Ryan Newman punctuated Saturday night’s drivers meeting with a pointed retort to NASCAR after series officials delayed calling a caution on the last lap of Friday night’s Xfinity Series race.
NASCAR stated that they didn’t see the impacts on the backstretch, allowing the race to continue under green. Once series officials recognized the severity of the impacts on the last lap, they called for the caution flag immediately.
Newman brought that situation up at the end of the drivers meeting.
“If you could err toward the side of safety with respect to the overtime line, throwing the caution instead of racing back (to the line),’' he said.
Said Richard Buck, Cup series director: “We always err on the side of safety. That’s our top priority.’'
Said Newman: “Try to do a better job than last night.’'
That wasn’t the only subject asked about by drivers.
Buck briefly mentioned blocking and was asked by Tony Stewart about it.
Buck responded: “As you know we don’t have a rule about blocking, we just ask that all the drivers be mindful of the effects when you get it wrong.’'
Another issue in the Xfinity race was drivers forced below the yellow line, but NASCAR did not penalize anyone for that.
Kevin Harvick asked: “When you shove somebody under the yellow line, it’s not a penalty?”
Said Buck: “As it said in the video, if you force somebody below the yellow line to avoid a pass, then it becomes a judgment call on us.’'