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Half-Mayonnaise t1_j9brtoq wrote

I know nothing about racing or Nascar. Can someone explain why you would ever need OT in a race? Doesn't the first person across the line just win? The possibility of an exact tie seems improbably low so there must be something I don't understand.

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gamedemon24 OP t1_j9bts8v wrote

It’s not about ties. A caution flag in NASCAR takes up about 5 laps for them idling around the track while the incident is cleaned up. If this happens with like, 2 laps to go, they won’t just have the race reach its scheduled distance and end with the field under caution. They’ll extend the length of the race so there can be a green-white-checkered: a 2-lap restart where the field takes the green flag, goes around to take the white flag, and then comes to the checkered flag. If another wreck happens before the white flag is reached, they’ll try again. This can lead to the race distance being extended multiple times.

In this case they had reached the white flag at the time of the final crash, and because of this the race was ended as soon as the caution flag flew. Stenhouse was the leader at that point, and was therefore declared the victor.

I really hope that was at all concise! I work within racing so I’m happy to answer any other questions.

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Half-Mayonnaise t1_j9bugnv wrote

Thank you for the explanation! That's really helpful and makes a lot of sense. Ending a race under caution would be so anticlimactic. Extending it makes more sense. I had always thought that races could end up caution but maybe that's for different leagues like F1 or something.

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Kim_Jong_Teemo t1_j9c4nyh wrote

NASCAR used to be able to end under caution but fans didn’t enjoy that so they changed it quite a few years ago.

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EddieGrant t1_j9d2w4h wrote

And they're not enjoying that either lol. NASCAR fans will never be happy.

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walterpeck1 t1_j9c6xd7 wrote

> I had always thought that races could end up caution but maybe that's for different leagues like F1 or something.

Pretty sure NASCAR is the only pro race series that does this. All others can end under caution like you were thinking.

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Noteagro t1_j9c1klv wrote

After how the 2021 F1 season ended, and then Monza 2022 ended I am surprised the FIA don’t use similar rules…

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mubs42 t1_j9c3840 wrote

Formula 1 cars can't refuel during the race, so extending it isn't an option when they have only have just enough fuel to finish the race.

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Noteagro t1_j9c3dnr wrote

Oh true true, didn’t think about that.

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Jonesbro t1_j9ckre3 wrote

F1 should take notes so that we can go car racing

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