Daytona finish continues historic phenomenon NASCAR fans didn't see coming

Saturday night under the lights at Daytona International Speedway. It doesn't get much better than that. Add in the intensity that comes with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 being the last race of the regular season, and you've got yourself an adventurous 160 laps.

While "drafting track" races have seemingly become a bit of a letdown in the eyes of NASCAR's fanbase over the first few years of the Next Gen era for various reasons, this particular event lived up to everything it was hyped to be.

It featured only one major wreck, not a whole lot of fuel-saving, and a dramatic finish that saw Ryan Blaney take the checkered flag for the second time this year, breaking the hearts of several unlikely playoff hopefuls all around him, including Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, and Erik Jones.

All the playoff implications, and its narrowly avoided disaster, aside, this finish was also historic. With Blaney leading the field across the line in a four-wide finish, the top four were separated by just 0.049 seconds, making it the closest spread among the first four finishers in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Saturday's finish was the latest in a line of recent historic NASCAR finishes.

The NASCAR fanbase, for all its gripes with the sport, has been blessed with some fantastic finishes the last few years. Three of them, including this past Saturday's, stand out above the rest.

While the Coke Zero Sugar 400 featured the closest four-wide finish in NASCAR history, last season's incredible finish in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway between Suarez, Blaney, and Kyle Busch was the closest top three finish in NASCAR history.

With the first three finishers separated by just seven one-thousandths of a second, perhaps it is best compared to the famous three-way tie from the opening scene from the Disney Pixar film, CARS.

And then there's the AdventHealth 400 later that season at Kansas Speedway, when Kyle Larson edged out Chris Buescher for the win by just one one-thousandth of a second, which broke the record to become the closest finish in the history of NASCAR.

It even appeared from some angles that Buescher had actually won, prompting NASCAR to release a photo of the finish with the timing loop edited on top of it, to confirm Larson as the winner.

In the span of not even two seasons, NASCAR fans have been treated to the closest two-wide finish in the sport's history, the closest three-wide finish in the sport's history, and the closest four-wide finish in the sport's history. More often than not, you'd be lucky to even get one photo finish in that same amount of time!

Why are these great finishes starting to happen more often?

Since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022, four of the 17 closest finishes in Cup Series history have occurred. While most of that list is occupied by the Generation 4 car, the Next Gen car has only been in action for four years. If you do the math, that's one historically close finish per season, far more than any other generation of car.

These cars are the most aerodynamically "draggy" the sport has ever had, which makes the draft effect, and the ability to generate runs, much greater. It’s also harder to break free from a car beside you, or a pack behind. With the stronger composite bodies, pushing the car in front has less consequence, allowing for more aggressive moves, and a bigger pushing effect.

The Next Gen car also has much more mechanical and aerodynamic grip than any other generation's car, which makes it relatively easy to drive on these drafting tracks. With the cars also being spec, and virtually equal, three and four-wide racing at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta is constant, which often leads to these great finishes.

There are also more drafting track race on the schedule than there have ever been. Typically, there were four of these during a season, but since Atlanta's reconfiguration in 2022, there are now six. The vast majority of NASCAR's closest finishes have occurred on this style of track.

And then you have the much-debated playoff format, and the "win and in" system. Winning races matters more than ever, with a playoff berth and/or advancement on the line each week. Drivers who don't normally run up front will do anything they can to get that all-important win, if they get the chance. As seen last weekend, the squabbling pair of Custer and Haley opened the door for Blaney and created that four-wide finish.

This is everything NASCAR wants. They want "close racing", even if it comes at the cost of better wheel-to-wheel combat. They want these "Game 7 moments", even if they come at the cost of a more traditional and popular format. They want these historic, viral, moments so they can make it to the "SportsCenter Top 10" and get more casual eyes on the sport, even if it's just for a few minutes.

A lot of people will be okay with that, and a lot of people won't, and that's normal. However, these fantastic finishes are likely here to stay, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody against that.