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One of the most controversial officiating decisions on Sunday evening in Nashville was NASCAR allowing Kyle Busch to retain his position despite getting caught up in a late-race incident. NASCAR Cup Series Director Brad Moran explained the call, claiming, “We deemed him not involved in that incident.” Not everyone loved the decision.
As we can see in the incident below. Busch sees Chastain spin in front of him, and the No. 8 car jams on the brakes to avoid. Busch ends up brushing the outside wall, trying to avoid the No. 1 car, and Busch stays up against the wall until Chastain drifts downwards. Busch then goes along his merry way.
On one hand, Busch could not do much else differently in that scenario. He did what he could to avoid the crash, which meant slowing down for Chastain. While some argued that that doesn’t qualify for “Maintaining reasonable speed” as is required to keep a spot, Moran says that Busch did what was appropriate to avoid the crash.
Our rule clearly states that you must meet reasonable speed. Reasonable speed is for what track conditions are at the time. We don’t want to enocurage drivers to stay on the gas and just bang their way through. What [Busch] did, was he avoided the incident. We deemed him ‘Not involved’ in that incident. He didn’t stop. Had he stopped, he probably would have ended up towards the back of the field. He was scored in the fourth place position when that caution came out, and he didn’t get into the No. 1 or the No. 5 and he made very slight contact with the wall, so we would deem that as not involved in that incident.
Brad Moran
This type of call is not unprecedented in NASCAR. In August of 2012 at Pocono, the top four cars all slid up into each other on a late-race restart. Brad Keselowski lined up on the second row, and, despite falling back after cars wrecked in front of him, NASCAR deemed that he was trying to avoid the wreck, allowing him to keep his spot despite making contact with Greg Biffle. The rain came soon after, and Keselowski ended up fourth, while the other three cars involved finished outside of the top 10.
However, a few pointed out an inconsistency on social media. Couch Racer noted that Kyle Busch is listed on the official NASCAR Race report as one of the cars involved in the incident.
YouTuber JettMDK pointed out that Busch was on the Damage Vehicle Policy (DVP). Yet, NASCAR claimed that Busch was not in the crash.
Caleb was another fan who was not very happy with NASCAR’s move.
Obviously, it looks weird to claim Busch was “not involved” in the wreck when the race report says that he was, and the footage shows him hitting the wall. However, it is also important to note how NASCAR treated another driver listed in that report.
Kyle Larson, who had made contact with Chastain at the start of the crash, was allowed to keep his spot because he maintained his speed after the initial contact. Busch had nowhere else to go but into Chastain’s path, and NASCAR judged that Busch did the best he could to avoid the incident.
While Busch might have been on the DVP, the broadcast does not show him pitting under the ensuing caution. If he had pitted, he would have forfeited his position no matter what.
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