NASCAR: Top 5 controversial moments of the 2021 season

Controversial moment no. 3: Torrential downpours end inaugural COTA race

Later in May, NASCAR’s first trip to Circuit of the Americas was a wet one. Unlike the controversy at the Daytona International Speedway road course, no one could deny the fact that it was raining here. From the very start of the race, teams seemed to want just the Goodyear rain tires.

After the race began, the rain gradually got heavier and the amount of standing water on the racing surface greatly increased, which led to more water being kicked up by the cars and less visibility for the drivers.

On lap 20, lack of visibility became the cause of a caution. A chain reaction crash that involved Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and others happened on the fastest section of the course.

The accident didn’t seem that bad, but on the restart following the caution, Martin Truex, Jr. and Cole Custer were involved in a violent crash in the same high-speed section of the track. NASCAR stopped the race until the rain lightened up, but that only started the cycle again.

While there weren’t any accidents that topped the Truex/Custer crash, cars began hydroplaning and having other issues around the track. NASCAR threw the caution flag with 14 laps to go as the battle for the lead was shaping up between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Elliott, the leader, was eventually called the race winner because the event never restarted.

NASCAR was criticized for a number of things over the course of the next week. Some fans called NASCAR out for putting drivers in danger by not stopping the race before the mid-race accidents to wait for a day of better weather to resume the race. Others questioned why NASCAR called the race 14 laps shy of the finish when drivers had been racing in a downpour all day anyway.