Harvick, Martin finish, Yellow? - MakingLaps.com Forum

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TOPIC: Harvick, Martin finish, Yellow?

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Date: Mon Feb 19 17:15:53 2007

Harvick, Martin finish, Yellow?	Permalink

From Jayski.com: Harvick-Martin finish...yellow? NASCAR officials, reacting to the controversial slow yellow at the finish which denied #01-Mark Martin yesterday's win, said they threw the yellow when #07-Clint Bowyer got sideways, and they said at that point #29-Kevin Harvick was just ahead of Martin.(Winston Salem Journal) AND: NASCAR usually throws a caution immediately when there's danger on the track, freezing the field in place. At least once recently — at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2005 — NASCAR threw a yellow on the last lap before the field reached the finish. That handed a win to Dale Jarrett, who was in first with a half-lap to go but trailed Tony Stewart at the finish. NASCAR allowed racing to the caution without freezing the field until September 2003, when it ruled drivers should slow down as soon as the yellow appeared for safety purposes. Sunday, NASCAR seemed to wait five seconds — until just after Harvick and Martin finished side by side — to throw the yellow. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Harvick was declared the winner because the caution came out when Clint Bowyer's Chevrolet went sideways across the track after Harvick and Martin took the checkered flag. Poston said the yellow didn't come out earlier because the cars involved in the crash had skidded off the track to that point.(USA Today) AND II: Kyle Busch disappeared in the smoke just as Harvick pulled alongside Martin in the tri-oval. They both waited for the flagman, who leaned over the track and dropped the checkered with the 07 Chevy of Clint Bowyer tumbling and burning into the infield. At that moment, the outcome was in the hands of NASCAR. The message from the control center above the track to the flagman came as the cars reached the line. "Put it out,'' David Hoots, NASCAR's race director, radioed down. The yellow flag flew after Harvick passed under the flagstand. "When the 07 went sideways on the track, the yellow came out,'' NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said afterward. "At that point the 29 was ahead of the 01 and declared the winner.'' That was a good explanation and all, except that's not what happened. Bowyer was upside down before the leaders took the checkered flag. The caution was thrown after that, technically, and according to NASCAR's own rules, after the race ended. The fact that there was an official margin of victory (.020 seconds) proves it. There is no margin of victory in a race that ends under caution. And since no caution flew before the end, NASCAR had no official account of the crash. In effect, it never happened.(Roanoke Times)(2-19-2007) __________________

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