NASCAR: Decision To End Race Was The Right Call

By Matthew Sullivan | Nov 17, 2015

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Sunday’s penultimate race in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup proved to be disappointing in many ways for drivers, teams, fans and the sanctioning body. Rain delayed the start of the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway for nearly seven hours. When the race finally started, fans were treated to a lackluster event. Though there were eight scored lead changes, they came through pit stop cycles.

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After a lengthy cleanup following an incident involving Joey Gase and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., rain forced the race came to a halt on lap 219 of the scheduled 312 laps. The subsequent downpour forced NASCAR’s hand as they called the event with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. taking the win thanks to a timely pit stop.

NASCAR’s decision to call the race 93 laps from its completion frustrated and angered many fans, particularly those of drivers like Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Calling an end to the race took away the chance of those drivers advancing to the championship round in the next event at Homestead.

Popular opinion among these fans was that NASCAR did not wait long enough before calling the race official. The July race at Daytona was used as an example as that event started late at night and ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Many also felt that because of the championship implications, NASCAR should have waited out the weather longer into the night or delay the finish until the next day completely.

The difference between NASCAR starting the race at Daytona and not making more of an effort to finish the Phoenix race is a matter of time. The Daytona race is a scheduled evening/night event whereas the Phoenix event was already delayed for an extended period.

While fans had waited through the rain for the race NASCAR also had to take others into account. Besides their own officials and safety crew as the teams, there were track staff and security that had also been at the raceway all day. NASCAR estimated that due to the cooler temperatures, it would have taken at least two hours to dry the track. Rain continued on and off in the area for the remainder of the night which would have made drying the 1-mile track a very lengthy process.

While it could be argued that NASCAR did not wait long enough before they called the race, their decision to end it should not be in question.

It has long been NASCAR’s policy that once a race goes past the halfway distance, it is declared official if weather or other factors come into play. Had NASCAR chose to halt the race Sunday and finish it on Monday, they would have been going against that longstanding rule. In a time where fans are constantly questioning NASCAR’s decision making, changing a rule that they have always been consistent on would have been both outrageous and unfair, regardless of its affect on the championship.

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While changing the halfway rule specifically for the 10 race championship run has been brought up, it is not a practical idea. Having two different rules for separate parts of the season would only create more controversy and there would be rain shortened races in the “regular season” that could and/or would decide which drivers make the Chase field.

NASCAR was in a no win situation Sunday night and regardless of their decision, somebody was going to be disappointed.