There is drama, then there is the drama that took place Sunday in NASCAR’s regular season finale at Daytona.
Already delayed a day due to rain, the weather again played a factor in determining who is in and out of NASCAR’s Playoffs.
But it wasn’t the only factor.
The race started under partly cloudy skies with rain in the distance but made it only 31 laps before Ryan Blaney, who was one of drivers just inside the cutoff for the final spot, crashed ending his hopes for a win, but not for a playoff spot. Despite being damaged, Blaney was able to continue, as his rival for the final spot Martin Truex Jr. moved ahead in the points.
Blaney would go 2 laps down, but Truex would have his own issues when on lap 103 he spun but was able to continue. The race’s fifth caution came out on lap 126 and involved 6 cars including Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman both of whom had led laps earlier.
On lap 132 Joey Logano and Erik Jones spun on the backstretch but both continued. Jones had led the second most laps of the race to that point, 22, while Logano had led 14.
On the restart after that caution Justin Haley grabbed the lead. The ring of dark rain clouds around the track that had been present much of the race had been spitting light drops at times allowing the racing to continue. But on lap 139 as the field charged into turn 1 the skies opened up and a deluge descended on the track. On slick tires it took only a moment for cars to start sliding and carnage to begin. In all 13 cars were swept up in the crash, while Austin Dillion was able to snake his way through and was scored the leader as the field was stopped and the rain picked up. Though replays showed he wasn’t the leader at the moment the caution came out, he was the only car able to “maintain pace” which under NASCAR’s rules meant he would be the leader.
NASCAR was left in a quandary: it was only early afternoon, the track has lights, and several drivers other than Dillion questioned the scoring. And people were grumbling about NASCAR not calling a caution sooner.
“It was raining for a good lap before we got into turn one my spotter said,” Haley, who was leading at the time said. “Coming out of (turn) two the previous lap, it was raining, and we just lost traction. It’s pretty unacceptable.”
Chris Buescher led a lap and was in contention much of the race but was caught up in the final crash before the red flag.
“We saw rain,” he said. “Everybody did their jobs and I felt like I was doing mine fairly well up there and had a run. We were definitely in a good spot and it was raining when we got to turn one and we all wiped out. We wiped out all the lead cars, so whoever wins this race wasn’t even in contention. It’s just ridiculous from my point of view.”
Both Haley and Buescher could have secured a spot in the Playoffs with a win. Denny Hamlin was already firmly a part of the Playoff field but was racing for a win; he led 13 laps before the final crash took him out. He clearly knew what he felt should have happened.
“Just throw the caution before the rain came,” Hamlin said. “We had rain down the front. So about 10 seconds before we got into turn one, it was raining. I’m sure the fans felt it and then they watched us all pile in there.”
NASCAR was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The race could have been called, and Austin Dillion declared the winner. At that point Truex was 7th on the lead lap, and Blaney was 29th 6 laps down which meant Truex would be the final Playoff spot.
Shortly after the red flag was displayed NASCAR went on a PR offensive sending an official to join the TV broadcast and explain that rain had been threatening all day, and despite some occasional drops, the heavier showers had missed the track itself. Had they called a presumptive caution each time rain threatened, there would have been several. They also showed a replay of the in-car camera from Haley that showed a clear lens until they hit the sudden downpour entering turn 1.
The heavy shower the opened up on lap 139 gave officials no real warning and little time to call a caution. In order help fans, and the rest of the industry, forget that incident they needed to dry the track and finish the race under green. Thus, the long wait began.
It took 3 hours, 19 minutes for the rain to stop and crews to get the track dry and ready to race. No doubt, there was a great deal of fidgeting by NASCAR execs as they waited.
The rain stopped, the sun came out and the final 21 laps happened. Only 17 cars finished, and in the end, Austin Dillon got by Austin Cindric for the win. Dillon secured a Playoff spot as did Blaney, while Truex us out for the first time since 2015.
Perhaps most importantly, NASCAR was able to finish the race under circumstances that didn’t involve a sudden downpour. When fans, and the rest of NASCAR, look back on the 2022 Coke Zero 400 they will only remember how it ended, not how it was stopped in the middle, and how at the end of the day the sun shined, and the race finished under green.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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