Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Poor scoring decisions still plaguing officials

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

NASCAR president Mike Helton spent two days this past weekend apologizing for the sanctioning body's inept handling of scoring decisions during Nextel Cup races a week ago at Dover International Speedway and again Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Oddly enough, most of NASCAR's competitors were more understanding of the sanctioning body's plight than were its fans -- some of which resorted to throwing debris onto the track when Sunday's race finished under caution.

Sunday's race winner, Jimmie Johnson, and runner-up Jeremy Mayfield expressed support for Helton and his race officials following a mix-up during one caution period in which the flag man at the entrance to pit road erroneously displayed a green flag (pits open) flag when he should have been showing a red flag (pits closed). The error resulted in four drivers, including race leader Jimmie Johnson, staying out on the track while the rest of the field took advantage of the official's mistake and pitted.

Johnson, who pitted on the following lap and came out in 23rd place, was able to overcome the gaffe and went on to win the race. But at least one driver was not as forgiving that NASCAR, for the second race in a row, extended the caution period while trying to sort out the resulting scoring mess.

"I want to apologize to the fans," Jeff Gordon, who finished fourth, said. "That was absolutely uncalled for today to run that many laps under caution and all the disputes on pit road. I'm embarrassed (and) I want to apologize to them for that."

A week earlier, NASCAR officials extended a caution period by nearly 20 laps while trying to sort out another scoring snafu, prompting Helton's first apology this past weekend.

Unless Helton wants to make these apologies a regular part of his race weekend, he needs to take action before the sanctioning body loses all credibility with its competitors and fans. A good start would be to bring in a respected (and impartial) former driver or crew chief to help restore order in the control tower.

STREAK BUSTER: Kyle Busch's 17th-place finish in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway ended a streak of 10 races in which Busch had finished in the top 10.

Busch, who was leading with four laps to go when he ran out of fuel, slipped to second in the series standings and trails Martin Truex Jr. by 40 points going into Saturday's race at Kentucky Speedway.

Although this will be Busch's first Busch Series start at Kentucky Speedway, he scored a victory on the 1.5-mile oval last May in an ARCA race.

AT THE BULLRING: Doug Hamm and Chris Bray won the twin Late Models main events to highlight Saturday night's NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series action at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Other winners included CJ Scherkenbach (IMCA Modifies), Phil Goodwin (Chargers), Dustin Ash (Semi-Pro Legends Cars), Alex Haase (Pro/Masters Legends Cars) and Dave Green (Thunder Roadsters).

Twin Super Late Models main events will highlight Saturday night's sixth annual "Chris Trickle Father's Day Doubleheader" at The Bullring. Late Models, Legends Cars, Chargers, Thunder Roadsters and Bandolero Cars also will be on the card.