6 inches cost Kyle Busch win in Richmond (Update)

Kyle Busch – did he purposely want to look like a dork for his official NASCAR mugshot….or did it come natural? We'd have the photo replaced if we were Kyle

UPDATE Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Danica Patrick, Reed Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch were hit with commitment line violations at Richmond.

Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition explained some of the more curious moments from Richmond on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday.

Miller said it was necessary to make the parameters universal across the series so there was no confusion with an orange cone versus an orange box or two tires over the line compared with four tires.

"We’ve made it abundantly clear in all of the drivers meeting this year that it’s four tires below the orange box for the commitment line," Miller said. “That was a change for Richmond. We kept stressing that the commitment line rule has changed. They got in the heat of the battle and obviously didn’t remember what we said.

"An unfortunate circumstance, but we make a rule, we have to live by it and officiate by it. That’s what happened yesterday. That’s no different than the extra timing lines, and the speeding penalties when we put that in. It’s just them trying to get used to something new seems to be pretty difficult."

05/01/17

Kyle Busch saw his winless drought continue at Richmond Sunday despite being in position for a win late in the Toyota Owners 400.

Busch was running second to Joey Logano with 23 laps remaining after Ryan Blaney brought out the final caution of the race. As drivers neared pit road, Logano made a quick decision to stop of fresh tires, forcing Busch to make a quick reaction and follow him down pit road.

Unfortunately for Busch, NASCAR ruled all four of his tires were not below the commitment cone (by just 6 inches), an orange painted square on the 0.75-mile track separating the racing surface and pit road, resulting in a penalty which forced him to the rear and ended his shot at a win.

Busch finished 16th and was clearly not happy after the race as he stormed off only to tell Fox Sports that NASCAR's ruling was "balls and strikes," in reference to the violation he felt was a judgment call. Sporting News