Brenden Queen took the lead on lap 95 and had a sizeable lead when the white flag came out on lap 149 during the ARCA Menards Series race at Phoenix Raceway (March 7).
Yet Tim Viens spun in turns 3-4 and the yellow flag flew.
According to NASCAR national series rules, the race would be over and Butterbean would have won his second straight race.
Instead, per ARCA rules, that was not the case. No, per the ARCA rulebook, all races must be held under green flag conditions, with four racetracks the exception, but we’ll get to that.
So, series officials re-racked the field and there was an overtime attempt that saw Thad Moffitt wreck Tyler Reif, and they shared different viewpoints.
But the race did not end under green, so series officials re-racked the lineup again, the race restarted, and Brent Crews made contact with Queen and snatched the victory away.
Whether that race-winning move was fair or foul, we’ll let the commentariat and, more importantly, drivers settle.
First, here are ARCA overtime rules for all racetracks except Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen International. If a caution comes out and the race cannot end under regulation in green, then there are unlimited green-white-checkered attempts until the leader takes the checkered flag under green-flag conditions.
If the leader takes the white flag and a caution comes out, such as in the case at Phoenix, then there are unlimited attempts at a one-lap finish, where the green and white flags are flown simultaneously.
At those other four racetracks, there is one attempt at an overtime finish, which is a one-lap dash to the finish with the green and white flags shown together.
At Daytona and Talladega, that rule was implemented in 2019 following a 12-lap overtime finish in the 2018 Daytona race, which featured only 18 drivers finish and two enormous multi-car crashes after the scheduled race distance of lap 80. ARCA Communications Director Charles Krall also said that policy was a team-driven decision after that expensive wreck.
Per Krall, Lime Rock and The Glen have the same policy because of the time it takes to complete caution-flag laps. Additionally, because those are road courses, there is usually sufficient room for any incidents to avoid oncoming traffic, and, hopefully, those incidents do not involve the leader.
Also of note, the two dirt tracks, the Illinois State Fairgrounds and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, have all restarts as single-file when there are less than 10 laps to go, including overtimes.
So, the question arises, should ARCA adopt the same end-of-race and overtime procedures as the NASCAR national series? ARCA is a NASCAR-owned series, after all.
Allow Krall on X [formerly known as Twitter] to explain.
So why does ARCA have the "one lap green & white together" restart? Because at more than half of our tracks, we do not have the technological infrastructure (scoring loops) should the yellow freeze the field on the final lap. There is ONE loop at start/finish.
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) March 11, 2025
Say it's the last lap at Salem. Battle is on for the lead in turn 1. Lead changes down the backstretch. Caution comes out for a wreck in front of the leaders. Field is frozen, and we go back to the previous loop which is at start finish.
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) March 11, 2025
So now we need to revert to the previous loop, which is at start finish. Not only does the pass for the lead get reverted, but any other position that was in question that we may or may not have seen with our own eyes.
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) March 11, 2025
So to take away as many judgement calls as possible, we simply finish the race under green. Yes, sometimes that means a guy who "should" have won won't. But it also means a winner is decided under green in as many instances as possible. I am okay with that.
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) March 11, 2025
And instead of having different rules for different tracks, we try to keep the procedures the same as much as we can (understanding superspeedways and road courses are now different). It makes it easier to understand for all involved.
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) March 11, 2025
At racetracks such as Phoenix, Kansas Speedway and other courses on the NASCAR circuit, there are more scoring loops so the race could end with the first flag after the white flag. But at Salem, the two dirt tracks and some of the other standalone racetracks, that is not possible with scoring loops. So, it would create two different variations, which is not fair.
Arguably, with FOX Sports broadcasting all ARCA national series races, there are more camera angles where the field could be frozen upon the caution flag after the white flag is displayed. However, at those standalone races, Krall said there are not as many folks in the officials tower as there are for a NASCAR Cup Series race, so if there is a close gap between two cars, how would officials determine which car was ahead?
Mind you, end-of-race caution calls have brought controversy to NASCAR officiating this year, too. At Daytona, during a Duel, a caution was flown mere feet before Erik Jones took the checkered flag, and Austin Cindric won that. At the end of the Daytona 500, there was a last-lap crash on the backstretch, series officials chose not to throw the caution, and yours truly disliked that choice following that Duel race-ending decision.
There is not a system that will please all. End the race at its scheduled distance? End the race with one overtime attempt? Continue to let the race play out under current NASCAR rules such as we saw last year at Nashville Superspeedway? Or use the ARCA version of end-of-race rules?
“Why have overtime if we’re not going to race to the green?” Krall added.
Unfortunately for Queen and Reif at Phoenix, and William Sawalich who lost the race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to Luke Fenhaus in 2022, they have a right to be unhappy with the race outcome.
“We’re not the ones driving the racecars,” Krall noted too.
Indeed, series officials just followed the rule book. Viens spun ahead of the leaders and his driver-side was facing the incoming drivers, so a caution had to be thrown. Viens was reportedly called to the ARCA hauler too.
Reif expressed displeasure with Moffitt after the wreck too. Moffitt has yet to earn an ARCA trophy and his one attempt at a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season failed after 12 races. Reif meanwhile is an up-and-coming 17-year-old prospect with one ARCA win and three ARCA Menards Series West wins. Whether or not they’ll hash it out, either in person, at the racetrack, or on track is to be determined, but their successes will drive their careers too.
Butterbean felt the biggest heartbreak, but it is worth asking, why did he let Crews get to his inside in turns 3-4?
Phoenix was a good ARCA race. It featured seven lead changes, one shy from tying the record, it tied the lowest number of cautions, 24 of the 34 drivers completed the race and there were comers and goers throughout the race.
Yet it wound up with a finish that some fans complained about and an end-of-race rule that caused vitriol in the ARCA Menards Series Facebook page comments section.
ARCA has no intentions of changing its end-of-race and overtime procedures. But it is worth wondering, as the series is firmly entrenched in the NASCAR ladder system, if we’re developing drivers in ARCA, why aren’t we teaching them the NASCAR way too?
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.