Stat Sheet: The Race(s) That Would Never End

In some parallel universe, Sunday’s (June 30) Ally 400 has just entered its 856th overtime attempt with only three cars taking the green flag.

In our own universe, it took five overtime attempts, 31 extra laps, 41.3 extra miles and approximately a dozen wrecked cars for the Ally 400 to finally come to a close.

It was a merciful end, as cars were running out of fuel left and right on restarts while Joey Logano somehow defied all the odds by stretching one tank of fuel for 110 laps to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in over a year.

Sunday marked the first-ever five-OT finish in Cup history since the implementation of unlimited overtime attempts in 2017. It also set the record for the most laps required beyond the scheduled distance to wave the checkered flag.

Between the bone-headed driving, the wrecks and the leaders running out of fuel, the finishing order of the race was something born out of Frankenstein’s lab that resembled absolutely nothing that had happened in the first 300 laps — you know, the number of laps the race was supposed to end at.

When the caution came out for Austin Cindric’s spin with two laps to go, Logano, Zane Smith, Ryan Preece and Ryan Blaney were running 14th, 24th, 25th and 32nd, respectively.

They finished first, second, fourth and sixth.

Sunday’s race was an absolute cluster, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this.

In a 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, it took a then-record four overtimes and 19 extra laps to finally conclude the race.

The Truck Series (which had overtime since its inception in 1995) changed its rules to allow only one attempt at an overtime finish, which carried over to Cup and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 2010, the limit was lifted to three attempts, and in 2017, the limit was done away with entirely.

Since the limits were done away with seven years ago, there have been two four-OT and two five-OT races. Three have occurred in the last four seasons, with the most recent two in the last eight months.

The Xfinity season opener at Daytona International Speedway in 2018 was the first race to require five overtimes, and it set the still-standing record for mileage beyond the scheduled distance (57.5). The race was also notable for Tyler Reddick beating Elliott Sadler to the checkered flag in the fifth overtime by 0.0004 seconds — the closest finish in NASCAR history.

The 2021 event was the first of the Truck Series’ two trips to the dirt of Knoxville Raceway, and it set the record for the most laps required beyond the scheduled distance, which was matched by last year’s Truck finale at Phoenix Raceway.

And well … we all know what happened in that one.

Corey Heim delivered payback to Carson Hocevar with three laps to go and there were three additional cautions that jumbled the field and completely changed the outcome of the championship.

And that brings us to Sunday, the latest edition of this exclusive list.

As one could imagine, the drivers who would’ve won the races had they ended under caution at the scheduled distance fared poorly in the onslaught of restarts, chaos and unexpected calamity.

Three of the five leaders were caught up in crashes, while Denny Hamlin and all the other leaders stayed on the track at Nashville Superspeedway until their fuel tanks ran dry.

Chandler Smith was the only one of the five to make it to the finish without issue, but there were so many restarts that he too could not retain the lead by the time the checkered flag waved.

Also worth noting is that most of these marathon endings brought about an exceptional amount of carnage, as three of the five finishes saw at least eight cars crash out in overtime, including Sunday’s race at Nashville. That race had a total of 13 DNFs, which marks the highest DNF total in a non-superspeedway race with the Next Gen car since the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, where 17 cars failed to finish.

All in all, Sunday was the fifth race in NASCAR history to require at least four overtimes to wave the checkered flag — but could it be the last?

It’s worth noting that the first-ever four-OT race created a knee-jerk reaction so strong that NASCAR capped the field at just one overtime for more than half a decade. Of course, that decision came 20 years ago and NASCAR has since gone on to nix all the limitations it set up.

At the same time, this race is only eight months from the absolute embarrassment that was the Truck Series season finale. And in a world where NASCAR is doing everything it can to limit expenses, the teams can’t be happy with all the cars that got torn up well past the end of the scheduled distance.

My prediction is that there will ultimately be no changes to the overtime rules, given how rare these finishes occur. But given the craziness of Sunday’s ending, there will absolutely be discussions — more than ever before.

About the author

Stephen Stumpf

Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.

Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.

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