Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighs in on caution flag involving Kyle Busch at Richmond

Things were going well in the Richmond Cup Series race, until that Stage 2 caution. At least, that’s what Dale Earnhardt Jr. is saying. The NASCAR Hall of Famer enjoyed the race Sunday but wishes the caution hadn’t come out when Kyle Busch touched the wall.

From NASCAR’s perspective, they thought there was something wrong with Busch’s car. Possibly a blown left front or an issue with his brakes. Really, he was fighting an ill-handling car and happened to get up into the wall for a moment.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks people have a worse view of the race because of that caution. It threw off the differing tire strategies and mostly homogenized the field.

“I feel like we forgot how much fun we had those first 100 laps. … I mean, it was, dude, we were really set up for a pretty interesting race in terms of strategy, until the freaking yellow come out for Kyle Busch,” he said on the Dale Jr. Download. “That f----- everything up. That was so frustrating.”

The caution was questionable. Busch continued to more or less run where he had most of the night. He was able to finish P20. So, nothing was really wrong with his car.

“I just don’t understand,” Earnhardt continued. “I don’t think you could make me understand why the yellow had to be thrown right there. … When he hit the wall, I thought, ‘Man he’s probably bent the toe link.’ And then I saw he’s running 18th, 19th, and that made me even more [mad] that they threw that yellow.

“I mean, because his car’s not even hurt. He drove the thing right back into the top 20. Look, there’s going to be yellows that don’t necessarily need to be yellows, that’s absolutely one of them. I know they’re going to happen, it’s just frustrating man.”

Frustrating is a great way to describe this race. It has produced a week of “controversy” and discussion. It has been days since the race, and people are still talking about the finish. Denny Hamlin won the race. The end was exciting. Wet weather tires gave us great racing.

So, what do you think about the caution? Had it not happened, we likely don’t get that finish at the end. Was is the Busch caution that ultimately ruined this race?