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via Imago

via Imago

NASCAR was questioned left, right, and center after the conclusion of the Richmond race. In fact, many NASCAR fans claimed that the race was cruising along just fine until NASCAR decided to stir the pot. A few questionable calls, especially the one involving Denny Hamlin’s restart jump, really got under everyone’s skin. Then, throwing a caution for Kyle Busch‘s minor scrape with the wall, just added fuel to the fire. It wasn’t just the fans who were miffed; drivers like Ryan Blaney were visibly frustrated, and it threw a spanner in the works for others, including Kyle Larson. Dale Earnhardt Jr didn’t hold back either on his podcast, venting his annoyance over what he saw as a completely unnecessary caution.

Dale Earnhardt Jr indicates that NASCAR’s surprise caution jeopardized an interesting race

Dale Earnhardt Jr was all in on the first 100 laps, thinking the drivers’ strategies and the switch to wet weather tires were making things interesting. But then came Stage 3, and everything was cruising along until, out of nowhere, NASCAR called a yellow for Kyle Busch’s minor scrape. Dale Jr was beside himself, “I mean the tires, but we were really set up for a pretty interesting race in terms of strategy until the freaking yellow come out for Kyle Busch. Yeah. That f*cked everything up literally. That was so frustrating. I could not believe that. I was like, that was the Caution.”

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While Elton Sawyer tried to smooth things over by suggesting Kyle might have had a tire going down or some brake trouble, Dale Jr wasn’t buying it. He went on to vent about how that caution seemed totally out of left field. He recalled, “Later on, Kyle’s back in the mix, cruising around in 18th or 19th place. And I’m thinking, his car must be fine if he’s making moves like that. It just got under my skin even more that they decided to throw that caution when his car was clearly not out of the race. Like, the car was barely scratched, and he drove it right back up there.”

Dale Jr stated that while he is aware of NASCAR’s tactics of trying to make the races more interesting throwing cautions at even when it’s not really required. it was just frustrating.

And it wasn’t just Dale Earnhardt Jr shaking his head; Ryan Blaney was also pretty ticked off about that caution coming out of left field for seemingly no good reason.

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Ryan Blaney couldn’t keep his cool after NASCAR decided to throw a yellow flag 

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Ryan Blaney wasn’t exactly having the time of his life, with his car giving him grief after a quick climb from P12 to P10 at the get-go. To top it off, he ended the first two stages in 21st and P26 place. Then, during the third stage, Blaney was battling hard to make some moves but found himself blocked by cars running two wide ahead of him. Over the radio, he vented his frustration about not being able to overtake.

But the moment that really got Blaney hot under the collar was when they called a caution for Kyle Busch’s minor brush with the wall. Busch’s car was practically unscathed, yet out came the yellow flag. Blaney was flabbergasted, blurting out, “Are you f*cking kidding me? Someone touches the f*cking wall and they throw a yellow?”

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Yet, when it came time for the post-race interview, Blaney dialed back the heat, choosing to keep his thoughts on the race’s contentious moments to himself.