2022 NASCAR All-Star Race At Texas

What happened?

Ryan Blaney held off Denny Hamlin on an overtime restart to win his first career NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 22. Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano finished third and fourth while All-Star Open segment winner Daniel Suarez finished fifth.

How did it happen?

In an overtime restart that should not have happened.

In the final stage that was 50 laps, Blaney cleared his Team Penske stablemate Cindric to take the lead and did not look back. Even after the caution that flew as a result of a spin from fan vote winner Erik Jones, Blaney was sailing away from the rest of the field.

With a three second lead over Hamlin, who had pitted during the mid-stage caution to take two tires, Blaney was continuously pulling away from the rest of the field on route to his first All-Star victory and a $1 million prize.

Then, 50 feet away from crossing the start/finish line to take the checkered flag, the yellow lights flashed to Blaney’s right. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who was running in the back of the field at the time, had slapped the wall.

Now, to be clear, Stenhouse did not spin out. He did not crash. He didn’t even hit anyone else. Stenhouse had made contact with the wall and slowed his speed. There seemed to be very little safety incentive to throw the yellow flag, especially when the leader is literally a second away from ending the race.

The caution came out before the leader took the checkered flag.

We’ll go to NASCAR Overtime. pic.twitter.com/AbGB7BByt1

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 23, 2022

But the trigger-happy yellow banner flew, and since it was the last lap, everyone believed Blaney had won the race – everyone including Blaney himself, who then took his window net down as he believed he was going to celebrate on the frontstretch. Something that every driver has done in the history in the sport after winning a race.

In the All-Star race, however, the final stage must end under green flag condition. So,…