Brad Keselowski passes Kurt Busch for win at Auto Club Speedway

NASCAR conspiracy theories are ridiculous. No, NASCAR wasn't rigging races for Jimmie Johnson during his five-year title run. No, the sport doesn't manipulate things to benefit Dale Earnhardt Jr. whenever possible. The list goes on.

But if you want to make a conspiracy theory based on what you saw as a television viewer of Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway. you've got it pretty easy. You may not be right, but you can believe there was something amiss in the final laps in California without much effort.

Brad Keselowski won the race as he made a last-lap pass of Kurt Busch after Greg Biffle crashed back in the pack as the leaders took the white flag. However, NASCAR didn't throw a caution. But this isn't the only piece if you're choosing to make a conspiracy theory. Rather it's the final one and the one that will be the highlight of the race played over and over.

Busch, who NASCAR suspended for three races less than two days before the Daytona 500, was second to Matt Kenseth with 15 laps to go. After a restart with 43 laps remaining, drivers were jockeying to make it to the end without having to stop for fuel again. While the race for the lead wasn't necessarily the most intense, it was setting up to be dramatic, as it was unclear just how many cars would be able to make it to the end without stopping.

The thought of a fuel-mileage race disappeared with a caution for debris. Via the Fox broadcast, it was apparently for debris near the exit of pit road, but you'd never know that if you weren't at the track and looking at it yourself. Fox never showed the debris.

Busch grabbed the lead off the ensuing restart from teammate Kevin Harvick, winner of the previous two races. If Busch won – and he led 65 laps after starting on the pole – he'd be virtually guaranteed a spot in the Chase just two races after being reinstated. He was suspended indefinitely after a Delaware county commissioner ruled he "more likely than not" committed an act of abuse against his ex-girlfriend. A little more than two weeks later Busch wasn't criminally charged by the Delaware attorney general's office. Six days later, he was back in NASCAR.

He was holding off Harvick as the laps wound down, and with two laps to go, another caution for debris happened. It was allegedly in turn four, and this was the only camera shot provided of the corner following the caution.

Busch, Harvick and a host of others pitted. They both took two tires, coincidentally the number of green flag laps they'd have to get past the three cars that didn't pit and into the lead. Not long after the green waved, Busch was in the lead with Harvick just behind him.

The caution came out again on the backstretch. This time, it was for Kyle Larson's rear bumper on the track after he hit the wall. Nothing to conspiracize over there.

It set up what was ultimately the final restart, and Keselowski, who was seventh after taking four tires when Busch and Harvick took two, was within striking distance after a half-lap. He was on Busch's bumper as they crossed the start-finish line for the white flag. But right as they did, Biffle's car was spinning off turn four.

A caution before the leaders crossed the line would necessitate another restart. A caution on the last lap, similar to what happened at the Daytona 500, when NASCAR rightfully called a caution as Joey Logano was leading, meant the field was frozen and Busch would win.

There was no caution. Keselowski, rather than Busch, is a virtual lock for the Chase after five races.

At best, the events leading to Keselowski's win looked like a mass of inconsistencies building to a two-minute highlight finish from an otherwise fun three-hour race. And NASCAR realized that, sending Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck to address the assembled media at the track after the race to explain the final laps.

"You know, we don't have any favorites," Buck said. "We try to keep every emotion out of it. Safety's number one.  We have over a hundred years worth of experience in the tower with [NASCAR officials] Mike Helton, Robin Pemberton, David Hoots, myself. Between us we work very closely in a very dynamic way to identify the situation and look for the solution to it, then that solution is backed up by multiple layers. So we feel very, very confident about our actions."

However, at worst, the appearance of the inconsistent actions give the tinfoil hat set – a vocal minority that may have a few more members after Sunday's race – plenty of points to draw conclusions about race manipulation by the sport's sanctioning body.

It's inexcusable. The simple fact that Buck was available to media to explain debris cautions and post-race process speaks to the immediate perception issue NASCAR and Fox created.

And really, it's a simple fix. All debris causing cautions should be shown by televison cameras. If it can't, NASCAR should be in immediate communication with the television production truck with explicit reasoning of why the debris couldn't be shown. Broadcasters should then relay that information to fans as soon as possible.

Everyone benefits from that scenario. Fans know what's going on and feel a sense of transparency. The television broadcast doesn't look incompetent or lacksadaisical about informing viewers of the events transpiring on screen. And NASCAR minimizes any wacky conclusions fans can draw about why a caution was thrown for no visible reason.

But it's a scenario that's apparently easier said than done, given the preponderance of debris cautions in recent years.

As NASCAR and its tracks are now being reactive over track safety in the wake of Kyle Busch's accident, Sunday's race is the perfect time to be reactive about the way debris cautions are presented to viewers. Conspiracy theories shouldn't be as easy, and the level of difficulty has nothing to do with those that make them.

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

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