Wild Watkins Glen finish cements NASCAR's most chaotic season ever

Stop if you've heard this one before, but the NASCAR Cup Series' Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International on Sunday required extra laps to complete.

It's the 12th time in 28 races that this has happened in 2024, including six of the last seven events. The former is an all-time record — and there's still eight races to go.

It's no exaggeration to say that this has quite possibly been the Cup Series' most chaotic season ever, at least in terms of finishes. From the three-wide thriller in Atlanta and the historic photo-finish at Kansas, to the quintuple-overtime demolition derby in Nashville and the harrowing accidents of the summer Daytona race, it seems just about every week has had some memorable late twists.

Watkins Glen was no different. Chris Buescher had been cruising away from the field before Harrison Burton blew a tire and littered debris on the track with about 10 laps to go. That set up a restart that resulted in a scary accident between William Byron and Brad Keselowski. Then, another issue on the following re-rack saw multiple cars spin, prompting overtime.

Thankfully, only one overtime attempt was necessary and it saw Buescher win in thrilling fashion. Shane van Gisbergen passed him on the restart and led at the white flag, but Buescher got him back on the final lap to earn his first victory of the season. Buescher did not qualify for the Cup Series playoffs and in fact not a single top-five finisher was a playoff driver in a race that had big championship implications.

For Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell, it started on the very first lap when they were damaged in a wreck that ended Blaney's race. Hamlin also had another incident later on, ultimately finishing 23rd while dropping below the cutline for next week's elimination race in Bristol. Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. — the latter of whom was involved in the late carnage and was very displeased afterwards — also find themselves in a hole.

Any one of those three being eliminated next week would have been seen as a surprise before the playoffs started, but that's just the way this season has gone. The only thing that's predictable is unpredictability and the record-breaking number of overtime finishes have been a major part of that.