Last Lap: Raising a red flag

Hypothetical: It's the bottom of the fifth inning, two outs, full count. Runners wait anxiously on first and second base. The batter pops up to right-center field. Easy play. Inning over.

But wait, as the centerfielder shifts easily to his left and settles into position under the ball, he stumbles over a sprinkler head that inexplicably emerged from beneath the playing surface.

	Marty Smith

The ball falls unimpeded into the field of play and rolls to the warning track. Two runs score. The game is halted to remedy the sprinkler situation, but the officiating committee honors the scored runs. Eventually, the home team wins by a run.

Seem fair? No way.

So imagine how Jeff Gordon must feel. Because in essence, that's what happened to him Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Gordon had the best racecar in the Advance Auto Parts 500 -- then hit a boulder. A chunk of concrete dislodged itself from the racing surface in Turn 3, creating a 12-inch wide by two-inch deep crater.

When he struck the debris, the right front valence on the DuPont Chevrolet looked like a bad 80s crimped hairdo, and Gordon's hope for a third consecutive Martinsville victory was gone.

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"It's very unfortunate that the racetrack came apart," Gordon said. "It definitely took any chance we had of winning away."

NASCAR gave Gordon no provision, no special treatment, essentially just said, "Get over it and get on with it." It was the right call. Following a 77-minute delay spent repairing the track, Gordon pitted to repair the damage.

He came out 21st, quickly surged into the top 10 and eventually settled into a sixth-place finish. Solid, but disappointing considering the circumstances.

Afterwards, he was critical of NASCAR's decision.

"To me it's inexcusable for a racetrack to come apart like that," Gordon said. "I think they should have discussed it a little bit more as to what clauses should be in place when an obstacle on the racetrack, when it's the racetrack that came apart, causes you to have damage like that."

Bobby Labonte, Sunday's runner up, disagreed, saying this isn't the first time extenuating circumstances have dashed a driver's hopes.

"Somebody left a crossover gate open at Bristol during practice one time and wiped out Dale Jarrett's Busch car," Labonte said. "They didn't give him a new one. This is a sport where you don't get any do-overs."

	Jeff Gordon suffered heavy damage at Martinsville after a piece of concrete hit his No. 24 Chevrolet. Credit: Autostock

What do you guys think? Should there be do-overs? Should NASCAR, under a red flag, allow a team to repair damage caused by something other than a racing accident?

No. Despite Gordon's misfortune, NASCAR made the right call. Explanation follows:

gogregbiffle: No. Good drivers with good cars have their racing days ruined by things totally out of their control all the time. Everything from getting a hot dog wrapper stuck on the grill to being in the wrong place when someone else does something dumb.

If a non-superstar driver -- perhaps Ricky Craven, Kyle Petty, Derrick Cope, etc. -- had found that concrete instead of a championship contender we wouldn't even be having this discussion. People would have just shrugged and said. "It's weird. It's bad luck. But that's racing."

Was it Biffle or Martin's fault that a parts supplier's quality control slipped up? Nobody would dream of giving them free repair time because their fuel-line failures weren't under their control, right? Superstars also end up on the wrong side of the racing luck sometimes. Oh well. I don't recall anyone ever telling me that life was going to be fair. The superstars would do well to remember that fact.

Yes and no, Doug Richert. An overheating engine triggered by a wayward hot dog wrapper is a legitimate comparison, due to its nature. It's happenstance that is virtually impossible to issue accountability for. It's not of driver, team or competitor's doing. Your other examples, however, are different in that a team can point to why it happened.

If a driver loses control and destroys a car after sliding through oil from a competitor's blown engine, the team knows definitively why they were eliminated. If a driver's motor expires prematurely, the team can point to the engine department for answers. Where do you place blame here? NASCAR? Track operators? I just don't see where you can pinpoint accountability in this instance.

To me, it's like the bead between the rim and the tire melting. That's not of a team's doing, nor was it onset by a competitor. Goodyear certainly didn't do it on purpose. It just happened. Freak deal. Honest mistake.

In other words, forget it and move on.

Biffleboy: NASCAR has all the discretion in the world with their rules and interpretation of same. I think at the very least they should have let the 24 bang out the fender and defended their action with the "act of god" rule, or something similar. I'm all for Gordon having bad breaks, but that was ridiculous.

True, Boy George, on the surface it seemed as if NASCAR should have made an exception and allowed Gordon's team repair the fender. But let's think a bit deeper for a moment. Had NASCAR done so, they'd have set a precedent for future red-flag situations.

The door would have been opened to crafty crew chiefs to lobby for working on their car under the red flag. So many of NASCAR's rules decisions are judgment calls, and are often unsettling. This is one is cut-and-dried. Let's leave it that way.

jedicon: NASCAR is responsible for the condition of the tracks the racers race on. For a track at the highest level of racing to crumble during a race is unacceptable and NASCAR should have done the right thing and let any car affected by the debris to fix their car under the red. As a result, the best car did not win and it had nothing to do with racing. Jeers to NASCAR for doing the wrong thing...again.

I'll agree with you, Luke Skywalker, that it's unacceptable for a Nextel Cup racetrack to fail like this. But it doesn't mean NASCAR should change its policy on red flags.

Again, the last thing we need in the NASCAR rulebook are more gray areas, and this would have been straight-up heather. (I think heather gray is the midpoint between white and black? Random thought. Whatever...)

Chuckie Johnson is with me:

chuck48: While it was unfortunate that a piece of the track came up and hit the 24, NASCAR did the right thing in not allowing work to be done during the red flag. The chunk of track hitting his car was out of his control, but so could another car rubbing another car during the race. "The (insert car here) hit me and it wasn't my fault." No work during a red flag. Period. Consistency with that rule ends any question of gray areas.

The inability to repair/adjust cars is as black and white as it gets in the Nextel Cup Series rulebook. That's a good thing.

StickSave31: Yeah, they need to put some kind of stipulation in there for extreme circumstances like this. This was ridiculous. I'm not a diehard 24 fan but I know if that had happened to my driver when he was running that good I would really be disappointed.

Earnhardt Jr told the media that he had told NASCAR about it for 4 or 5 laps before that happened. NASCAR knew about it but didn't throw the flag so it was their responsibility. In 2001 they sent the field for the Winston into turn 1 on a damp track and half the field piled up.

What did they do? They let them pull out their backup cars. I'm aware that's a non-points event, but the point is they did it because they knew it was their (NASCAR's) fault. The same could be said about what happened on Sunday.

Two things, here, Martin Brodeur: First, four laps at Martinsville take less than two minutes. So despite Junior's comment, NASCAR didn't take as long to throw the caution as it may seem.

Secondly, the All-Star race is pure entertainment. Nothing that pertains to the big picture is on the line. The two situations are quite different.

And I still don't feel NASCAR can be held accountable for this. I agree it's their responsibility to assure the track's suitability for competition, but how could they have known? With all the talk about lengthy cautions these days, it's obvious they search the racing surface with a fine-tooth comb.

Taco24: I will say no on the subject, however, there should be an asterisk by the rule. When was the last time that a race was red flagged because the track was "falling apart"? To my knowledge, this is the first time it's ever happened.

Therefore, in a freak accident like that, I think they should've at least let the 24 team bend the fender back out since it wasn't anyone's fault on the racetrack, as in another driver hitting him or Gordon hitting something himself. I realize there is nothing they can do about it now cause this will probably never happen again, at least not for a long time with the newer racing facilities.

Gordita raises an interesting point: It occurred during the race. On most occasions when a facility experiences something like this, it occurs during practice or qualifying. Remember Mike Harmon's insane wreck at Bristol two years back? His car disintegrated, but neither Bristol nor NASCAR bought him a new one. The difference is, it was during practice.

Hence, Labonte's point doesn't apply. Jarrett's situation didn't occur during the race. His weekend wasn't shot. There was time to make repairs, pull out a backup car, whatever. Gordon didn't have that option. He had to suck it, pit under yellow and forfeit 19 positions in the running order.

Carol691: No. If a referee was in the way of a football player, he can't say "I would have scored a touchdown if the ref was not in my way." If the wall gets in your way, do you get a do over? It's a field obstruction, plain and simple. It's very unfortunate what happened to Jeff Gordon, but that's how the cookie crumbles, or in this case, the track.

Awesome answer, Carol. Excellent analogy, and so, so witty to boot. Well done.

Steve88: Yes, if a car has damage caused by something that was NASCAR's fault or the condition of a race track's fault and out of any of the drivers' or crews' control, like what happened on Sunday, they should be able to fix the problem under a red flag condition.

Jeff Gordon did not come in contact with any other cars, he just hit a piece of concrete that came loose from the track because it wasn't maintained properly. That was NASCAR's fault and they should have given Jeff the time to fix his car. They didn't even let him jack up the car the check for suspension damage. I'm saying this and I even hate Jeff Gordon.

Aside from the hating Jeff part, I hear you loud and clear, Stevie. Just doesn't seem fair that something like this can take a win away. Had it not happened, Gordon may have led 350 laps. But NASCAR still made the right decision, so we may as well get over it and trudge on.

CamaroMan29: I tend to remember when New Hampshire was having trouble with its racing surface. There were people that were wrecking from that surface being bad. Racing is all about the breaks. One good break can lead to a win were one bad break can lead to a heartbreaking loss. Get over it, and prepare for the next race. Complaining does no good. Cut your losses and go to the next track.

Right on, KH. That's that. See y'all in Talladega.

The Last Lap appears every Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.