Jim Ayello

jim.ayello@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS —James Hinchcliffe called it “bogus.” Scott Dixon dubbed it “mysterious.” But IndyCar President Jay Frye said it was warranted.

Two of the Verizon IndyCar Series' top drivers were puzzled — and even a little miffed — by IndyCar’s pivotal decision to wave a yellow flag after contact between Tony Kanaan and Mikhail Aleshin on Lap 26 caused debris to splash onto the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, during Sunday’s season-opening race.

That caution gave drivers who had pitted earlier, including runner-up Simon Pagenaud and eventual race winner Sebastien Bourdais, a tactical advantage over drivers who had not yet pitted, including Dixon and then-race leader Hinchcliffe, who would up finishing ninth.

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Pagenaud, Bourdais and about half the field had pitted during green flag conditions and didn't need to pit during the yellow. But Dixon and Hinchcliffe, among others, were forced to pit during the yellow and lost track position.

"I’m not the first guy to lose the lead of race because of a caution like that,” Hinchcliffe said immediately after Sunday's race. "It’s the nature of the sport. But I thought the yellow was unnecessary. There wasn't a car in the wall somewhere. That debris was nowhere near the racing line. It posed no threat to anybody. I’m a little bit annoyed at IndyCar for what I think was a bogus call.

“Had we thought (the debris) was going to cause a yellow — we went by pit-in once before the yellow came out — (we would have pitted). So if we now know a butterfly on the racetrack is going to cause a yellow, we’ll dive into the pits as soon as we see it.”

Frye responded Tuesday that the controversial caution was the right call.

“Safety is always our No. 1 priority," Frye said in an email. "There was substantial debris from the Kanaan-Aleshin contact to warrant a caution."

It is possible that the decision to play it safe had something to do with what happened during the 2015 season-opener at St. Petersburg. During that race, a flying piece of debris struck a pregnant spectator in the head, and she later sued .

Obviously, the situation Sunday was not identical, and, according to Dixon, it was not enough to warrant a yellow.

“It was a bit strange,” Dixon said after Sunday's race. “I don't know why they were yellow for such a small piece of debris that wasn't even on the racing line. … That pretty much put us in the toilet right there.”

Fortunately for Dixon, he rebounded and finished third.

The caution called after the Kanaan-Aleshin scrape likely would not have been as big a deal if another yellow flag had been waved later in the race. But after Lap 26, the race was green to the finish.

Follow Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter: @jamesayello; and on Instagram @jimayello.