When a caution waves during green-flag pit stops, the running order is almost certainly going to shake up a bit.
Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, however, took that to another level when a scoring issue kept the field under caution for nearly 30 laps in the Goody’s fast Relief 500.
Picking up laps, losing laps, losing positions and gaining points; The issue had its share of impacts in not only the running order but the Chase picture heading into Texas next week.
One driver who wont worry about Chase implications is Jeff Gordon, who wrapped up his substitution role for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Martinsville.
Earning his best finish in eight starts in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Gordon believes the scoring issues must be fixed and should not be an issue.
“I don’t want to harp on NASCAR but they’ve got to fix that scoring situation,” Gordon said. “I called them out on it at Dover, it happened in the XFINITY race. I asked them about it in the drivers meeting and they thought they had it right. Obviously, they don’t have it right.”
Gordon was un-biased in his complaints, saying he doesn’t believe he gained or lost anything from the confusion.
“I don’t think it affected us a lot but it wasn’t right,” he said. “And we had to ride there for 30 laps under caution. That wasn’t good.”
Reeling in the No. 18 of Kyle Busch for the fifth spot in the closing laps, the nine-time Martinsville victor settled for sixth, saying it wouldn’t be a bad way to end his storied Sprint Cup career.
“All in all, it was a great way to end our run here this year in the No. 88 car,” he said. “I think this is going to be my last one, we’ll see. I had fun with it. There were times where it was nerve-racking. And then today, we were passing cars and moving forward and had a blast.”
About the author
Growing up in Easton, Pa., Zach Catanzareti has grown his auto racing interest from fandom to professional. Joining Frontstretch in 2015, Zach enjoys nothing more than being at the track, having covered his first half-season of 18 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017. With experience behind the wheel, behind the camera and in the media center, he thrives on being an all-around reporter.
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It’s simple. If there is a scoring issue then throw the red flag. Figure it out and put the cars in their running order and then start counting the laps. Another debacle for Brian to put a spin on.
Especially when you consider how many times they’ve thrown red flags for generally benign incidents late in races.
You know, they seem to pull these dickhead moves in this section of the stupid “Chase”, what would have been the BFD to throw the flag? No doubt there could have been give and take for those “fighting” for those stupid point positions…what a waste, a manipulative waste.
Doesn’t NASCAR use transponders in the cars? It’s a pretty bulletproof system.