Talk about your untimely cautions. In Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Jamie McMurray spun and brought out the caution flag on Lap 46.
The spin was as costly to Matt Kenseth as it was to McMurray. In the All-Star race, drivers were required to make a green-flag, minimum two-tire pit stop in the first two segments. Pushing the limit, Kenseth and his Joe Gibbs Racing team found themselves unable to meet that requirement, instead heading to pit road for a stop under caution and then serving a one-lap penalty for failing to meet the requirement.
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One lap penalty for Matt Kenseth for not pitting under green in Segment 1. #SprintAllStar #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/o5MkRgeo5Z
— FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 22, 2016
After the 50-lap segment, which ended under caution, drivers headed to pit road for the required pit stop between the 50-lap runs and then were on pit road for a NASCAR-mandated lug-but check.
Kenseth called that into question in a radio conversation played during the Fox broadcast, humorously comparing the stops to the NFL saying it was like calling timeouts to check and make sure players had their shoelaces tied.
When the second segment restarted, Kenseth was among a group of drivers a lap down in the 113-lap non-points showdown. The All-Star race includes three segments, two of 50 laps with a final of 13 laps.
Kenseth was then involved in a four-car crash on Lap 72, spinning after Chase Elliott checked up in the middle of the field.
Kenseth was just as confused as everyone else over the rules and strategies of the race.
“I hope everybody understands this race better than I did from the cockpit because ever since the first tire pit in that first segment, I have no idea what was going on. None," Kenseth said.
Tony Stewart, who was also involved in the wreck, was not only baffled, but mad.
"I'm as baffled as everybody," Stewart told Fox. "This is the most screwed up all-star race I've ever been a part of. I'm mad as hell because I don't know how they have officiated this whole thing from start to finish."