Man climbs to top of catchfence during NASCAR race at Dover (Video)

A fan climbed the catchfence outside turn 4 during Sunday’s Cup Series race at Dover won by Jimmie Johnson.

The fan was not mentioned at all by Fox’s broadcast, but pictures from fans in the stands quickly surfaced on Twitter.

Incredibly curiously, a caution was not thrown for the fan on top of the fence.

“At 4:58 p.m., a white male subject climbed the fence in Turn 4 of the Speedway,” a Dover spokesperson said in a statement provided to Yahoo Sports. “He climbed down and was immediately detained by our security firm, CSC, and turned over to the Dover Police Department. A caution was not thrown.”

Per the track, he was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and offensive touching on a law enforcement officer. And to the surprise of no one, authorities deemed he was intoxicated and he was being held by law enforcement.

NASCAR tracks station security between the grandstands and the track in an attempt to prevent incidents like this. But this isn’t the first time this has happened. A man climbed to the top of the fence at Richmond in 2014 and the race was put under caution so he could safely climb down.

The lack of a caution in Sunday’s race is bizarre, especially as NASCAR touts safety so much. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to think of the horrible things that could happen with a man on the fence with cars whizzing by at 100+ MPH below. A caution should have been thrown as soon as NASCAR and the track noticed the man was on top of the fence to ensure that he could safely get down without incident.

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg