How did Carl Edwards get away with throwing stuff out of his car onto the track?

Question

I asked this yesterday and got a limited response; maybe because it was Sunday. It looked like ice and water and maybe an empty bottle but I was always under the impression that NOTHING could be thrown out of the car on to the track................Whats up??

Answer 1

I said the exact same thing!!!!  I mean, a couple of years ago Robby Gordon upchucks a piece of the car's interior out onto the track and he gets penalized!!!  But I guess since Robby isn't an "upfront driver" like Edwards, he doesn't count.  :P

Answer 2

If Dale Jr had done it.......hmm........ they would have penalized everyone else and made Jr restart 1st

Answer 3

I didn't see it, but I will be going back to check it out... Whether he threw it out of the groove or not, I don't think they should be allowed to do that. Seriously, What's the drawback to just leaving the empty bottle in your car until after the race or until you hit the garage?

Answer 4

I saw that to.  Water bottle!  I had to rewinding my DVR just to make sure I was not seeing things.  I guess sense it was on the apron there was 'no problem" and maybe nascar was in a good mood not to penalize him.

Answer 5

It does happen a lot & probably goes unseen or because it's not actually on the track. An empty water bottle inside a race car going 200+ mph isn't a good thing. I think Carl handled that situation the right way and do not think it was to draw a caution. It isn't like he was at the top of the track and just pitched it out the window. You are right, there isn't supposed to be anything thrown out of the cars. This just happened to be in that "iffy" area.  =o`)

Answer 6

That confused me too. I guess Edwards didn't get fined since he threw it where it would land on the apron. Still has me confused though.

Answer 7

The only thing I can think of is maybe NASCAR felt like he wasn't trying to bring out the caution. I feel like it was wrong and if you throw something out then it should be looked at as debris. Maybe NASCAR was just trying to use  reasonable judgment that he wasn't trying to bring out the caution. He still should have kept it in the car. It had water in it and wasn't gong to blow around in the car. Maybe he just got irritated for a minute.

Answer 8

He drove down and threw it out of the grove. Drivers throw bottles out of the car all the time, usually onto the grass coming off pit road but sometimes on the track.

Answer 9

The same way Dale Jr. got away with passing the pace car in the Spring and Mr. 18 got away with passing below the yellow line at Talladega.  

Answer 10

Watched that myself and it was his water bottle! It's just another gray area in the rule book. Nascar decides if they want to enforce the rule or not! WWE style!

Peace!