Within 20 days, Nascar Busch Series Officials have made two egregious errors: the Montreal Mess and the Bristol Busch Boondoggle. Owners, drivers, sponsors and fans are asking: Is it time for instant replay in Nascar?
In fact, Nascar does rely on the race broadcasters to provide video of incidents to make determinations on calls. But does Nascar need to clarify the rules on in-race penalties and how teams object to those penalties?
Montreal Mess
In Montreal, opportunites abounded for Nascar to make a different call during several end of the race smash-ups. Whether you pull for Marcos Ambrose, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, or Scott Pruett, the bottom line is that the end of race line-up ordering, and penalties could have been handled better. Replays of the on-track action are helpful, but only if they provide all angles. Clearly, there are several turns of the track where no cameras were available, and everyone is left to speculate how exactly this or that car developed sheet metal damage.
Protesting the ruling that he start the final laps of the race in13th position after the Ambrose crash, Robby Gordon resumed his 2nd place position. As Nascar provides little time for reflection during the heat of the race, how should a competitor register his disagreement with a ruling?
"It was not my purpose to disrespect the authority of NASCAR or the officials. I do respect their authority to run the race and make the calls, and I understand the significance of the black flag. I strongly disagree with the calls that affected me at the end of the race. Being spun under the yellow and not being allowed to resume my position prior to the spin put me in a position to react as I did."
Reacting as he did was blatantly ignoring a black flag, during which Nascar allowed the remaining laps of the race to be run. For Gordon, pulling off track would have changed the outcome of the race, as would following the Nascar directive. Nascar penalized Gordon for ignoring the flag, but has not clarified how they want competitors to protest an on-track ruling. What good does it do to sit down after the race and talk about it?
Bristol Busch Boondoggle
Last weekend, at Bristol, a pit road official alleged that Kyle Busch made a commitment line violation. In essense, a competitor cannot cross the commitment line and then return to the track without going down pitroad. Busch, and his Hendrick Motorsports team, protested the penalty, claiming he never crossed the line. The pit road official stuck to his original allegation, and Busch was forced to move from 2nd to 28th. The race resumed, and then Nascar "discovered" the video showed no violation by Busch. Busch had to charge through the field, and ultimately finished fourth.
Nascar apparently covered up for ESPN's failure to timely locate the video, despite the fact that they were able to show it on TV during part of the broadcast. Nascar has admitted its scoring mistake, but has not answered the question of what to do if you disagree with their penalty.
Jeff Gordon brought up the Busch miscue at the drivers' meeting prior to the Bristol Cup race. Nascar officials directed teams to pit-road officials, who would relay the information to the scoring tower.
Rick Hendrick was not satisfied with this answer, probably believing that it will lead to losing the race as it did Saturday. "I'm going to run out on the track and stand on the line until they stop the race and run over me, or handcuff me and take me away," he said.
Hendrick believes that Nascar will try to find a solution to this problem. "I'd like to see for everybody's benefit, especially going into the Chase, for them to take the time, run a few more caution laps and try to make sure that they are right," Hendrick said. "I think they will try to do that."
The Solution
Instant replay would be beneficial on the judgment calls like did a car pit while the red light was displayed on pit road (a la Boris Said at Sonoma a couple years ago). Yet, instant replay should be a rare occurance, not a weekly event.
Instant replay will only work if Nascar clarifies the grievance procedure. Obviously, end of the race penalties are crucial to the outcome of the race. If a team disagrees with a penalty within the last 50 laps, then Nascar must either (1) run caution laps until dispute is settled or (2) red flag the race.
As an incentive to avoid frivilous protests, a protest where the official is found to be correct will cost a team $10,000. If Nascar deems the protest was engineered to gain an advantage for a teammate, both teams would lose 10 points.
Nascar can still use the video replay on its own to make sure it is making the right call, as it currently does. However, the grievance procedure would allow teams the time to plead their case.
As Nascar already takes extra caution laps to handle business, the additional laps would not likely be noticed. With the financial incentive and the possible additional penalty, teams would be sure to only request the replay in dire situations.
And we'd avoid the mess and boondoggle of the past few days.
Quotes from ESPN.com and Foxsports.com
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