Saturday night’s race may be remembered for a driver winning the race for a fourth straight year, but at the same time the big discussion came late in the race, all because of something that could be to blame on the driver, and part to blame on NASCAR.
Carl Edwards held the lead during green flag stops, where many teams had already made their run to pit road for service. Suddenly, a caution comes out and some drivers are a lap down, leaving just four cars on the lead lap. Edwards hit pit road and assumed he would return to the lead. Here’s the problem, under caution the first car one lap down gets a free pass back onto the lead lap. At the time, that was Tony Stewart.
So, Stewart back on the lead lap, and with the rest of the cars hitting pit road, Stewart would assume the lead…at least that’s what his crew thought.
Edwards, meanwhile, took his position outside the front row, assuming he was leading. Heading to the green flag on lap 319, Edwards got a huge jump on the field, but two problems occurred. First, it was long before the restart line that he took off, and second…he wasn’t classified as the leader.
According to scoring loops, Stewart assumed the lead on lap 315, meaning he controlled the restart. Stewart had to be the first one to cross the start/finish line once the green flag was out, and he clearly was not. Edwards’ crew chief, Bob Osborne, made the claim that Stewart spun his tires, which he did, but the problem was he took off long before the restart line, which is when the lead drivers are allowed to get fully on the throttle.
Video evidence clearly showed Edwards was not at the line, and had a more-than-average jump on the field, so the black flag was posted and he had to do a pass-through penalty on pit road.
It’s already been a big talk in just the mere hours after the race ended, including Edwards going to the NASCAR hauler to discuss it with officials. But, to me, the call was correct.
The only way Edwards would have possibly had an argument is if he waited till the line to jump, and if Stewart did spin his tires, then he would have a valid point. What killed his complaint was the fact that he was not at the restart zone, and scoring had Stewart as the leader of the race.
A few similar incidents happened at Bristol earlier this year between Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth, with video showing that just by the narrowest of margins, Keselowski was ahead of Kenseth on the restart, but Kenseth was listed as the leader. NASCAR no-called those because after the second corner, Kenseth was out front. Plus, with laps going off so quickly, the chances of them catching it were extremely slim.
Certainly this will be discussed all week long, as it’s the real story from Richmond.
RESULTS: 1-Kyle Busch 2-Earnhardt Jr. 3-Stewart 4-Hamlin 5-Kahne 6-Johnson 7-Bowyer 8-Martin 9-Keselowski 10-Edwards
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11-Kenseth 18-Biffle 19-Harvick 23-Gordon 31-Burton
CAUTIONS: 5 for 31 laps. Lap 52-56 (competition), 118-122 (#51 spin-FS), 228-236 (debris), 311-318 (debris), 388-391 (debris).
LEAD CHANGES: 14 among 7 drivers. Martin 1-29, Edwards 30-53, Kvapil 54, Edwards 55-200, Stewart 201-205, Edwards 206, Harvick 207-219, Edwards 220-250, Stewart 251-285, Kyle Busch 286-304, Stewart 305-309, Johnson 310, Edwards 311-314, Stewart 315-387, Kyle Busch 388-400.
TIME OF RACE:Â 2 Hrs, 51 Mins, 6 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED:Â 105.202 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY:Â 1.095 Seconds
POINT STANDINGS:Â 1. Biffle, 338 points; 2. Earnhardt Jr, -5; 3. Hamlin, -9; 4. Kenseth, -10; 5. Truex Jr, -22; 6. Johnson, -24; 7. Harvick, -25; 8. Stewart, -31; 9. Edwards, -51; 10. Newman, -60; 11. Kyle Busch, -73; 12. Bowyer, -74
