NASCAR: After 17 years without a caution-free race, two already in 2019

Entering the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, it had been 17 years since a race took place without a single caution flag period. Two of these races have now happened this year.

On Sunday, October 6, 2002, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway featured no caution flag periods. From that race until the start of the 2019 season, 582 races were contested.

Of course, there is theoretically no possible way for a Cup Series race to feature no caution flag periods in this day and age as a result of stage racing, which guarantees a caution flag period at the endings of stages one and two. Stage racing was controversially introduced ahead of the 2017 season.

However, it is possible, albeit highly unlikely, that a full-length race finishes without a single incident-related caution flag period having taken place.

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Ending a 584-race streak of Cup Series races featuring at least one incident-related caution flag period was the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in early March, the third race of the 2019 season.

This race, which was won by Team Penske’s Joey Logano, featured only the two usual caution flag periods as a result of the endings of stages one and two.

Such an occurrence was deemed extremely rare, and justifiably so; once in 585 races is a minuscule 0.17%.

Now it has happened again.

After not happening once in the last 17 years, it has now happened twice in the last 14 races.

This past Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, the season’s 16th race, featured two caution flag periods, one for the ending of stage one and one for the ending of stage two.

There were certainly incidents throughout the race involving cars spinning and/or going off the track, but nothing nearly significant enough to warrant the yellow coming out.

After a 584-race streak of Cup Series races featuring at least one incident-related caution flag period was brought to a close, the next streak of its kind lasted only 13 races, just 2.23% of the length of the 584-race streak.

There had been discussion earlier in the season of NASCAR having a “lack of caution” problem because of the new package, and there was lots of significant data to back up the concept of the current cars being, for lack of a better word, easier to drive than cars had been in the post.

But Sonoma Raceway is a road course, and on top of that, the road course layout used for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart had not been used since the 1997 season. So bravo to the 38 drivers who competed in this 90-lap race around the 12-turn, 2.52-mile (4.056-kilometer) road course in Sonoma, California and did so without giving NASCAR any need to suspend the on-track action.