Calls Grow For NASCAR To Limit Number Of Overtime Attempts After A Record FIVE Overtimes During Nashville Race

Yesterday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway felt like the race that would never end. The first 296 laps of the Ally 400 were fairly uneventful (other than a brief rain delay). And in the closing laps, Denny Hamlin passed Ross Chastain and looked to be on his way to victory. But with two four laps to go, Austin Cindric spun and brought out the caution - but little did everybody know that was only the beginning of one of the most insane endings to a NASCAR race in recent memory. With drivers stretching it on fuel, sending the race to overtime was going to put some cars at risk of running out of gas, forcing teams to decide whether to gamble and risk it or play it safe and come in for fuel. As the race went back to green for the first overtime though, Kyle Larson got into Chastain in turn one and set off the biggest crash of the day to that point, extending the race even further and making the guys who were running low on fuel sweat even more than they already were on a 90-degree day in Nashville. Hamlin kept the lead and decided to stay out despite running low on fuel, and on the restart for the second overtime seemed to be pulling away from Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch behind him. But on the backstretch, another big pileup in the middle of the field brought out the caution once again and set up yet another overtime. The field reset and came back around once again to take the green flag - but as they were trying to get up to speed, Kyle Larson ran out of fuel at the front of the field and couldn't get out of the way, wrecking Kyle Busch and bringing out the caution almost immediately into the third overtime. https://twitter.com/_AaronRyan/status/1807592108590608583 Round 4? Well by this point Hamlin, who was leading the race, had no choice but to bring his car down pit road under the caution and get some fuel, giving the lead to Joey Logano (who had been slow all day, and was also expecting to run out of fuel), followed by Chase Briscoe, Corey LaJoie and Zane Smith. Not exactly the names you'd expect to see up front, but at this point nobody really knew what to expect. So once again, the field came around for the fourth attempt at overtime, and nearly made it to the white flag that would have ended the race before Josh Berry spun and brought out yet ANOTHER caution. Madness. Well as they always say, fifth time's a charm, and during the fifth overtime period Joey Logano and the rest of the field managed to make it back to the checkered flag, giving Logano a much-needed win during what's been a pretty dismal season so far, and setting a NASCAR record for the most overtime periods in a race. The race was originally supposed to be 300 laps, but when all was said and done in Music City the Ally 400 ended up being 330 laps, and raised the obvious question: Should there be a limit on the number of overtime periods? When NASCAR first instituted their overtime "green-white-checkered" rule, the purpose was to attempt to give fans the opportunity to see the race end under a green flag as opposed to under caution. First adopted in 2004, the overtime rule initially only allowed for one attempt at a green flag finish, and if the caution came out during the final two laps, the race would end under caution. But NASCAR eventually changed the rule to allow for up to three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish, giving more of an opportunity to see a complete race. Then in 2017, NASCAR changed the rule yet again to allow for unlimited attempts at overtime, meaning that until the leader takes the white flag, they'll try as many times as they need to and add as many laps to the race as it takes. Obviously this isn't usually an issue, but a race like yesterday has many fans and members of the sport calling for changes yet again to limit the number of overtimes. Critics of the current rule say that it's unfair to drivers and teams who have no way to plan their fuel and tire strategy around the possibility of so many extra laps - and also, at some point, is it just embarrassing that they can't even finish one lap without wrecking? But of course the purpose of the rule is to allow fans the opportunity to see a green flag finish, which is why they came to the race in the first place. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson were both asked about the possibility of limiting overtime attempts, and both said they were fine keeping it the way it is: https://twitter.com/bobpockrass/status/1807779944371470675 There's no doubt though, that the conversation surrounding the Nashville race will be whether NASCAR should go back to limiting overtimes like they have previously. What do you think?