Stop me if you’ve heard this before: NASCAR is consistently inconsistent.

Before we get any further, allow me to go ahead and put it out there. NASCAR’s rule against locking bumpers in the XFINITY Series may be the most subjective and questionable rule the sport has ever seen, including the “100 percent” rule.

NASCAR has never actually defined what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to locking together in the draft. They only penalize what they deem to be excessive. How are competitors expected to follow a rule when there are no set guidelines for what is and isn’t allowed?

When the sanctioning body made the rule that outlawed the tandem draft, then-vice president of competition Robin Pemberton had the following to say at a preseason test at Daytona in regard to how the drafting would be regulated:

“I think we’ve established so far what the tolerances are, and so far they’ve accepted that and worked around it for all of this practice.”

During the first race with the rule in place, NASCAR was quick to act on what they felt was an illegal draft between James Buescher and Brad Keselowski. Buescher was black flagged for pushing, but Keselowski was allowed to stay on the track without penalty.

“We felt that the 99 [Buescher] was more the aggressor in the situation,” Pemberton said of that incident.

The latest example of inconsistent officiating came in the opening laps of Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega. Aric Almirola and Brendan Gaughan were drafting together in the top 10 when NASCAR issued a pass-through penalty for each driver for locking bumpers. Gaughan, who was being pushed by Almirola, was livid with the call and voiced his displeasure over his team’s in-car communication.

“He [Almirola] shot me off him three times, so I didn’t lock bumpers intentionally,” Gaughan said.

Going back to the Buescher incident, why would NASCAR penalize both cars when the car being pushed is essentially “along for the ride?”

Fast forward to overtime.

As the field raced up to speed, the top six drivers were locked together in a pair of three-car trains. On the inside, eventual winner Elliott Sadler latched onto the bumper of Joey Logano with Justin Allgaier bringing up the rear. Sadler dropped off of Logano exiting Turn 2, but Allgaier remained tucked underneath Sadler’s Chevy all the way through Turn 4.

In the outside lane, Jeremy Clements pushed Brennan Poole in what appeared to be an obvious tandem draft. After the dust settled and NASCAR sorted out the final running order, there was no mention of locking bumper penalties being considered by officials.

Saturday’s finish wasn’t the first time NASCAR “swallowed the whistle” late in a restrictor-plate race. In the season-opening race at Daytona, similar circumstances led to Chase Elliott picking up the win over Logano, after the pair seemingly locked together at the end.

NASCAR doesn’t want the finish of an event mired in controversy. They’re already charged with having to make a split-second decision, knowing that someone is likely going home unhappy.

But that’s not a viable excuse to abandon the rules. If it’s good enough to be called in the first ten laps of the race, then it should be good enough to be called with ten laps to go.

It’s just a matter of being consistent.

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