NASCAR again accused of fixing races

The phantom debris issue has come roaring back behind #9-Kasey Kahne's accusation that NASCAR threw a bogus caution Sunday to bunch up the field and avoid a boring runaway win by Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway. Kahne was likely headed to a top-10 finish when he was wrecked on a restart with 12 laps to go. Kurt Busch started the accident when he bounced off the wall and into Kahne. The contact sent Kahne into Greg Biffle, and both cars spun through the grass with enough damage to ruin their race. "It's disappointing that we had a bad race because of a caution to put a show on for the fans. That's a good part of the sport – we have to keep the fans excited – but sometimes it ruins people's days," said Kahne. There's one small problem with Kahne's contention. There was clearly debris on the track. "There was debris on the track, it was talked about on the (NASCAR) radio, it was identified as something being there and the caution was thrown," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Monday. And if NASCAR had been wrong, and there was nothing on the track? Oh well. "NASCAR is always going to put the safety of the competitors first, and when it comes to identifying something on the track, we're always going to err on the side of caution," Poston said. And that's what will forever keep this issue alive. Because sometimes there may not be debris on the track, competitors and fans will always form their own opinions on NASCAR's intent at the time of the caution. Associated Press