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via Getty

via Getty

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at the Talladega Superspeedway was surprisingly civil, for the most part. Of course, there was one big wreck, when Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun Harrison Burton around. In response, other drivers also spun, trying to avoid that incident. However, that didn’t mean that the race was devoid of caution periods. As it turned out, Daniel Hemric ground to a halt at the end of the pit road.

Admittedly, many people wondered why a caution came out when he was supposedly safely out of the way. Some people brought up the example of Kyle Busch who crashed close to the same area. The idea does have some merit because, it could happen, but it doesn’t mean that it should.

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What were the NASCAR fans actually arguing about?

Some people admitted that putting out a caution was the right call. Especially since nobody wanted to endanger any more drivers, given what happened to Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman. However, they did object to the length of the caution and felt that they took too long to clear Hemric’s #16 car.

Some people pointed out that the pace car was often located in the same area. However, that was quickly disputed by other fans, who revealed that the pace car was actually behind a wall, and out of harm’s way. One thing is for sure, they bemoaned the lack of protocol to rapidly remove a car from such a vulnerable position.

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What NASCAR does is either push the car manually or tow it, and doing that under caution makes sense. Few people agreed that cautions, so close to the finish, often ruin some races. However, in the interest of driver safety, it was a necessary evil. Who knows, there could have been a frantic finish to the line, and a potential wreck could have clipped his stationary car.

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