Official says NASCAR 'didn't see' Cody Ware's violent crash in Chicago

"We follow what we've done at every road course and street course," Moran said of NASCAR's decision to wait before throwing the caution for Ware. "We do have local blue flags at road courses. We acknowledge that we had a local blue out. If they (involved drivers) are out of the racing line, we give them time, which we did throughout the day. We do our best to try and give the fans as much time as we can to get green flag racing." 

That's a fair explanation, but with the ferocity of Ware's impact and the fact that he was reportedly calling for help over the radio, it's understandable that many are frustrated by NASCAR's lack of a quick response. It took approximately 34.7 seconds after Ware's impact for NASCAR to throw the caution flag — enough time for leader and eventual winner Shane van Gisbergen to take the white flag and make the race official. 

That's a similar response to when NASCAR waited until just before the white flag to throw the caution during the Xfinity Series race at the Charlotte Roval in 2024, which forced an overtime restart, but a much different response from when NASCAR threw the caution immediately in Chicago in 2024 when Kyle Larson suffered a similar crash to Ware's. 

"If we would've had the shot of Cody's impact, the caution would've come out immediately," Moran said. "But it was thrown immediately when he dropped his window net. If we would've had that first shot, we would've known that car wasn't pulling out." 

Far too often in recent years, NASCAR's officiating has been the story following race weekends. Sunday's race was another example of why.