What is the most fundamental core objective of NASCAR racing?

Well, that’s easy, right? It’s getting to the finish line first. If you do that, you win the race. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, nothing is ever simple with NASCAR’s officiating crew, who robbed Erik Jones at metaphorical gunpoint in Thursday night’s second qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR’s Flawed Caution Policy

There is no valid reason whatsoever why this caution flag should have been thrown. The cars were less than 100 feet from the finish line. Spare us the “safety” pearl-clutching — anyone who was behind the wreck wasn’t going to magically slam on the brakes when they otherwise wouldn’t have just because the caution came out. The only thing that was impacted by NASCAR’s total and complete incompetency was the most important thing: the winner.

Fans come to the races and watch on TV because they want to see exciting finishes. They got one, with Jones beating Austin Cindric to the line by a matter of inches. Instead, NASCAR robbed them of an experience they witnessed with their own eyes and retroactively declared Cindric the winner because under their rules, the running order is frozen at the moment of caution.

It’s not the first time this has happened, either. Just ask Brennan Poole, the rightful winner of the 2016 Talladega Xfinity Series race. Just ask Bret Holmes, the rightful winner of the 2022 Talladega Truck Series race. Once again, in both instances, throwing the caution was completely unnecessary. This needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.

Two Potential Solutions

There are two solutions NASCAR could implement here. One would be creating a ruling in which if if there is a crash after a certain point on the last lap — let’s say, exiting Turn 4 — then drivers are allowed to race back and be credited with their positions at the line if a caution flag is thrown. It would have to be late in the lap, because otherwise NASCAR would run the risk of having wrecked cars sitting in the middle of the racing surface with the leaders not having adequate time to slow down. That is precisely why they ended the extremely dangerous practice of racing back to the caution back in 2003, but for situations such as this one, it would work.

The second solution is much easier — just don’t throw the caution. Use common bleeping judgment. If there’s a wreck 50 feet from the finish line, Let. Them. RACE. Throwing a caution in that instance is the NASCAR equivalent of a basketball game being decided by a ticky-tack foul call on a last-second shot attempt, or a football game decided by a penalty on a game-winning touchdown. No one watches sports to see the refs determine the outcome, and racing is no different.

End Of Rant

For the love of all that is holy, NASCAR must ensure that Jones is the last driver to be be royally screwed over by their trigger fingers. It’s not like keeping the race green in such a scenario would be completely unprecedented — most famously, on the last lap of the 2007 Daytona 500, they let the field race back as Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin in one of the most thrilling finishes in Cup Series history. It was the correct call. Martin did not get “robbed,” as he and his fans will claim to this day — he lost. He wasn’t the first driver to finish the race. Harvick was, and because NASCAR did the right thing, they created a memory that will last forever.

One must ask, though: why was that race the exception to the rule? Just because it was the 500? If such a situation arises again on Sunday, would NASCAR keep it green this time? They should. Just like they should have on Thursday, and on any other day. If the absolute clown show that is NASCAR’s race control crew knows what’s good for their own sport, they will stop throwing cautions with the cars coming to the checkered flag.

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