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…