At the end of Saturday's Ag-Pro 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega, fans were treated to the type of finish that has become all too familiar in superspeedway races.
Drivers jostled for position lap after lap in the closing stages, setting up for what looked like it would be a thriller of a finish. Then, after taking the white flag, the race leaders made contact. Crash. Caution. Race over. Austin Hill won by doing nothing aside from being in the right place at the right time, and Connor Zilisch was lucky to escape serious injury after slamming the inside wall head-on.
In Sunday's Cup Series Jack Link's 500, this did not happen – for worse, but also for better.
Sunday's snoozer of a finish had one silver lining
All of the criticisms of the Cup Series' Next Gen car at superspeedways – and plenty of other tracks – are valid. Unless they are saving fuel, drivers are often stuck in double-file gridlock with little room for maneuverability by themselves. If one dares to make a move, they will be freight-trained by the rest of the field.
It's not the most exciting type of racing in the world, and fans deserve better. But with that all being said, let's give a round of applause to the Cup Series field for managing to make it a full superspeedway race without tearing up upwards of half the cars.
On Sunday, there were only two wrecks, one due to contact between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski while trying to enter pit road, and the other a senseless push from Denny Hamlin into teammate Christopher Bell. But both came in the first stage and combined to wipe out only four drivers.
The final stage went green from start to finish, with Austin Cindric beating Ryan Preece to the line by .022 seconds (though Preece was later disqualified).
It was disappointing that no one behind them seemed interested in making a move for the win, but after the way the past several superspeedway races have ended in the Cup Series, an uneventful final lap was almost refreshing.
Both the season-opening Daytona 500 and the following weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season saw finishes marred by last-lap wrecks, with results that may as well have been determined with a random number generator.
Last fall at Talladega, the final two circuits were clean and green, but only after an accident in the closing stages that collected no fewer than 28 cars. In the previous race there, Michael McDowell threw a reckless block from the lead to spark the "Big One" coming to the line while Tyler Reddick scooted through to steal the win.
Some fans may find that entertaining, but from a purity standpoint, it's embarrassing when it feels like a foregone conclusion every time NASCAR heads to one of its superspeedway tracks. This weekend's Cup Series race wasn't perfect by any means, but let's at least cherish the fact that it didn't end in another circus.