A senior NASCAR competition executive conceded that race control didn’t have the best immediate view of the Cody Ware crash that ended the Cup Series race on Sunday and led to a delayed caution but only after leader Shane Van Gisbergen took the white flag.
Ware suffered a brake rotor failure and drove into the Turn 6 tire barrier at over 90 mph. It took race control 35 seconds to call for the caution. Ware radioed into his crew ‘help me’ after the impact.
From Cody Ware’s onboard. He’d apparently been saying the right front had been locking up but didn’t confirm if it was a tire or brake failure before getting out of the car.
Tough ending to what had been a great run for him. https://t.co/YgTC90rWZt pic.twitter.com/5BleyEWnsq
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) July 6, 2025
Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday morning, NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran said the sanctioning body will review the incident and communication stream to improve future response in Chicago and elsewhere.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the actual footage of the impact of the car getting into the tire barrier,” Moran said. “That’s something that we’re going to take back. We’re going to look at if we go back to Chicago. We’ll be looking at certain areas of that racetrack and definitely improving that situation.”
This was the final year of a three-year deal between NASCAR and the City of Chicago to race on the city streets around historic Grant Park. There are option years available but both sides have yet to reach any potential extension decision.
Had NASCAR called the caution sooner, it would have allowed safety workers to tend to Ware quicker. He was released from the makeshift infield care shortly after the race. It also would have set-up a green-white-checkered finish.
Other factors was an impending thunderstorm that could have ended the race prematurely had ‘SVG’ not taken the white flag.
But NASCAR always states that safety is its number one priority and Moran conceded there was a shortcoming on Sunday.
“If we would have had a shot of Cody’s impact there, the caution would have come out immediately,” Moran said. “But it was thrown immediately when he dropped his window net. We give them the opportunity to pull out but if we would have had that first shot, we would have known that car wasn’t pulling out.
“So, that’s on us. We’re going to go back (and) we’re going to review it.”
