- NASCAR and FOX Sports face heavy backlash for failing to trigger a caution.
- Hamlin slammed the lack of accountability, calling the failure “unacceptable.”
- Broadcast was also criticised for losing track of several key incidents.
For a few chaotic moments late at Watkins Glen International, it genuinely felt like half the NASCAR world had no idea what was happening.
Cars were spinning, tempers were flaring, and one of the hardest crashes of the afternoon somehow slipped through both the broadcast and race control almost unnoticed.
Instead of talking solely about Shane van Gisbergen’s dominant road-course masterclass at the New York track, the conversation, leaving ‘The Glen,’ quickly shifted toward FOX Sports’ confusing coverage and the sanctioning body’s failure to throw a caution for Cody Ware’s violent crash.
Fans were furious, the field disgruntled, and crews stunned. And perhaps nobody summed up the frustration better than the oldest driver in the Cup field, Denny Hamlin, who publicly ripped both NASCAR and its broadcasting partner for what he deemed an “unacceptable” situation.
Cody Ware’s crash exposes a messy afternoon for NASCAR and FOX
The biggest controversy from Go Bowling at The Glen unfolded with roughly 10 laps remaining when Ware suffered a massive impact entering the final corner. Running three-wide through Turn 6, the Rick Ware Racing driver got turned around after contact and slammed hard into the tire barriers before bouncing back toward the racing surface.
Under normal circumstances, a crash of that magnitude almost automatically triggers a yellow flag. However, on Sunday, NASCAR somehow allowed the race to continue under green despite visible damage to Ware’s car and apparent damage to the barrier itself.
What made the moment even stranger was how FOX Sports handled it. In fact, television viewers barely saw the incident unfold live, and initial replays never fully captured how severe the crash actually was. In fact, many fans only realized how hard Ware had hit after photos and alternate camera angles surfaced online later in the evening.
Unfortunately, Ware’s wreck was not the only incident the broadcast missed. Throughout the race, several moments either went unseen or were shown without proper context. Bubba Wallace getting spun by John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry’s late-race incidents with Cole Custer, and Kyle Busch running out of fuel on the final lap were all examples of moments that either aired too late or were partially missed altogether.
By the time the checkered flag flew, much of NASCAR Nation’s discussions centered less on van Gisbergen’s win and more on how NASCAR and FOX had managed to lose track of so much action during a relatively calm race.
Denny Hamlin goes ballistic after Watkins Glen confusion
Hamlin was among the first drivers to openly question how both NASCAR and FOX allowed Ware’s wreck to slip through the cracks.
Speaking on his popular “Actions Detrimental” podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran made it clear he believed responsibility fell on both sides.
“I mean, they didn’t follow a few wrecks that happened, that’s for sure,” Hamlin told his co-host. “But NASCAR has to get better with that. Like I’ve seen their control center at their production studio. There’s absolutely no excuse… you have cameras pointing in every direction of this racetrack.”
Watkins Glen – a ‘bad look for the sport’
Hamlin appeared especially frustrated, knowing just how many cameras and monitors are used during Cup Series events. According to him, there is simply no excuse for a crash that violent to go unnoticed in real time.
“For you not to see Cody Ware destroyed in that final corner… holy cow, man. They need to say something about that. Not just, ‘We’ll look at it. We’re always looking to improve.'”
And that, more than anything else, is what made Watkins Glen such a bad look for the sport. The 45-year-old went on, saying, “It’s on both of them. It’s on both of them. There’s a director somewhere in there in FOX’s production studio that’s looking at all the cameras. Surely there’s got to be someone.”
‘How can a massive wreck go unnoticed?’
He then gave the series and its partners an ultimatum, again, reiterating the seriousness of the situation: “Take some accountability on this one. This was not acceptable.”
On that note, Hamlin’s biggest frustration seemed to stem from the fact that NASCAR already has the tools in place to prevent situations like this. With cameras covering nearly every inch of the racetrack and dozens of live monitors inside race control, the veteran driver questioned how a wreck as massive as Ware’s could go unnoticed for so long.
The three-time Daytona winner also pointed to years of staffing cuts, arguing that there simply aren’t enough people actively monitoring every feed in real time anymore. In Hamlin’s eyes, that is where the real breakdown happened at Watkins Glen International, a clear lack of oversight.
