Jeff Gordon calls out NASCAR for failing to sanction Ross Chastain for restart infraction
Jeff Gordon is convinced that NASCAR making the right call could have avoided the Chastain-Larson crash.
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Jeff Gordon and Ross Chastain
For a second week in a row, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain has taken the headlines without winning the race. He was involved in a crash with Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports on a restart that ended both drivers’ promising runs. Larson ended the day at P20, while Chastain retired and was awarded a P29 finish. But the incident could have been avoided if NASCAR had made the right call on the previous restart.
According to many, the No:1 Chevy jumped on the restart before the incident. If he had been penalized, the incident wouldn’t have occurred. This would have given Larson the opportunity to take his third race-winner trophy home. Four times NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon who is the Vice Chairman of the Chevy team called out the sanctioning body for making the wrong call.
While discussing the clash in his post-race press conference, he pointed out that NASCAR missed the call. Gordon said, “I think NASCAR completely missed the call on the restart. I think that was a jump start by the No. 1, but that’s another situation,”. Fox commentator Clint Bowyer also called it a jump, “Man, Chastain, that was a pretty good jump from the outside there, the second-place car,”.
HMS vice president of Competition Chad Knaus also claimed that they have data to prove that Chastain did jump on the restart. NASCAR, on the other hand, refused that there wasn’t such infraction as they claimed to have reviewed the footage.
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NASCAR also missed another call in the race
After the controversial clash between Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. that produced the “big one” at Darlington, NASCAR made another poor call for the restart. Some drivers and teams on the grid were disappointed after the sanctioning body allowed Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick to restart in the top 5.
All three finished the race in the Top 5, even after being involved in the crash. NASCAR claimed they kept the caution speed during the incident. The cars that maneuvered to the chaos weren’t given the spot they deserved, and few of them ended up scoring worst finishes than they deserved.
Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace were the ones who missed out big time due to the incident, as they had the opportunity to fight for the win at the end if they had got the front row start instead.
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Justin P Joy
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