Race director Beaux Barfield defends red-flag decision during IndyCar finale

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay had just moved into a championship-winning position in Saturday night's race when Tony Kanaan crashed with 10 laps to go.

Rather than clean up the wreckage under caution - a scenario that would likely have resulted in the race ending under yellows - Barfield called a red flag and the cars returned to the pits for almost five minutes before returning to the track for an eight-lap sprint to the finish.

Andretti team owner Michael Andretti said that that he has unhappy with the decision to go red, which he believed was not accounted for in the rules.

"I really wasn't [happy]," he said. "It's never been done before, and we're the guinea pigs for it. So it was a little disappointing, but it ended up being okay in the end."

Race winner and owner-driver Ed Carpenter was similarly mystified.

"The red flag, I guess that is a new procedure at IndyCar that none of us had heard about," he said. "But it worked out for me, so I'll take it."

However Barfield told AUTOSPORT that the owners had been briefed about the potential for red flags late in the race.

"Firstly, [rule] 7.1.3.2 [of the IndyCar rulebook] clearly outlines the red flag procedures and possibilities specifically during race conditions," Barfield said.

"And while not every scenario can ever be covered during the actual meetings, there certainly have been discussions with teams about red flagging a race during the late stages in order to ensure a race to the finish as an alternative to green-white-chequer.

"The window of opportunity for this process is very small. This is why such a procedure was not implemented at the Indy 500 or Toronto, for example. Those yellows occurred too late in the race to get the race restarted."

Rule 7.1.3.2 states that under red flags, racing conditions are no longer in effect and that cars must return cautiously to a designated place, and that they may not be worked on by teams other than to plug in a booster battery and mop down bodywork.

It does not make mention of the circumstances under which they can be applied, as the difficulty in accounting for every possible scenario in a race means that this is left at the discretion of race control.