NASCAR responds to Kurt Busch’s post-Talladega criticism

Kurt Busch criticized the NASCAR officials following the conclusion of Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR responded.

After Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series round of 12 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, the 1000Bulbs.com 500, came to a conclusion, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch criticized the NASCAR officials.

Busch’s criticism came as a result of the fact that he ran out of fuel, lost the lead and fell back to 14th place coming out of turn four of the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama on the 193rd and final lap of the race, which was only scheduled to last for 188 laps but ended up being five laps longer than it was scheduled for as a result of a late caution flag period.

The 40-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada was upset about running out of fuel because he believed that a caution flag should have been thrown after he took the checkered flag, at which point the race would have been immediately ended and he would have been declared the winner.

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Busch wanted a caution flag to be thrown as a result of the fact that a wreck took place as the field entered turn one on the race’s final lap. This wreck, while not a huge wreck, was probably the biggest wreck of a relatively clean race at Talladega Superspeedway that resulted in an astounding 39 of the 40 drivers who competed in it officially being classified as running when the race concluded.

This wreck involved several drivers, including Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch. But because of the fact that NASCAR did not want to end the race under caution, which would have robbed fans of a thrilling finish, and they knew that the leaders would not approach the scene of the accident under racing conditions since the field had already take the white flag, no caution flag was thrown.

Here is a video of the end of the race.

This irritated Busch, who would have won the race had a caution flag been thrown, and he made sure everyone knew it once the race ended and he knew that instead of being locked into the third round of the four-round, 10-race playoffs, the round of 8, he will have to fight for his spot in the round of 8 in this Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, which is the final race of the round of 12, the Hollywood Casino 400.

Here is what Busch had to say about the matter, according to Autosport.

"“Yeah I was trying to use all the information I could with my guys telling me about how the other team-mates were lifting, what their fuel mileage looked like. You don’t want to conserve too much and draw the gap of our cars back to the other guys.“I was trying to do what I could to manage the fuel and there was two missed calls by NASCAR there at the end. Why [we had] an extra yellow flag [is] beyond me. The track was ready to go. And at the end you know, once we crossed the white flag, if there’s a wreck, an ambulance needs to be dispatched.“I’ve been on the other side of that where I was racing coming back to win the race and they said, ‘well we had to dispatch an ambulance’. There was two cars dead in the water down there, Chase Elliott’s safety is of my concern, so is the #32 car [of Matt DiBenedetto]. And so, it’s a human call. There’s rules that need to be stricter at the end of these races.”"

NASCAR responded to Busch’s criticism. Here is what they had to say about the matter, according to Autosport.

"“We were closely monitoring each car involved, and were actively communicating with spotters and safety trucks in Turn 1. All cars were able to either roll off under their own power or signal they were clear. As always, we make every effort to end under green for our fans in the stands and at home, which we did.”"

Are you in agreement with Kurt Busch, NASCAR, both or neither regarding the caution flag procedure for the end of a race? Do you believe that something will be done that benefits all parties involved? If so, when do you believe a change will be made?