Cup Series crew chief critical of lead-up to bizarre incident at Las Vegas

Fugle also touched on the untimely communication to the spotter's stand, saying that Brandon Lines, Byron's spotter, was not made aware from Dillon's spotter, Joseph White, that Dillon was even pitting until Byron got into Turn 3. To make matters worse, Byron went from above the cutline to 15 points below in the standings following the crash, putting him in a more precarious position than he otherwise would have been in.

As Fugle alluded to, it is common courtesy for a driver to either put a hand out the driver's side window or swerve low on the backstretch to signal that they are pitting. It did not appear that Dillon put a hand out for Byron to see, and it sounds like the communication to and from the spotter was too late to react in time.

Either way, it was a crash that totally could have been prevented and should have never happened to begin with. Although Denny Hamlin came away victorious and locked up his Championship 4 spot, Byron is still ahead of fellow playoff drivers Chase Elliott (-23), Joey Logano (-24) and Ryan Blaney (-31) and within striking distance going to the unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

In the end, it was an unfortunate situation that took place late in "Sin City" and a costly one for Byron after accumulating so many points. However, with two wild-card races at Talladega and Martinsville remaining in the Round of 8, there is plenty of time for Byron get back in the title hunt.