FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR admitted an officiating error during Sunday’s O’Reilly 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, conceding Kevin Harvick’s team should have been penalized for an uncontrolled tire on its last stop.
“It was a judgment call, and after conducting a postrace review of the incident an uncontrolled tire penalty for the 4 car would have been correct,” NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller said. “We missed that call.”
Harvick pitted from second on Lap 291 under green. If he had been penalized, he almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to finish second to winner Kyle Busch.
In GIF form
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) April 8, 2018
This was not an uncontrolled tire penalty for Kevin Harvick: pic.twitter.com/AQYp6TV3B1
Ryan Blaney’s team was called for an uncontrolled tire violation on Lap 43.
NASCAR wasn’t able to immediately confirm which of Blaney’s tires (either the right front or the right rear) triggered the violation.
Ryan Blaney got a penalty for this pit stop earlier in the race.
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) April 8, 2018
Harvick should have been penalized based on this criteria. pic.twitter.com/WQsSHK9xhi
Adam Stevens, crew chief for Busch, said he hadn’t seen a replay of the noncall on Harvick’s team.
“I was really focused on what we were trying to do,” Stevens said. “But that’s something that when the situation like that happens, we will evaluate that, try to get clarification so that we know what the rules are going forward.”