If NASCAR officials are upset with Bubba Wallace for splashing liquid on Alex Bowman after the Roval race, should they be just as angry about Bowman hooking Wallace in the right rear in the chicane and wrecking him?
Nate Ryan: Absolutely. It was a low-speed corner, but hooking a car in the right rear to send it driver side into the wall is serious at any speed. Bowman should be sat down at Dover by NASCAR officials (who have suspended drivers fo similar moves) and receive the same stern warning as Wallace receives.
Dustin Long: No. If NASCAR is going to be upset about that, then it should have addressed Austin Dillon turning Alex Bowman at Richmond, the cars of Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch beating on each other down the frontstretch at Watkins Glen or any of several other instances in the past. Those weren’t addressed. NASCAR only reacts to the extreme cases (i.e. Matt Kenseth wrecking Joey Logano at Martinsville in that playoff race).
Daniel McFadin: It’s understandable NASCAR is upset with what Wallace did. Bowman was somewhat incapacitated and unable to defend himself while being tended to by a medical worker. Their on-track incident is much more in line with “boys have at it.” But regardless of how mad NASCAR is about either issue, they’ll undoubtedly use both to promote the sport.
Jerry Bonkowski: Two different things.
Alex Bowman finished second earlier this season in all three races that are in the second round of the playoffs (Dover, Talladega and Kansas). What odds do you give him of advancing to the third round?
Nate Ryan: Ten percent. It’ll be virtually impossible for any of the drivers who barely made it out of the first round to advance because 1) they start at a massive points deficit; and 2) the next eight guys and their teams are so good. Likely will take a win by Bowman, Ryan Blaney, William Byron or Clint Bowyer for any of them to advance.
Dustin Long: 40% chance. He faces an uphill climb because of how few playoff points he has, meaning he likely needs to win in this round. Just because something happened earlier this year doesn’t mean it will repeat.
Daniel McFadin: I’d say there’s a 75% chance Bowman advances. If he can avoid the chaos that Talladega clearly will incite, I think he has a better chance of advancing over William Byron if neither of them wins a race. But it should be noted that at Dover Bowman qualified fifth but had to start from the rear due to an inspection infraction and then charged to his second-place finish. Sound familiar?
Jerry Bonkowski: The way I see it, and given the uncertainty of Talladega as a wildcard, Bowman has to have at least top-five finishes at both Dover and Kansas to advance to the third round. Anything less and it’s unlikely he makes it to the Round of 8.
After some questions about when officials called a caution and when they did not call a caution in Sunday’s Cup race at the Roval, do you know what a caution is?
Nate Ryan: It wasn’t abundantly obvious what constituted a yellow Sunday, and that’s something NASCAR will need to address before the 2020 return to the Roval.
Dustin Long: I do know what isn’t a caution — when there is an incident on the last lap or so and the car(s) can continue. In those cases, NASCAR’s preference to finish a race under green. It can be confounding when a caution is called and when it isn’t, particularly in a playoff race. The pressure isn’t just on the teams and drivers in the playoffs, it’s also on the officials to be right.
Daniel McFadin: To borrow a phrase from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, I could never succeed in intelligibly saying what warrants a caution, but I know it when I see it. I saw a lot of it Sunday that wasn’t called (Daniel Suarez‘s last-lap crash) and some that I could debate over whether the caution was merited (Ryan Preece‘s chicane spin). But I’m glad I’m not actually in a position to have to make the call on a track like the Roval.
Jerry Bonkowski: A caution is a race stoppage when a car that has wrecked, spun or stopped on the race track potentially impedes or puts in jeopardy other cars and drivers around him. I think part of the reason why there were questions about cautions at the Roval is because NASCAR officials didn’t know if cars – particularly those that spun – could get going again fast enough without being an obstruction or hazard to the rest of the field. By throwing a caution in those instances when it did, NASCAR erred on the side of caution – no pun intended.
