NASCAR blames the spotter for Edwards

NASCAR's vice president for competition says there is radio communication supporting that Carl Edwards was second behind Tony Stewart when Saturday night's Sprint Cup race was restarted with 81 laps remaining. Edwards argued his spotter was told by a NASCAR official that he was the leader just before the restart when explaining why he was black-flagged for jumping the restart.

“The confusion was on their part. That's something they have to work on in their communication. … But multiple times during that last lap it was repeated 14-99 (Stewart-Edwards) from more than one source.

"– Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition

The pass-through penalty ended any chances Edwards, who led a race-high 206 laps, had of winning the race eventually won by Kyle Busch.

"The confusion was on their part," NASCAR's Robin Pemberton said on Tuesday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "That's something they have to work on in their communication. We work with the crew chiefs, and if the crew chief thought there was something, the crew chief would have radioed us.

"But multiple times during that last lap it was repeated 14-99 (Stewart-Edwards) from more than one source."

Edwards met with officials after the race to further argue that spotter Jason Hedlesky "told me I was the leader" as they came to the box where the leader by rule restarts the race.

Pemberton said that was a mistake by the spotter. Edwards was several car lengths ahead of Stewart when they got to the start line.

"We weren't confused, and they weren't confused," Pemberton said at a promotion featuring the 1992 All-Star race at CMS, the first race run under the lights here. "We have audio of them and more than once (Edwards) was told by their spotter they were in second place.

"Just before the restart, he (spotter) came over the radio and said, 'You're the leader,' for whatever reason. If he was confused because of the scoreboard, that could have been the only thing." ESPN.com