A high-ranking NASCAR executive publicly acknowledged Monday that the sanctioning body had a “tough night” officiating the Monster Energy Cup Series regular-season finale Saturday at Richmond Raceway.
NASCAR official explains why an ambulance was blocking pit road during Richmond race
NASCAR admits its officials had a “tough night” during the Cup Series regular-season finale on Saturday.
Steve O’Donnell, executive vice president and chief racing development officer for NASCAR, made his comments during his weekly Monday appearance on The Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel. He cited communication issues as to why an ambulance pulled up to the entrance to pit road under caution and stopped following a spin by Danica Patrick, blocking drivers who were attempting to make pit stops on Lap 255 of the race.
The traffic jam resulted in a pileup where Matt Kenseth rear-ended Clint Bowyer, damaging both their cars. Bowyer was able to continue, but Kenseth punctured his radiator and his team couldn’t make repairs within the five-minute window NASCAR allows to make repairs before a driver must retire.
Because of the incident Kenseth, who started on the pole and led 89 laps at Richmond. would have missed qualifying for the 16-driver playoffs if a season-first winner had won the Federated Auto Parts 400. But with Kyle Larson winning for the fourth time this season, Kenseth made the postseason as the 16th entrant.
“We had a rough night ourselves in race control and that certainly put a damper on the night for us,” O’Donnell said. “Luckily, we were able to see the same 16 guys make it through, but tough night for the guys up in race control.”
When Patrick spun with 144 laps remaining, NASCAR officials dispatched an ambulance, safety truck, and a tow truck as part of its protocol whenever an on-track incident occurs.
With Patrick able to right her car without assistance, the drivers of the response vehicles were then supposed to return to their positions. However, the driver of the ambulance did not listen to directives from NASCAR officials and ultimately stopped at the entrance to pit road.
“The safety truck was a little ahead of the field, so we asked them to kind of stand on the gas, get ahead of the field,” O’Donnell said. “We asked the tow truck and ambulance to stop and that probably would have been about midway through the backstretch. Tow truck did.
“Unfortunately, there were multiple communications with the ambulance and it just didn’t happen. It stopped at a really bad place. Ultimately, that is on us. We have a lot of folks who work hard at the race track, but we’ve got to do a better job of communicating. If we go back and look at it, could we have thrown the red light on the pits (to close pit road) or would that even have been worse with cars coming down, that’s something we’ve got to look at.”
The ambulance creating a logjam on pit road wasn’t NASCAR’s lone error Saturday night. Officials twice displayed the yellow flag for two incidents that many drivers felt didn’t warrant a caution period. The second one occurred when Derrike Cope brushed the wall with four laps remaining, negating Martin Truex Jr.’s sizeable lead and sending the race into overtime.
Truex voiced his displeasure after the race with what believed was inconsistent officiating. He and O’Donnell have since communicated, and the NASCAR executive said Monday he understood why Truex, who ended up crashing on the final lap, was frustrated.
“I’ve been back and forth with Martin, and he’s obviously upset,” O’Donnell said. “I think that’s fair. It’s something that we have to look at as we go forward. We need to be consistent and that wasn’t our best effort.”
O’Donnell said NASCAR will review its rules and procedures before the 10-race Cup playoffs begin Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. He expects officials to move past what transpired at Richmond.
“We don’t want to be a part of the story,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve got a great group of drivers out there battling hard and got a great group in the playoffs, and we want it to be about those guys.
“As we approach the playoffs, we’re going to regroup and have a bunch of meetings and get it right. … I think if you’re a race team you talk about wanting to put that behind you and move on to Chicago, and we’re certainly going to meet and make sure we put our best effort forward heading into Chicago.”
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