Drivers don’t throw a flag

Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick said Tuesday that NASCAR faced a difficult choice in deciding when to throw the yellow flag as the race reached its wild, controversial climax.

As Harvick and Mark Martin raced side by side to the start-finish line Sunday in the Nextel Cup series’ season opener, a multi-car crash developed just behind them.

NASCAR typically throws a yellow flag at such moments and freezes every car’s position for safety reasons, so that drivers aren’t still racing toward the line amid the wreckage.

If NASCAR had done that Sunday, Martin would have won because he was just ahead of Harvick as the crash unfolded. But NASCAR let Harvick and Martin race to the finish. No yellow appeared until Harvick had edged Martin as they crossed the line.

“It’s a hard call to make, just for the fact, you don’t throw the caution, you’re in hot water; you do throw the caution, you’re in hot water,” Harvick said Tuesday in a teleconference leading to the series’ next race, the Auto Club 500 Sunday at California Speedway in Fontana.

“There’s really no right or wrong answer,” said the Bakersfield native, who drives the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. “It’s a hard spot to be in. I’m glad I don’t have to make those calls.”

Reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who also held a media call Tuesday, said he was just as torn as many others about the finish.

“I watched it and initially felt a caution should have been thrown,” he said. But “at the same time, you want the biggest race of the season to be determined at the start-finish line, not based on a light being turned on.

“It seems like, for the Daytona 500, the right call was made. It worked out. Safety wasn’t compromised. Both drivers seem OK with the situation. I guess Mark Martin’s comments swayed my opinion more than anything,” Johnson said, referring to how Martin said he would not challenge NASCAR’s actions.

Still, Johnson -- the El Cajon native who drives the No. 48 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports -- said the decision raised questions about whether NASCAR has a different standard for the Daytona 500 than for other races on the 36-race Cup schedule.

“Would this take place if it happened at Pocono coming off of Turn 3 to the finish?” he said, referring to the raceway in Pennsylvania. “Or is it just the Daytona 500? They have a lot of stuff they need to figure out.”

As for Sunday’s race, Harvick said the California Speedway -- where he has never won a Cup race -- “has been a little bit of a struggle for us as a race team the last couple years. It’s probably been one of our worst racetracks, to be honest with you.”

But with the Daytona 500 win giving him the early points lead for the championship, “we want to go in there and have a solid weekend,” he said.

james.peltz@latimes.com