Drivers praise NASCAR for caution-free finish at Dover

CHARLOTTE — In the NBA and NHL, there's a perception referees call fewer penalties or fouls once the postseason begins.

Did NASCAR officiate its first Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination race that way, too? Following Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway, which reduced the Chase field from 16 drivers to 12, both Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin praised NASCAR for letting the final 140 laps of the race run caution-free.

"If they called a caution, I was done," Kahne said then. "Luckily, they didn't. I'm glad NASCAR let us race for it today, because that's the only way I really made it in."

Kahne, who was four laps down at one point, would have been stuck there if NASCAR called a caution but was able to rally and get three of those laps back, giving him a spot in the second round.

Asked about those comments Wednesday during a media day for the second round of the Chase, Jeff Gordon said he preferred to believe that's how every race was officiated. After all, no one knows how the decisions are made in the scoring tower except for NASCAR.

But if NASCAR took extra care to ensure any cautions were absolutely necessary, Gordon said that was a positive.

"We've heard in other sports where, 'It's the playoffs. Let 'em play.'" Gordon said. "I'd certainly hope that would be the case for the Chase as well."

Gordon noted there are times when debris cautions are questionable because it's unclear whether the debris is in or out of the racing groove or whether it's a piece of metal or harmless tape. Officials often discuss debris on the radio for several laps in an attempt to figure out what it is before calling a caution.

"Sometimes it's a judgment call and they make that judgment call," he said. "In this situation, maybe you're a little more patient on making judgment calls and it's, 'Hey, let's see how this thing plays out.'"

Unprompted, Hamlin went out of his way again on Wednesday to applaud NASCAR for "letting the race play out."

"Obviously, when you have debris cautions, it changes the complexion of the race," Hamlin said. "You want it to play out the way it should. That race played out the way it should, even though it might not be the most exciting finish because you don't have a late restart with five laps to go. It's the correct way to do it."

NASCAR also let the race play out at Richmond International Raceway, which marks the end of the regular season and sets the playoff field. The final 64 laps of that race were green after a caution was needed to remove a man who climbed the catchfence.

The last time there was a late-race debris caution was the June 1 race at Dover, where a caution came out with seven laps to go. The last time a debris caution set up a green-white-checkered finish was the April 12 event at Darlington Raceway.

At one point in the most recent Dover race, there were three cautions for debris in 192 laps. Then the last 140 laps ran without any cautions — for debris or otherwise.

"I saw a couple pieces of debris early in the race when they had those cautions," Hamlin said. "I didn't see anything late and they didn't throw (any caution flags), so it finished the way it should have."

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck