Carl Edwards angered by lack of late caution flag, drivers not slowing down

As Carl Edwards sat sideways on the Talladega Superspeedway backstretch on the final lap of Sunday’s race, he thought for sure NASCAR would put out the yellow flag.

The caution never came. Officials elected to let the Geico 500 finish under green. That non-call irked Edwards, who was nearly struck by several at-speed cars after contact with Casey Mears sent him spinning.

“Really, NASCAR does such a great job making these cars safe and these tracks safe that the biggest cause of injury is going to be one of us not checking up when there’s a guy sideways,” Edwards said. “I mean, I have my door facing the field and (Justin Allgaier), I think, went by at about 160 or 180 mph.

“I really think that’s the most dangerous thing in the sport right now at these places. When there’s a wreck, guys have to get on the brake or we’re going to have a lot of problems here. We don’t want to see that.”

Matt Kenseth, a teammate of Edwards at Joe Gibbs Racing, was one such driver who did hit the brakes to avoid slamming into a prone Edwards. An astonished Kenseth couldn’t fathom why officials didn’t display the yellow flag, calling the events “crazy.”

“I had to lift so I didn’t send Carl to the hospital,” Kenseth said. “I’m just dumbfounded that NASCAR didn’t throw a caution. We were driving past wrecked cars for half a lap at 180 mph.”

In the season-opening Daytona 500, Edwards said he lifted when he was bearing down on a driver in a precarious position. That decision cost him several spots, though Edwards didn’t care -- then or now.

“That’s just not the way I try to race these guys when there’s a wreck,” he said. “Generally, if someone is spinning in front of you, you slow down a little bit, so if you do hit him, you don’t break their legs or hurt them.

“I guess some people would say, ‘Well, hell, your job is to stay on the throttle and go race.’ But we’re all out there and are human beings. You get a guy wrecking, you can’t just lay into his door. That’s pretty dangerous.”

NASCAR has been inconsistent with its rulings whether to finish an event under the green flag. During a similar last-lap situation in the Daytona 500, a multi-car accident occurred on the backstretch that saw Kyle Larson stalled. In that instance officials slowed the race to quickly allow safety workers onto the track.

Richard Buck, NASCAR’s managing director of the Sprint Cup Series, said Sunday that the accident did not warrant a caution and “the circumstances” allowed the race to finish without interruption.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, further explained the sanctioning body’s policy Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“It’s going to be a judgment call,” O’Donnell said. We’ve stated that we’re going to make every effort to try to finish under green-flag conditions. That’s what the fans want to see. We’ve got to be obviously mindful of what’s occurring on the racetrack. It’s a split-second decision.

“I think yesterday if you look at the circumstances that played out with Carl, when we initially saw him get loose, he was down on the apron. As we made that quick decision, it was ‘OK, he’s clear we can go.’ Just as you make that, his car slides up across the track. That’s something you don’t want to see green- or yellow-flag conditions, but, at the time, if we would have thrown the yellow, then it’s too late because he’s already up and across the track. We elected to let it play out.”