During a debris warning during last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, an unauthorized beverage bottle was spotted at the bottom of the track.
Not a problem…until said bottles trigger said debris warnings. More than once, a NASCAR race has been placed under yellow for debris that turned out to be nothing more than a harmless water bottle, which obviously can change the outcome of an entire race.
Keselowski explains why they should be thrown away
Drivers throw empty water bottles out of their cars all the time, it’s not a new thing. Brad Keselowski explained to a fan on Twitter: “Empty water bottles don’t handle corners very well. They sometimes fall to the floor and cause problems.
“There are about 20 on the track at any given time. They’re not dangerous but seem to make Nascar nervous in a random way.”
If someone deliberately tries to manipulate a warning, it is not something that will be tolerated.
NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell
“Keep your trash,” Dale Jr. says.
“We all know not to issue a water bottle warning,” Jimmie Johnson tweeted. Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed: “Totally agree. Keep it in the car. Throw it away during a pit stop. They’re not that difficult people. Worse than bottles water, visors tear during events that start late in the evening. People need to keep their trash.”
The six-time series champion later explained that his No. 48 team used GIDS (Gatorade In-car Drinking System), rather than bottles.
NASCAR’s View
On Sirius XM NASCAR’s “The Morning Drive,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, offered his perspective. “Coming off pit road you sometimes see it on the tarmac where some water bottles are thrown. I think in this case we weren’t really sure and knew it was potentially the drivers which are a little different with the material with which they are made.
“If someone deliberately tries to manipulate a warning, that’s not something that will be tolerated, and we’ll have to look at that in more detail as we go along and we’ll discuss that with the teams as well.”
So, is the problem here that drivers are throwing water bottles on the track or is NASCAR issuing warnings about it?
