NASCAR\u2019s senior competition leadership says there were \u2018multiple layers\u2019 to the decision to let teams refuel without penalty on Wednesday in the middle of a sleet-affected and caution-riddled Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.<\/p>\n
The decision drew the ire of several crew chiefs, those who filled their tank before the start of the race or those who took fuel at the expense of their track position and those who ran out leading NASCAR to make the call.<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson ran out of fuel
Chase Elliott ran out of fuel
Kyle Busch topped off before NASCAR made the call
Tyler Reddick topped off before NASCAR made the call<\/p>\n
This was in addition to general confusion surrounding which tires teams could bolt on their cars, and when, as a soaked track gradually begin to dry but with race control never officially deeming it dry enough to get off the Goodyear wet weather package.<\/p>\n
Read Also:<\/p>\n
Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, cited the following reasons to let the field take fuel without penalty on Lap 165 when discussing the matter during the annual media Research & Development roundtable on Thursday afternoon:<\/p>\n
This was the first race with the 750 horsepower package and fuel mileage was an inexact estimate
\nThere is no true pit road at Bowman Gray
\nMaybe Larson and Elliott were mechanical failures and not fuel shortage issues
\nCaution laps were not counting<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve run that engine in an actual race with the higher horsepower, for one,\u201d Moran said. \u201cSo was our data totally accurate that we went into the race with? We believe it is. We\u2019re still going to go through all of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teams should have had full tanks when they went out for the Last Chance or The Clash, which obviously leads us to think they didn\u2019t have enough fuel in the cars when they started.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, then it was a fair question to ask if it was required for them to have full tanks, and it was not which begs the question why not leave it up to the teams to choose when to give up their track position to refuel.<\/p>\n
Crew chief notes only recommended full tanks, but that\u2019s also added weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what we were managing from our side is that we had way more cautions than we’ve ever had,\u201d Moran said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a pit road that you could just allow fueling at any time. We don\u2019t have fire protection at every station, so just multiple layers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were getting reports, where we obviously saw some of them run out of fuel, starting with (Larson) and we weren\u2019t sure if there was a pickup issue; we didn\u2019t have that information at the time so we allowed them to fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moran thought not allowing them to take fuel, and having more cars run out, that would just create more problems for the show and race quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had 35 green flag laps to go with all the no count cautions that we could have had,\u201d Moran said. \u201cAnd we were trending pretty high at that point. So at that point, the decision was made that we didn’t want that to be the entire story of how the race ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moran said not counting cautions was \u2018not our friends\u2019 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
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The McDowell penalty<\/p>\n
The first officiating topic of conversation came on the opening lap of the Cookout Clash Last Chance Race when race control deemed that Michael McDowell jumped the initial start on pole sitter Josh Berry from the front row.<\/p>\n
McDowell was sent to the rear of the field and did not make it back to a transfer position and was eliminated before the main event. At the time, McDowell said he was aggressive but that he was also snookered by Berry, who fired off first.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
That topic was tackled by senior Vice President of competition of NASCAR, Elton Sawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they get in the zone, then at that point, you\u2019re looking at (Berry) to make sure he does that \u2026 and we don\u2019t know wheel spin and all that,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cBut this one was pretty straightforward because (McDowell) launched \u2026 and he\u2019s not even the control car and he fired before we got in the zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Brad Moran had a nice conversation with him this morning and he says he was really aggressive, and we\u2019re watching all the radio communication transcripts, and he said \u2018I need to be aggressive,\u2019 and he was.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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