The recent NASCAR Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course format was one which had murmurs from some heavy-weight names regarding its format. Drivers such as Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch argued that they ought to be running on the oval track instead of the road course and that the best form of the race would come on the iconic oval at Indy.
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While the decision of which format the governing body decides to run on, be it the road course or the oval, is dependent on several factors, one thing the race on Sunday achieved was a pretty rare feat. And that feat was one which NASCAR hadn’t seen since 2012 in one context and since 1982 in another.
NASCAR hadn’t seen a race such as the recent one at IMS since 2012
Earlier this year, NASCAR announced the removal of mandatory caution flags between stages on road courses. This was a decision taken in order to improve the rhythm and the flow of the event. And while the racing incidents themselves could’ve led to a caution flag being waved and the rhythm of the racing action being brought to a halt, nothing of that sort happened on Sunday.
This resulted in a race that had only one caution, the one which came out on Lap 2. Apart from that, there were no caution flags in the entire race, which meant that the recent Indy race became the first race since Auto Club in 2012 to have one or fewer cautions.
Moreover, this was the first road course race in over 40 years with one or fewer cautions. That race took place at Riverside in 1982.
This was the first Cup race with ONE caution since Auto Club 2012, where the one caution was for rain that ended the race after 129 laps.
The one caution here was on lap 2.#NASCAR #Verizon200
— Stephen Stumpf (@stephen_stumpf) August 13, 2023
Denny Hamlin had grim predictions for the removal of stage break cautions
In a media interaction earlier this year, Denny Hamlin was asked whether he was a fan of the removal of mandatory caution breaks between stages. The #11 driver claimed that they got “pressured into” making that rule change.
“I think this thing has the potential to really get strung out a lot. If we do, then don’t want to hear any complaining about these things being strung way out,” he described.
However, it hasn’t exactly turned out that way. The road course races at COTA and Sonoma earlier this season were well received by most. But the recent one at IMS has certainly proved that the removal of cautions between stages was indeed a good decision by NASCAR.
