After further review, officials of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) today verified the caution lights were unintentionally illuminated momentarily on Lap 130 of Friday nights NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. NASCAR officials were not aware of the caution lights being triggered briefly on Friday evening as well as the following day based on the available data, including videotape footage, which was reviewed. NASCAR officials did not have confirmation that such an incident occurred during the 134-lap race until reviewing in-car camera footage that became available Monday. The additional footage did confirm the caution lights flashed momentarily. Officials at NASCAR have concluded the switch that controls the caution lights in the flagmans stand was momentarily triggered. NASCAR officials spoke with driver Carl Edwards, team owner Jack Roush and crew chief Kevin Starland to apologize for the mistake. We made a mistake on this one, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director Wayne Auton said. It is regrettable, and were doing everything we can to make sure this doesnt happen again. We apologize to Carl Edwards and everyone associated with the No. 99 Superchips Ford, including their fans. NASCAR officials also confirmed with Edwards and Roush officials that changes can not be made to the official race results in this instance. Even with the discovery of the footage that revealed the caution lights were momentarily illuminated, the official results can not be altered.(NASCAR PR)
AND Did Carl Edwards properly yield to a caution signal or did he make a mistake by assuming a caution signal was displayed ? That question was answered by NASCAR today. A caution was indeed displayed. Edwards, who finished second in Fridays Infineon 200 Craftsman Truck Series race after yielding the lead following display of the caution signal issued the following statement: NASCAR officials, like officials in all other professional sports, have a tough job. I have personally seen how much goes on and how fast decisions must be made by race control officials. They made a mistake in the heat of the moment that turned out to be a critical one for me and I lost a race on account of the mistake. I appreciate that they accepted responsibility for the mistake in a public way. I wasnt looking forward to this race being remembered as the one that got away or hearing other people tell the story of the rookie who blew it. And, now Im relieved that NASCAR has set the record straight. Our Superchips team is a great team and hopefully this setback wont affect the outcome in our championship hunt. Were going to put this behind us and were looking forward to racing in Dover next week. If anything, this is just more motivation for me to win.(Roush Racing PR)(5-25-2004)
