Nick Sanchez came into Friday afternoon’s Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway fourth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings, and the Rev Racing driver was eight points above Rajah Caruth as the final driver inside of the Playoff cutline.
However, after a disappointing day, which saw Sanchez finish 22nd, the 23-year-old racer finds himself seventh in the eight-man Playoff Grid, and he’s now 20 points outside of the cutline. While his Playoff ranking is not ideal, Sanchez was irate about NASCAR’s officiating team at the conclusion of the 85-lap event.
According to Sanchez, who was involved in two accidents on the day, following his second spin which occurred with just 13 laps remaining in the event, the driver and his No. 2 team were hampered by conflicting decisions by NASCAR officials on pit road, and up in the officials tower high above the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
.@Nicksanchez080 was NOT happy with conflicting versions of officiating by #NASCAR officials on pit road and in the tower. The pit road officials said his truck was good to return to the track, the tower forced him to come back down, costing him track position. pic.twitter.com/6ilS3Z2uwZ
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) October 5, 2024
“You know, I got fixed up, I got settled after that last spin, and NASCAR made me come down again after the one [lap] to go [signal] for the spoiler,” a miffed Sanchez explained.
Sanchez was baffled at how officials up in a windowed box atop the track felt like they could see the angle of his rear spoiler more efficiently than the officials on pit road, who as it turns out got the call correct on the first attempt.
“They okayed it. They said it was okay on the final when I came back down again. I don’t know, I don’t know. The officials on pit road said it was okay, and the officials in the tower apparently could see the spoiler angle on my truck sitting in box [No. 27,” Sanchez said. “So, I’m not sure.”
While Sanchez would have been okay with it if something on his race truck had fallen out of compliance, that wasn’t the case. He cruised down pit road, NASCAR officials on pit road, who had signed off on the repairs to his truck a lap prior once again said he was good to go to return to the race track.
There was only one problem, due to the extra trip down pit road on the final yellow flag lap, Sanchez had no way of catching the leaders before the green flag would come out.
“Then I was just by myself at Talladega doing laps by myself with nine [laps] to go. So, yeah, that kind of screwed the end of my day,” Sanchez seethed. “That, at least — if I would have been able to race on that last restart I probably would have gained 10-15 spots. But I’m just really not happy about whatever they have going on here, cost me valuable points for my championship when they okayed it. So, I’m really not happy with whatever was going on between NASCAR on pit road and NASCAR in the tower, and I don’t like to get them involved because at the end of the day, racing should be on the track and today that wasn’t the case.”
When asked if he and his team will speak to NASCAR about the situation, which left him essentially with one arm tied behind his back on the final restart of the race, Sanchez said it’s a moot point.
“What are you going to do, right? They can’t give me 15 positions that I lost. Whatever that was. All you can do is go to Homestead and go Martinsville and try to win and screw everything else,” Sanchez stated.
There will be no time to cry over spilled milk for Sanchez as there are only two races remaining in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Round of 8, and if the driver who has spent a large portion of the season near the top of the championship standings wants to head to Phoenix Raceway with a shot at a championship intact, he’s going to have to make up 20 points on the cutline and leapfrog three other championship contenders.
It’ll be a tall task, but it’s a task that Sanchez is up for heading into Homestead-Miami Speedway in a couple of weeks.
