O’Donnell on Talladega’s green finish; qualifying change gets good reviews
NASCAR officials chose not to throw a caution flag on the last lap of Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards, involved in a crash shortly after the leaders took the white flag, felt the situation called for a yellow flag.
Teammate Matt Kenseth, not involved in the Edwards incident, agreed.
"I had to lift so I didn’t send Carl to the hospital," Kenseth, the 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion, said afterward. "I’m just dumbfounded that NASCAR didn’t throw a caution. We were driving past wrecked cars for half a lap at 180 mph; it was a crazy ending."
Edwards, running seventh, spun going into the first turn after contact from behind. His orange No. 19 Toyota spun down off the track twice, and back up onto the racing surface two times.
With less than a lap remaining and no caution flying, cars zoomed past Edwards.
On Monday, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said it initially appeared that Edwards’ Toyota "was under control down on the apron."
"We elected to keep racing. Unfortunately … really under green or yellow we never want to see a car go back across traffic on the race track. That was a call we made, we’ll certainly talk to the competitors and see what, if any, adjustments we can make going forward.
"We were happy, though, to be able to finish under green. That’s what the fans came to see. But obviously we always say that we don’t want to compromise safety."
O’Donnell said Sunday’s finish differed from this year’s first restrictor-plate race at Daytona, which ended under yellow when Kyle Larson hit the wall after being involved in a multi-car crash on the final lap, thus the different late-race call.
The need to "dispatch emergency equipment quickly" was the reason for the yellow at Daytona, according to O’Donnell, who added "that wasn’t the case, as we observed the situation, at Talladega."
Edwards finished 32nd.
"NASCAR does such a great job making these cars safe and these tracks safe that the biggest cause of injury is going to be one of us not checking up when there’s a guy sideways," Edwards said. "I mean, I have my door facing the field and the 51 (of driver Justin Allgaier), I think it was, went by at about 160 or 180 mph. That’s just not the way I try to race these guys when there’s a wreck."
Edwards’ crash wasn’t the only one that took place on the last lap — shortly after his car spun, an eight-car incident occurred coming out of Turn 2 with several cars getting into the outside wall.
Meanwhile up front, the leaders raced on toward the finish under green.
Qualifying format change gets positive reviews
The return to single-car qualifying (or a modified version of it, at least) at Talladega went over well in the garage, and NASCAR officials gave it a thumbs-up as well.
"I think it’s a format that we believe we’ve settled on at least through the remainder of this year," O’Donnell said. "We’ll certainly have some conversations with the race teams post-event like we usually do but we’re very pleased with the results that we saw at Talladega."
Multi-car qualifying had been put in place for Daytona and Talladega, but on-track issues at Daytona, and complaints from competitors about the risk involved simply to determine the starting lineup, led to the latest change.
"We tried to make it more exciting with group drafting and that had some issues," six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said. "I think it’s a good balance. It’s an efficient way … not necessarily the most exciting thing but still far better than the old single-car, three lap deal. I think it’s a good blend of the two worlds."
Goodyear shortens upcoming Darlington test
Goodyear officials have changed next month’s tire test at Darlington Raceway from a two-day to a single-day tire test, a move that will also change the date of the open team test.
The Goodyear portion of the test, originally slated for Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9-10, has been shortened to a single-day test on June 9. The open team test will now be held Wednesday, June 10. Each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organization may have one team on hand to participate in the open test.
Organizations scheduled to participate in the Goodyear portion of the test are Richard Childress Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Only one Goodyear tire test and open team test is scheduled for this month, May 11-13 at Dover International Speedway. Organizations participating in the Goodyear portion, set for May 11-12, are Stewart-Haas Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing, Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Talladega penalty roundup
Teams were penalized for 37 violations that occurred on pit road during Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. There were 17 instances of teams pitting before pit road was open, most of any infraction. For the first time this season, no teams incurred pre-race penalties that resulted in a driver dropping to the rear of the field prior to the start of the race.
Rear jack bolts taken
NASCAR officials took the rear jack bolts from the No. 98 Biagi DenBeste Racing Ford with driver Aric Almirola following Saturday’s Winn Dixie 300 XFINITY Series race at Talladega. Almirola finished 10th in the race.
Kansas tire update
Sprint Cup Series teams will have a new right-side tire for this weekend’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1). The construction change brings the tire in line with those already run at Las Vegas and Talladega this season.
Teams competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will have the same build of tires as Sprint Cup for Friday’s Toyota Tundra 250 (Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) at Kansas. In ’14 the two series competed with series-specific right-side tires.
