams could work on their cars and keep them in the race. While others were taken to the garage area without a chance to work on their cars.

I'll be the first to admit that the damaged vehicle policy has been a dumb rule, which has involved no common sense due to the Next Gen car commonly getting stuck on the track with flat tires. However, the much-maligned rule had one thing going for it -- consistency. Consistency went out the window on Sunday as NASCAR saw 25 cars littered on the backstretch unable to drive away following a 28-car pileup on Lap 183 and seemingly didn't know what to do.

Making things even worse was the fact that this same situation arose twice in the three races prior to Talladega, and NASCAR firmly stood on the rule, and didn't allow Ryan Blaney to get towed to pit road at Watkins Glen, and did the same with Josh Berry at Kansas Speedway. At Talladega, NASCAR's Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's VP of Competition told media after the race that the DVP rule was never meant to, "Put good cars out of the race," and that they decided to, "Err on the side of the competitor."

Sawyer continued, "We had a situation in Turn 3, where we have got 25-plus cars down there. We're not sure why they can't continue. We don't know if it's strictly because they are in the grass, whether they're high-sided. So, for us to make the determination that they have suspension damage, and can't continue, that puts a lot on us, and again, we want to err on the side of the competitors."

That's a fine thought, but that is not what the Rule Book says the sanctioning body should do in that situation, and it is not what the sanctioning body has done in that situation in any case where this has happened until Sunday's race at Talladega. And going further, who determines what is a "good" car and what is a "bad" car? If the thought is to err on the side of the competitors, shouldn't every competitor have the same treatment?

NASCAR emphatically stated after the Berry fiasco in Kansas that there would not be a change in policy until the 2025 season at the earliest. And to their defense, the damaged vehicle policy rule in the rule book is black and white, or it was until the sanctioning body introduced a lot of gray at Talladega, that begged the question had there been a change in policy?

According to Sawyer the policy hasn't changed and is the same it's been since day one of the DVP rule. While he says that, the policy very much was not the same on Sunday at Talladega, which is inexcusable to have different sets of rules during the course of a season, let alone during a Playoff format that has constantly been called into question as far as how legitimate it is in determining a champion.

What a mess, but that isn't where things ended. Under the same caution for the 28-car pileup, NASCAR had another officiating hiccup as they pulled the red flag, and displayed the caution flag, but the pace car didn't immediately start moving. In fact, it took several minutes for the pace car to get moving once the yellow flag was displayed.

Why is this a big deal? Because NASCAR had just towed a few cars to pit road to allow them to work on their damage from the crash. With the red flag being lifted, those teams were officially allowed to begin working on their cars, and with the field not moving, they had more time to thrash before they would lose a lap to the leaders.

Sawyer says the scene in Turn 3 was believed to be cleared, but once the call was made to display the yellow flag, race control noticed there were still crashed cars down in Turn 3, as well as safety equipment.

"We had all intentions to roll the caution vehicle as soon as we pulled the red [flag] and displayed the yellow [flag], and the race director noticed some things that were still going on down in Turn 3 where he couldn't do that.," Sawyer explained. "Cars were still moving, there was still safety equipment that was moving around there. So, just for the safety for all, we held the caution vehicle for a little longer."

If that was the case, simply re-display the red flag. Sawyer said NASCAR didn't want to disturb the cadence of going from red to yellow flag conditions, but when you make a mistake, and you have a chance to correct the mistake in life, sports, or officiating, you should always do it. NASCAR didn't, and the already major advantage the towed cars gained by being deemed worthy of being towed to pit road by NASCAR was multiplied by this bad decision.

Not only that but in normal damaged vehicle situations, the DVP clock starts counting the moment a damaged car crosses the pit road entrance timing line. The tow to pit road under the red flag actually saved these cars the precious seconds on the DVP clock that damaged cars usually lose.

In addition to those issues, there was also a safety concern with the eventual winner of the race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse's car took a massive shot to the driver's side door in the big crash on Lap 183. The impact ripped a hole in the driver's side door panel and caused the No. 47 car to lose some of the impact-absorbing door foam. Under the NASCAR Rule Book, that is not allowed, and per the Rule Book, the race winner should have been called to pit road.

He wasn't. And while that call feels like a ticky-tack call, it's a call that the sanctioning body has made in the past. But apparently they just missed it this time around.

"That actually, that's news to me," Sawyer said in his post-race media scrum.

On all fronts, Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway was one of the most competitive superspeedway races in the Next Gen era of the NASCAR Cup Series. The talk should be about how great of a race it was, how wild the 28-car Big One was, and how the Playoffs are shaping up with one race left in the Round of 12.

Yet, we're once again talking about errors in the officiating booth.

"I would prefer for us to not be standing here talking about this," Sawyer stated. "I want us to be talking about Ricky's big win, and about our Playoffs, but when you're in live sporting events, when you're in officiating, that's going to happen from time to time."

Sure, mistakes happen in officiating. But usually, that happens in a bang-bang kind of situation. NASCAR had a long red flag period to get things right, by the letter of its own law in the Rule Book, and didn't. Once they added interpretation to a rule that doesn't have open interpretation attached to it, they then benefitted the cars that had already benefitted by the newfound interpretation by giving them buffer time to get their repairs made. And while the sanctioning body missed on those two things, they still didn't pick up on the safety issue with the race leader.

Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was a great race, but NASCAR's officiating team needs to be better than what they were on Sunday afternoon.

Published
Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.

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