NASCAR admits scoring error against Busch at Bristol
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
August 25, 2007
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- NASCAR's errant call against Kyle Busch was still being discussed Saturday, as drivers wondered what kind of recourse they have when they don't agree with a call.
NASCAR said Busch crossed the commitment line for pit road -- and then didn't pit -- during a caution in Friday night's Busch Series race. He was ordered to forfeit his second-place position, and even though his Hendrick Motorsports team disagreed with the call, Busch served the penalty and dropped back to 28th.
Shortly after the race resumed, NASCAR said Busch did not cross the line and should not have been penalized. It was too late to rectify, though, and Busch had to drive through the field to finish fourth.
"It was a terrible mistake,'' said team owner Rick Hendrick, who met Saturday with NASCAR president Mike Helton at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"You hate to have (NASCAR) make a mistake like that.''
During the driver meeting before Saturday night's Nextel Cup event, four-time series champion Jeff Gordon asked NASCAR what teams should do going forward if they disagree with a call. Race director David Hoots said the teams should convey their thoughts to a NASCAR official, who will radio it to the scoring tower for further review.
But Hendrick said he had a better solution.
"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.
Meanwhile, NASCAR was defending how the error happened.
Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition, said the pit road official initially called the violation. When the team complained, NASCAR asked the official to reconfirm and the official again said Busch was in violation.
But when NASCAR attempted to watch a replay of the incident, their feed had failed and there was no immediate video to view. Believing the ruling was correct, the race restarted.
Many wondered why NASCAR didn't wait until it had a video replay to resume the race. NASCAR officials got the feed a few minutes later and recognized their error.
"We don't rule the sport by video, we use it to confirm different situations,'' Pemberton said. ``When we can't find video to review, we rule by our officials and we had no reason to dispute our own call.
'"We're human and we're no different from most other sports. Football has end zone calls, sideline calls, and baseball has balls and strikes. Pick any sport. Just because they've got a strike zone superimposed on a camera, you can't regulate your balls and strikes like that. It's still an umpire or referee making split-second calls.''
That was little consolation to crew chief Alan Gustafson, who said he wants a camera positioned at the pit road commitment line to prevent similar incidents going forward.
"These races are hard to win, and who knows? I may never again have a chance to be the winning crew chief for a Busch race at Bristol,'' Gustafson said. "It just seems like in this day and age, we could have the technology, a camera, that would prevent that from happening.''
Pemberton said NASCAR was adjusting its officials for Saturday night's race to strengthen the presence at pit road entrances.
Hendrick said that going forward, he hopes NASCAR takes steps to ensure it always has video before issuing a ruling that alters the outcome of an event.
"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.''
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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Hopefully they can figure something out for the Chase soon too.
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