Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

NASCAR under fire for not immediately throwing caution for Cody Ware violent crash at Chicago

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp07/07/25
Cody Ware
Photo by Andrew Nelles / USA TODAY Sports

Collisions at street races or road courses often don’t come with the sheer impact of a wreck at a superspeedway, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be terribly violent. Just ask Cody Ware.

Ware lost his brakes going into Turn 6 at the Chicago street race on Sunday. He was going an estimated 93 miles per hour when he plowed into the tire barrier protecting the turn.

Anyone watching the crash almost certainly would have thrown the caution flag immediately. But NASCAR apparently didn’t realize how fast and hard Ware got into the tire barrier. It was nearly 35 full seconds from the time of the collision until the caution flag came out.

And the organization fell under instant fire for that. Writers and drivers alike commented on it after the fact.

“Seeing this clip of Cody Ware’s crash I don’t know HOW it took NASCAR almost 35 seconds to throw a caution,” wrote Seth Eggert on Twitter. “Unreal. Unacceptable.”

Others also weighed in. Like the editor in chief of TobyChristie.com Joseph Srigley:

“WOW! What an insane angle of the last-lap crash for Cody Ware…” Srigley wrote. “I can’t believe that wasn’t an immediate caution. That’s a brutal impact, look how fast he’s going into that barrier…”

Luckily, Cody Ware appeared to be OK after the race. Fellow driver Parker Kligerman weighed in on Twitter letting fans know he was doing all right.

“Yikes…” Kligerman wrote. “talked to Cody leaving the hotel outside the track. He was pretty shook up, but seemed ok.”

Ware himself seemed stunned that NASCAR didn’t throw an immediate caution for the contact. Instead, as things played out, Shane van Gisbergen was able to take the white flag just before the caution came out. It prevented an overtime that could have proven far more dramatic than van Gisbergen’s comfortable win.

“Yeah, I mean especially given the speed of how fast we were going into the barrier, (I was surprised),” Ware told Frontstretch. “Obviously I’m not going anywhere, there’s not much I can do at that point. But obviously at that point I’m just focused on getting out of the car and getting to a safe spot.”

According to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, NASCAR was unaware of how fast Ware had gone into the barrier and was hoping he could dislodge himself like Kyle Larson did a year ago. But he couldn’t, and the race eventually ended under caution. The flag just didn’t come out as soon as it should have, according to several who saw the wreck.