Blame Canada? Robby Gordon Parked After Confusion in Montreal Busch Race

 In NASCAR, the rules say if you get spun out during a caution, you return to the position you were in when it happened.  And that's what Robby Gordon did Saturday when he was in second place at the Busch Series race in Montreal.  Unfortunately for him, NASCAR said the spin happened BEFORE the caution came out, so they wanted him to drop back to 14th place.  And, that's what they eventually told his crew chief, who passed it along to Robby.

Problem is, as far as Robby was concerned, he wasn't that far back when he got spun out under the yellow, so why should he give up all those spots?  He stayed right where he was, even when he was told he was being black flagged (sent to the back) and they waved that black flag with the white cross at him.  Nope, he stayed right up front and crossed the finish line first.

By then, there was so much confusion that three drivers did donuts in celebration.  You had the winner (Kevin Harvick), the runner up (Patrick Carpentier) and the guy who THOUGHT he won (Robby Gordon).  "Did you ever see so many damn burnouts at one time?" one Busch official was quoted as saying.

And what happened when it was all over?  Robby Gordon was NOT a happy camper...err..driver.  Gordon does not agree with NASCAR, obviously.  But, they are sticking by what they saw and they handed Gordon the rule book to read for himself.  "They said 'here's the rule book,'" Gordon said. "I play by their rules. I guess this was one of those."

As near as I can figure, here's what happened:  On the Lap 72 restart Marcos Ambrose and Gordon were fighting for the lead.  Kevin Harvick bumped Scott Pruett in Turn 2. The resultant pileup brought out the yellow flag flew at both the start/finish line and in the corners.

And while all of that was going on, Gordon had passed Ambrose, only to go spinning when the two made contact. Gordon's car sat sideways on the track while several other cars went past.  At that point, Gordon felt that when the yellow came out, he was either leading the race or in the process of getting hit from behind by Ambrose -- and should have been placed there when the race was restarted.

"Always go back to your position if you get spun out and Marcos spun me under the caution," Gordon said. "They told me originally go back to second place. I went back to second place.

"Halfway around the last lap, they said go back to 13th place, 14th place, something like that. Except I was never running 13th or 14th."

So, he kept going and crossed the finish line first.  And got the back flag  - instead of the checkered.

Afterwards, Busch Series director Joe Balash explained why NASCAR ruled the way it did.

"Once the caution came out, the field was frozen," Balash said. "Once the field is frozen, all cars must maintain cautious pace in order to be scored. At the time that the field was frozen, [Ambrose] was in the lead. [Gordon] did not maintain a cautious pace, and by NASCAR rule, cars that do not maintain a cautious pace are scored only when they blend back into the continuous line.

"... The tower ordered the 55 multiple times to get into position. The directive was acknowledged by the crew chief of the 55 and also communicated to the driver of the 55. The driver ignored NASCAR's directive. He was warned that he would be black-flagged if he did not comply."

Obviously NASCAR viewed things a little differently than Gordon did.

After trying to get Gordon to drop back in line, NASCAR dropped the green flag -- and Gordon promptly stuck a bumper under Ambrose, who went around in a cloud of smoke in Turn 2.

That incident prompted NASCAR officials to quit scoring Gordon, although he continued to run in front of leader Harvick.

"NASCAR took emergency action per the rulebook, section 12-2, thus parking the 55 which was also ignored," Balash said. "The black flag with the white cross was displayed to the 55 when it crossed the start/finish line on Lap 74. The 55 finished the line in 18th position."

The crowning touch was today:  Gordon was parked by NASCAR and P.J. Jones will drive his car in today's Pocono race.  

Blame Canada, eh!