There has been a whirlwind of reactions to the stage cautions at Martinsville, and Denny Hamlin chiming in on the issue has forced the organizers' hands to shed light on what transpired.

Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr both expressed their dissatisfaction at the number of racing laps lost under stage caution, and those comments have made NASCAR’s Brad Moran come out and issue clarifications about the lengthy stage caution between stage one and two at Martinsville.

“We certainly didn't like how long it took us at Martinsville,” said managing director Brad Moran on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Moran further explained how things were a little complicated at Martinsville for not just the drivers, but also the broadcasters.

“At the end of stage one, I think we had a caution with three to go to finish the stage," said Moran. "Once that happens, it puts out broadcast partners in an awkward position because both NASCAR and the broadcaster's goal is to try to get as much green flag racing as possible.”

Moran explained that both NASCAR and the broadcasters wanted more green flag racing as it also helped them televise pit stops.

However, that was the point Denny Hamlin referred to when talking about the caution issue on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

“We’re running too long under caution. We have to find a way to shorten them up, but we won’t shorten them up as long as we’re doing what we’re doing in the sense of ‘TV has to catch the pit stops live," said Hamlin.

NASCAR moved from showing advertisements during green flags =to yellow. Hamlin explained that while it was important for revenue, the watching experience had taken a toll due to this.

"These companies are paying big money to NASCAR to broadcast these, so they're going to make sure they get a proper return on investment. To get that, they've got to have commercials, got to have people buying those commercials," explained Hamlim. "To me, it's hurting the watching experience."

NASCAR working with the broadcasters for a solution?

Moran accepted that the issue snowballed during the Martinsville race. "The way the cautions fell and obviously being on the slowest track we go to, it magnifies it," he added.

However, he confirmed that there was communication in place between the broadcaster and NASCAR to fix this issue.

“We are in contact with them every caution. We have radio communication with someone in our tower, and that's all they do, and we tried to sort it out, but we certainly didn't like how long it took us,' Moran said.

With the grid headed to Bristol for the Food City 500 on April 13, there will surely be a lookout at the number of laps lost during stage cautions and whether NASCAR and the broadcaster can come up with a quick fix to provide fans with more racing laps to watch.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri