Marshall's mind: to throw the caution flag or not...
10/23/2013
Marshal Gabell
The first edition of Marshall’s Mind is about to begin here only on Race Fans Forever. Come into my mind and experience my opinion on sketchy topics…
Despite Jamie McMurray being near and dear to
my heart, I find it pathetic that NASCAR made the lame decision to throw a
caution for the Austin Dillon and Casey Mears incident on the final lap. The thrilling feeling running down my bones as
the remaining 39 drivers take the white flag isn’t applied to any other track
on the circuit than Talladega. My skin
starts shivering and I have butterflies in my stom-----
OH TROUBLE!!
Austin Dillon goes around and HOLY SMOKES, he
is clobbered by Casey Mears. My eyes turn away from the middle of the screen as
I see ESPN’S caution bar at the top of it and I say a four letter word. I watch as they show McMurray as the winner
and the agony of the race being called early was eased a bit.
But
then the question quickly arises on social media, “Should NASCAR have thrown
the caution”
Well, I’m going to put on two different masks
and decide whether they should have or should not have thrown that yellow flag.
First Opinion: NASCAR race control
should not have thrown the caution on the white flag lap despite Austin Dillon
getting airborne- Obviously
it’s a scary situation whenever an automobile is turned around on the highway
or on the racetrack. But in modern day NASCAR, injury and fatality is almost
guaranteed not to happen. When I first saw the way Dillon’s car went into Mears
hood I was sure that both drivers were shaken up but they would be fine to wait
for the safety crews for about 20 seconds. NASCAR throwing the caution disallowed
drivers like Dale Jr., David Ragan and others to contend and make their move
for the victory at the famed Talladega Superspeedway. The wreck
didn’t involve the entire field or half the field, it was two cars, and it was
way behind the lead group. The racecars wouldn’t even return to the backstretch
at full song so what’s the risk of letting them race back to the line?
“The
safety for our drivers and our fans is the most important thing to us,” NASCAR
vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Monday. “There comes a time
when you see what happens on the race track to move safety equipment and attend
to the drivers involved.”
Second Opinion: NASCAR race control
should have thrown the caution on the white flag when Austin Dillon got
airborne- A season filled with
injuries in the motorsports world have caused young racers to back away from
the sport, IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti
was recently injured, Tony Stewart is out for the year from a sprint car
accident, Jason Leffler was killed, Denny Hamlin was
injured in Fontana, and Michael Annett had an injured sternum. These are all good
reasons for NASCAR to throw the caution flag on Sunday. How do those at a fans viewpoint know the
true impact Dillon took? He could have
had a loose seat belt or any other malfunction.
The point is you just don’t know. Also, take in consideration just less
than 24 hours prior, NASCAR sent over 10-racers to the infield care center and
one to the hospital in the NCWTS event. The risk of letting the cars race back
to the line isn’t what NASCAR was going to do when not knowing if the two
racers were okay, so they threw the caution for the safety of Mears and Austin.
After
what I’ve stated I’m going to have to say from a fan standpoint I truly believe
NASCAR should have held off on throwing the yellow and let the drivers race,
but from a driver and family of driver standpoint I’d want the caution to be
thrown.
Austin
Dillon has a ton of talent and to have him or Casey Mears injured could put
NASCAR into a negative light again.
At the end of the day NASCAR did their overall job; protect the safety of the racers. That’s why I agree, NASCAR made the right decision, and should have thrown the caution.