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On Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, a strange caution flag and eventually red flag few after the lights went out on the inside of turns three and four. It was not the first time there was a strange caution in NASCAR history, and it sure will not be the last. What seven of the strangest cautions in NASCAR history?
In 2009 at Atlanta, there was a green flag pit cycle early in the race. The 47 car of Marcos Ambrose came in to pit, and they let a tire get loose into the infield. A crew member decided to go get the tire himself…under green flag conditions. This forced NASCAR to throw a caution, which messed with the entire pit cycle.
In 2010 at Charlotte in the Xfinity Series, Brian Scott was penalized for a missing lug nut. Well, NASCAR was wrong, and Scott had all lug nuts tight on his car. To give Scott his spot back, NASCAR decided to throw the caution flag, and let Scott pass the field until he got his spot back. He went on to finish 28th that night.
The 2013 Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas was a wild race with 15 caution flags, but, the weirdest one came on lap 156. A fire in the bushes in turn one caused smoke to billow over the track in turn one. The fire was taken care of, and the race continued on. Kevin Harvick would take home the win.
In 2010 at Las Vegas, the caution lights came on despite the green flag being displayed on lap 54. The race resumed, and the same thing happened again on lap 108. Yes, the same strange caution happened not once, but twice in the same race. Thankfully, nothing crazy came from this as Jimmie Johnson went on to win.
In 2014 at Richmond, one fan decided to channel his inner Tony Stewart, but, not in a smart way. During green flag racing the fan climbed up the fence in turn four and sat on top of it. A caution came out, and the fan was apprehended before the race resumed. Brad Keselowski went on to take the win.
The 2014 spring race at Bristol was marred by weather delays, but it was the caution lights that ended the race. With two laps to go, caution lights came on, despite there being no caution called for on track. Under that caution, the skies opened up, and NASCAR was forced to end the race under caution. Carl Edwards took home the trophy.
The 2016 Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono was delayed a day by weather, and weather continued to hamper the race the next day. However, instead of rain, it was a surprise fog bank that came through. Chris Buescher was ahead at just the right time, and the fog never lifted. Buescher won his first career race.
There will undoubtedly be more strange cautions throughout NASCAR’s history in the future. However, we may not see any more quite like these.
