NASCAR had 14 cautions during the 300 mile Busch series race Friday night, almost all on tire problems, with many hard crashes. Two of the top winning drivers this year, points leader Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle, both crashed twice in testing here a few weeks back.
You would think that would be a red flag, after the spring race at Charlotte featured a NASCAR record 22 caution periods.
Despite all the prior problems this year and this past weekend, NASCAR ran the race anyway, and paid for it with 15 cautions, almost all courtesy to tire problems, including Tony Stewart yet again, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth among the chasers, and Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, and Elliott Sadler among those outside the top 10. Stewart at 6 laps down after his crash into the outside wall managed to finish 25th, a testament to how many other cars had problems.
There was not a single set of green-flag stops -- as no green flag run lasted longer than 23 laps. 23 laps! They could have dispensed with the rest of the race and simply held a 20-lap shootout for all the 500 mile race was worth.
NASCAR would have done well to postpone the event, but instead risked the safety and lives of the drivers by continuing with the race.
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