We were robbed of another incredible finish by yet another last-lap caution, but who is to blame?
Last year’s spring Atlanta race was simply incredible, with a memorable three-way finish between Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and winner Daniel Suarez, separated by just 0.003 at the start/finish line. It was the closest three-way finish in NASCAR’s history. Unsurprisingly, clips of that incredible finish were played for the rest of the season.
The lead-up to last weekend’s running of the Ambetter Health 400 showed the clip plenty of times. With a last-lap late caution more or less deciding the Daytona 500 the week before, many hoped that the potential of another tight finish would get the bad taste out of everyone’s mouth. After all, Atlanta motor Speedway’s reconfiguration as a “mini-superspeedway” in 2021 has resulted in some great racing. That racing has only gotten better as the track surface has worn in.
The racing was incredible all evening long, but one thing was readily apparent. The hyper-aggressive racing, starting from the drop of the green flag, wasn’t just a sign of excitement for a new season or a lack of patience attributed to a long rain delay. Apparently, it’s part of the new normal on these drafting tracks.
Anger in Atlanta
Typically, we’ll see two stages of relatively relaxed, polite racing with a slow buildup to the final 50 laps or so. Now, it seems like the intensity has turned up considerably. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Seeing 50 lead changes among 15 different drivers made the racing far more exciting to watch than some superspeedway snoozefests we’ve sat through. However, that higher level of initial aggression still ramps up as the race progresses. That leads to consequences – namely, cautions.
Last weekend’s race was no different. In the end, an incredible battle between dirt racing experts Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson was shaping up to be one for the ages. Young gun Carson Hocevar had even found his way into the fray, making a third lane between the two drivers on a green-white-checker finish. For a moment, it looked as though we were heading for another incredible three-way photo finish – until the caution flew on the final lap, ending the race prematurely, yet again.
In spite of all of the grief NASCAR has caught these past two weeks, I believe they did the right thing. By their own rule, green/white/checker finishes end after the next flag is flown on the white flag lap. In this case, the race ended when Josh Berry, who had been running in the top 10 for most of the night, was turned by someone – I’m still not sure who – into the wall, wrecking multiple cars. The caution was thrown and the race was over. Bell would emerge victorious, and Hocevar would garner a career-best second-place finish.
NASCAR instituted the green/white/checker rule to ensure, to their best abilities, that the race would end under a green flag condition. This was necessary because of another important rule change that ended the practice of racing back to the start/finish line when the caution was thrown, which everyone can agree is unsafe and requires emergency vehicles to wait longer to render aid. Unfortunately, we’ve been unlucky with two of these races back to back to start the 2025 season. Some of that blame, however, goes to the drivers, who, as stated above, seem to have turned the aggression meter way up this year. If they can’t race clean at the very end, we won’t get the chance for more memorable finishes like the end of the 2024 race. Is it the driver’s fault, or has NASCAR fostered a culture where a heightened level of on-track aggression is necessary for survival? Time will tell. Let’s hope for some kind of armistice before this weekend’s road course race at COTA.
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