It was just a little more than two years ago when two-time series champion Tony Stewart accused NASCAR officials of "playing God" by manipulating races through phantom debris cautions.
Upset because a series of caution flags contributed to him losing a race at Phoenix, Stewart likened the sport to professional wrestling in complaining that the debris calls changed the outcome of races.
The issue has come roaring back behind Kasey Kahne's accusation that NASCAR threw a bogus caution Sunday to bunch up the field and avoid a boring runaway win by Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway.
Kahne was likely headed to a top-10 finish when he was wrecked on a restart with 12 laps to go. Kurt Busch started the accident when he bounced off the wall and into Kahne. The contact sent Kahne into Greg Biffle, and both cars spun through the grass with enough damage to ruin their races.
But Kahne didn't blame Busch for the accident.
His ire instead was directed at NASCAR, which had called a caution four laps earlier for debris on the track. At the time of the yellow flag, Johnson had an insurmountable lead against the rest of the field that could only be erased by a caution.
"We worked hard all day, got ourselves in a good position and I think it was going to be a good points day," Kahne said. "Then NASCAR threw a debris caution for no debris, which caused Kurt Busch to hit the wall, which caused me to go to the grass and Greg Biffle....
"It's disappointing that we had a bad race because of a caution to put a show on for the fans. That's a good part of the sport -- we have to keep the fans excited -- but sometimes it ruins people's days."
There's one small problem with Kahne's contention. There was clearly debris on the track.
ESPN's cameras showed a black wad of something laying on the backstretch when the caution was displayed with 16 laps remaining. A safety vehicle was also shown pulling off the grass and onto the track to presumably recover the item.
Not that NASCAR was ever in doubt, though.
"There was debris on the track, it was talked about on the radio, it was identified as something being there and the caution was thrown," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said yesterday.
And if NASCAR had been wrong, and there was nothing on the track?
Oh well.
"NASCAR is always going to put the safety of the competitors first, and when it comes to identifying something on the track, we're always going to err on the side of caution," Poston said.
And that's what will forever keep this issue alive. Because sometimes there may not be debris on the track, competitors and fans will always form their own opinions on NASCAR's intent at the time of the caution.
In fact, there was a debris caution that went unproven shortly before Kahne's accusation. Johnson had his normal monstrous lead when the yellow came out with 65 laps left. This time, though, ESPN was in commercial. When the network came out of the break, the debris was not shown, the commentators did not reveal what was on the track surface and the issue was forgotten as soon as pit stops began.
So, for the sake of argument, let's just pretend we know that it was a phantom caution call to "save the show." It certainly added excitement to the race -- Denny Hamlin wrecked as the leader on the restart to bring out another caution -- and it prevented Johnson from winning by a half-lap or even more. Plus, NASCAR used that opportunity to sweep the track, a cleanup that wouldn't have happened had there not been a caution.
So view it as a timeout, a break in the action that is the norm in every other sport and often comes at critical moments. Same thing in NASCAR, when a debris caution can both help and harm a driver.
"It's frustrating when you're leading and pulling away and they say "debris caution,"‘ Juan Pablo Montoya said. "It could be simple, or it could be a screw. In Bristol, I had a flat tire from a washer, you know, with 20 laps to go.
"What can you do? Nothing. It is what it is."
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