Sunday afternoon, NASCAR returned to action with The Real Heroes 400. This race at Darlington Raceway was the first in 10 weeks, which excited racing fans. However, the frequent number of caution flags caused some frustration among some viewers.
The Real Heroes 400 started with a wreck as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed into the concrete inside wall before finishing a lap. This knocked him out of the race and resulted in a caution flag. Stage 1 ended with another incident when Jimmie Johnson slammed into a wall. His day also ended and led to another caution flag.
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The incidents continued with William Byron and Daniel Suarez both spinning out. Similarly, Garrett Smithley headed to the garage during Stage 2. These incidents resulted in several stoppages as the yellow flag continued waving, which led to comments from frustrated viewers on Twitter. They had tuned in with the goal of watching nonstop racing action, but the delays continued. There were many that expected some rust after a massive delay, but others were just irritated.
i think most of us new after 10 weeks of no racing and no practice or qualifying there would be this many cautions in today’s race. #NASCAR
— T (@ty_latham13) May 17, 2020
Single 👏 car 👏 spins 👏 do 👏 not 👏 need 👏 to 👏 be 👏 cautions! #NASCAR
— Julian Spivey (@julianspivey44) May 17, 2020
Hendrick Motorsports has gone from hero to zero with 2 of their 4 Camaros being involved in cautions. #RealHeroes400 #NASCAR
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) May 17, 2020
NASCAR should not have thrown a caution for William Byron here. Need whoever was in charge of iRacing cautions at Darlington. #NASCAR
— Julian Spivey (@julianspivey44) May 17, 2020
What I’ve seen so far from 2 Cautions is #NASCAR getting rid of Practice was a horrible idea! #TheRealHeroes #NASCARIsBack
— Donald (@88and3FaninPA) May 17, 2020
NASCAR out there remembering how to use cautions…. #Sheesh #NASCAR @TooToughToTame @NASCAR
— BAKE (@bakeshere) May 17, 2020
Hope Wrecky is ok but glad to see he’s done for the day with heavy damage. Want to see racing not cautions. #NASCAR
— KingOfTheKyleHaters (@KingOfTheKyleHa) May 17, 2020
What’s going on with Hendrick Motorsports?!?! They were 1-2-3 in stage 1, then Jimmie Johnson wrecks and retires from the race and now William Byron’s has problems. That sucks! #NASCAR #NASCARIsBack
— Sislak11 (@Sislak11) May 17, 2020
Wow and now Byron wrecks too. That was a change of events. Hendrick went from 1-2-3 to garage real quick. Plus Chase got a speeding penalty. Ugh. #NASCAR
— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) May 17, 2020
Bold choice by #NASCAR to go to a yellow flag every time someone coughs. #Darlington pic.twitter.com/UIaYGEHh3w
— King David Lane (@KingDavidLane) May 17, 2020
We’re green at Darlington!… and then we’re not. Stenhouse wrecks on the backstretch and the yellow flag flies. #NASCAR
— The Inside Groove (@InsideGrooveTV) May 17, 2020
This @NASCAR race has been a perfect reflection of 2020.
— Jess N. (@jniceone) May 17, 2020
Jan, 1/2 Feb = Lap 1, 1.5 – green flag
Mid February = Lap 1.5 – hit the wall
March = Lap 2 – catch on fire
April, May = Lapa 3-6 – caution flag.
😬 #NASCARIsBack #NASCAR
Caution flag for a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spin on lap 1. Not surprised to see a wreck on lap 1 with no practice or qualifying. #RealHeroes400 #NASCAR
— Josh Betts (@BettsSportsBeat) May 17, 2020
Daniel Suarez… the walking, automatic caution flag
— Ryan Pritt (@RPritt) May 17, 2020
