The Sun is setting on the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. The championship will be decided on Sunday. But for the third time in four years, NASCAR demonstrated inconsistent officiating in a pivotal Playoff race at ISM Raceway.
Yesterday Kurt Busch was held a lap for passing the pace car on pit entry.
You cannot pass the pace car entering pit road.
Kurt Busch did, and was handed a penalty. #NASCARPlayoffs #KB41 pic.twitter.com/ibHRammHyE
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 11, 2018
NASCAR defines “pulling up to pit” as such:
“When following the caution vehicle during a caution period, drivers must maintain their position in relation to other vehicles in the field or as otherwise directed by NASCAR and will not be permitted to pass other vehicles or the caution vehicle when preparing to enter pit road.”
I don’t take issue with the enforcement of the rule. By the letter of the law, Busch was in violation of passing the pace car on pit entry. What I take issue with, however, is its inconsistent application.
Earlier in this same race, Chase Elliott appeared to (TV camera cut from an aerial shot to a ground shot) have passed the pace car when he hit pit road.
It *looks* like Chase Elliott came pretty close to passing the pace car at the end of the first stage — what Kurt Busch just got penalized for.
(Elliott’s car doesn’t have the acceleration Busch’s did) pic.twitter.com/9s5opb11Vi
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) November 11, 2018
While that’s ambiguous, this one from March at Phoenix isn’t.
It’s close, but Kurt Busch passed the pace car heading to pit road in the 2018 spring race at Phoenix and didn’t get penalized. pic.twitter.com/fRSg1Kptze
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) November 11, 2018
I looked up the penalty report from the Phoenix race in March, and Busch wasn’t penalized for passing the pace car on pit entry.
While it was more blatant yesterday than in March, that’s a missed call on NASCAR’s end. And one could argue that it put Busch in the position that led to him being taken out in a wreck.
And this isn’t the first time this has happened. Two years ago, Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. were dinged for this same thing. In the race at Phoenix earlier that year, however, NASCAR no-called Carl Edwards for the same thing.
This is a screenshot from pit stops earlier this season at Phoenix.
Notice that the leader beats the pace car to yellow line. pic.twitter.com/gg3U7S8yTa
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) November 13, 2016
Given the layout of the pit road entrance at most tracks (particularly Phoenix and Darlington Raceway), passing the pace car is unavoidable.
I understand that things will sometimes slip through the cracks, but it’s an incredibly bad look on NASCAR when there are multiple examples through the season of cars not being penalized for passing the pace car on pit entry.
And keep in mind that this is the third time in the last four years in which NASCAR made inconsistent penalty calls in the November race at Phoenix.
It also doesn’t help that this comes a week after NASCAR mistakenly sent Jimmie Johnson to the rear of the field at Texas Motor Speedway for failing pre-race tech inspection multiple times (except he didn’t fail a third time, which would’ve resulted in that). Now to NASCAR’s credit, they came out after the race and said it was “unacceptable” and that they dropped the ball.
NASCAR, I can live with you either enforcing the “pulling up to pit” rule 100 percent of the time or not at all. The “somewhere in between” amount, however, has to stop. If not, we run the risk of it marring Sunday’s championship race.
That’s my view, for what it’s worth.
