NASCAR officiating criticized after controversial caution call at Iowa

But NASCAR kept the race green for another lap, allowing the field to drive through the part of the racetrack where DiBenedetto had laid down oil. Ross Chastain slid way up the track in turn 2, while Brandon Jones spun out and brought out the caution flag. 

CW analyst Jamie McMurray was frustrated by NASCAR's lack of action, and he was far from the only one. 

"I can't believe they didn't throw the caution," McMurray said on the CW telecast. "You could see that car (DiBenedetto) was smashed in the front. It didn't look like a tire rub. That'd make me mad." 

Coincidentally, it was in the same corner where Jones spun that Jesse Love lost the race lead to eventual race winner Sam Mayer. Love was unable to regain the top spot and finished second. 

"Once I lost the lead because of the oil on the top lane, it felt like it was going to be tough to get it back," Love told CW Sports after the race.

"Dude. Was anyone else going THERE'S OIL THERE'S OIL?? That was bad," said The Athletic's Jeff Gluck in a social media post. 

"That might be the most inexplicable no call of the year and that's saying something," said Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch.com. 

NASCAR's officiating is constantly under scrutiny in this day and age, but that scrutiny was warranted on Saturday afternoon.