Yesterday’s Daytona 500 had an absolutely all-time classic finish. The two leaders were neck-and-neck at the end with a whole slew of cars behind them crashing and burning. One car sailed across the finish line upside-down and on fire! The exact moment the caution flag comes out determines the winner of the race. Did they wait too long?
They certainly need to be much more consistent, and decide once and for all exactly what the
procedure is when a wreck or three occurs on the last lap. During the first two seconds of the
melee in question last night, first Harvick was ahead by a nose, then Martin, then Harvick beat
Martin to the finish line. Frankly if the yellow WAS thrown in a timely manner they would still
be hashing out who won, and that likely would have been even more of a mess than what we
did get.
I think the ending was correct. Barring some catastrophic event, like every car being knocked out, a race should never end with a caution. Even with a wreck on the last lap last turn, should at least be a green, white chequered finish rather than a caution win. That’s not frakkin’ racin’!
While the flag probably should have have come out sooner, the fact that it didn’t allowed the better car to win the race. Otherwise, Martin would have won on a technicality, despite getting beat to the line.
But, rules is rules, and the ‘frozen field on yellow’ rule came about precisely to prevent drivers from racing to the line. As it was the final lap, I can see why they let them race, and I’m glad they did. Wow, what a finish.
And how about Clint Boyer’s finish? 18th place, crossing the finish line upside down and on fire! In the Jack Daniels car, no less. That needs to be made into a Don’t Drink and Drive commercial.
They were already on a green-white-checker. The race went 202 laps.
The wrecks happened just behind the leaders, a few hundred yards from the finish line, on the final lap, on a two and a half mile racetrack. No reason to throw the caution in that particular situation until the race is decided. The drivers were able to race back to the line (again, just a few hundred yards) and settle it themselves. They still had at least 2 miles to get slowed down and avoid driving back into the wreckage. At Bristol, being as short as it is, it’s a different story. At Daytona, let 'em race.
And I promise you, I’d feel the same way about it even if it were Jimmy Johnson and Robby Gordon racing for the win.
NASCAR made the correct choice. The accident happened behind the leaders and they were only a short distance from the finish, so let’ em race to the line. I say that even though I wish Mark Martin had won it.
The call, or lack thereof, was absolutely correct. They allowed the two leaders to decide amongst themselves who the winner was while (and this is important) not further endangering any other drivers.
An immediate caution would have done what to prevent further damage? Nothing. It was the last lap. The delay was immaterial.
They could have spoiled it so badly. As it was, it’s an all time classic finish.
Without a doubt, the right call even though, like El_Kabong, I wish Martin had won. Doesn’t matter. This was right.
Oh… and finishing upside down and on fire was… well… freakin’ scriptworthy.
Inform my ignorance: What’s the yellow flag mean, and what was its significance in this situation? How would its activation effect the question of who would win the race?
-FrL-
The lead changed after the wreck behind the two leaders began and was a close, tenacious contest to the end. Whoever was in front at the time the yellow caution was thrown would have won since that immediately freezes the field order.
There were times after the wreck when Mark Martin, having led for the previous x number of laps, was still in front. A caution then and he wins. A delay and they battle it out, in this particular situation without putting any drivers at additional harm.
Quick question as I don’t follow the races that close.Who was the guy that finished upside down?Does that count as a finish? Can you get out and push your car to the finish if need be?
ahh i see above it was Boyer,how bout my other two questions.
Edited… not necessary.
Yeah, I meant if they ever throw a yellow in that situation, they should keep have another green, white chequered and so on so that a race never finishes on a caution.
As much as I wanted Mark Martin to win, I think they made the right decision. The race ended as a race, not as a decision by the officials.
The yellow flag gets thrown in a race when there is a reason to slow things down, usually an accident, but sometimes debris on the track or such that could be dangerous. At that point the order of the cars is frozen. They continue to drive, following the pace car, until the green flag comes back out. If the yellow flag had been thrown in this instance, the order of the race would have been frozen at that point, and essentially the race would have been over, since it was the last lap. The timing of the flag would have determined who the lead driver was, and therefore the winner. By not throwing the yellow, the officials allowed the race between the two lead cars to continue to the finish line, where the distance between them was about .oo2 seconds. The accident didn’t affect the leaders, as it was behind them.
I’m glad they let em run, I was rooting for Mark bigtime, but then Harvick came off the top with a helluva run, and they took it to the line like it should be. Great finish!
Probably Mark’s last chance for a Daytona 500 win, but damn, you have to let em run like that.
I think it “saved” NASCAR for the start of the season after all the other controversy.
I was likewise rooting for Martin, but was glad they allowed the race to finish properly. I will say though that there were cars behind the pack and/or a lap down that needed the yellow flag for safety reasons. The flag WAS thrown, just delayed until the leaders crossed the finish line.
I have a question. I was out playing pool and they had the sound all the way down oin the bar. Why did they have a camera on the number 18 car all that time at the end?
From a fan point of view, NASCAR maybe made the right call. From a competitor’s point of view and from the view of safety, NASCAR screwed the pooch. NASCAR made the “freeze the field” rule to keep the racers from having to race back to the caution or through a wreck. On Sunday NASCAR ignored their own rule. Sure Martin and Harvick were clear, but the rest had to race through the wreck. Maybe some didn’t and lost spots. Next time, you can be sure that everyone will be racing through the wreck. Pretty much, that’s my biggest issue with NASCAR though. They are all over the board with their calls and they only follow their own rules when it helps their bottom line.
It’s not fair to say that Harvick had a better car. He won because he got a good run and a good push from Kenseth on the last lap. If the yellow had come out, Martin might have won by virtue of the rules and by virtue of leading at the time. He wouldn’t have been beat to the line, since the line is where ever he was when the yellow flew.
Some history about the yellow flag:
Until a few years ago, cars were allowed to “race back to the yellow” – that is, keep racing at full speed until they reach the start/finish line. That all changed when Dale Jarrett was involved in a wreck and came to a stop right on the finish line; cars racing for the yellow passed on either side of him at nearly 200 mph. While nobody hit him, it was clearly an extremely dangerous situation that could have easily been lethal.
That’s when NASCAR created the “insta-caution” rule. At first, the running order was determined by the car’s positions on the previous lap, but now with GPS receivers in each car, they’re able to “freeze the field” using each car’s exact position at the precise instance of the caution.
One argument against the insta-caution rule was the habit of some drivers to slow down and actually allow someone to pass them, allowing cars one lap down to get back on the lead lap. (This was mainly a courtesy thing – presumably, the driver they helped would help them out in a future race, if the situation arose.) Since the new yellow rule made this impossible, NASCAR added the “Lucky Dog” rule, whereby the first car one lap down was automatically allowed to move up and restart at the tail end of the lead lap.
I think I heard a figure of around 90 cameras covering the race. I’m not sure if that figure includes in-car rigs, but with so many cars already knocked out, it’s not surprising that a camera could be solo’ed on nearly every car.