INDIANAPOLIS --- Yes, the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a debacle. No point in denying it.

But don't be so quick to castigate NASCAR, which was faced with the unenviable task of trying to salvage a race that was destined to look like stalled, rush-hour traffic.

When it became obvious in Saturday's practice sessions that the tires Goodyear brought to Indy had a serious durability issue, there was only one option for NASCAR a day ahead of the green flag: figure out how to stage a safe race. Option No. 2? There wasn't one.

NASCAR tried to put on a show regardless, relying heavily on deliberate caution flags that slowed the pace of the 400-mile race and forced teams to change tires every 10-to-12 laps. It meant a record 52 of the 160 laps ran under caution, with the longest green-flag run a mere 13 laps.

The victor Sunday was decided by one final heat race, a seven-lap sprint to the finish that saw Jimmie Johnson win the race off pit road then hold off Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin to grab his second Brickyard title in three years.

To call it horrible racing is an understatement. Participating drivers didn't mince words.

"It's embarrassing and it's disappointing. I've never seen anything like this," four-time Indianapolis winner Jeff Gordon said.

But their ire wasn't aimed square at NASCAR. Across the board, everyone understood NASCAR did the best it could with what it had to work with.

Goodyear tested the tires it brought to Indy back in April, when Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch experimented with several different compounds to help the tiremaker find a match for Sunday. Although the tires in that two-day stretch seemed to last somewhere around 15 laps a run, Goodyear wrongly believed their durability would improve once the full field took to the track and began laying rubber on Indy's abrasive surface.

Where Goodyear went wrong was underestimating the effect of NASCAR's current car, a heavier new model that puts a ton more stress on right-side tires than last year's car. The tires at Indy couldn't hold up to the pressure, and the rubber Goodyear had assumed would stick to the track never happened.

Goodyear has the NASCAR market cornered as its only tire supplier, and every team needs its tires to turn even one lap. Its position as the only player in the game means it's even more important that Goodyear avoids the blunders it made coming into Indy.

It's not NASCAR fault Goodyear wasn't prepared, and top officials did the best they could to salvage a dangerous situation. Now it's up to them to make sure it never happens again.