Ever since the electronic scoring mechanism was put into place in NASCAR in 1993, seldom have races ended with unbreakable time ties. However, the promotion still has rules in place for when and if drivers decide to cross the finish line at the exact same time. The topic that is titled “17.5.1.2.2 Race Finish” in the rule book, talks of three steps to breaking a tie.
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First, the victory is awarded to the car that led the highest number of laps before the last lap of the race. If that doesn’t solve things, NASCAR will review the highest number of laps the tied contenders completed in 2nd place, 3rd place, and so on until the tie is broken.
If a decision is still not reached at this stage, the car that scored the highest position on any lap will be declared the winner. In the case of the highest position scored being the same, the car that scored the highest position at the earliest time in the race will be the winner. With NASCAR’s advanced technologies in place, it is nearly impossible for positions in a race to end in a tie.
The closest finish for first place was when Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds at Darlington back in 2003.
The closest first-place finishes in NASCAR Cup Series history
Atlanta saw one of the most incredible racing finishes in 2001. A young Kevin Harvick was trying to prove himself as a worthy successor to Dale Earnhardt’s car, but Jeff Gordon did not make it easy for him. A tough battle later, Harvick emerged the winner by edging out Gordon in the last lap by 0.006 seconds.
NASCAR often finds itself in situations where it introduces a rule to prevent something from happening and it occurs immediately after. A similar case was in 1993 when it introduced the electronic scoring system. Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan raced at Talladega and churned out one of the closes finishes in history that year by marking a difference of 0.005 seconds.
The 2011 season holds the incredible distinction of nearly witnessing two different ties. First, Tony Stewart and Card Edwards tied each other in season points after the finale and the former was awarded the championship title based on wins. Second, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer all but tied each other with a narrow time difference of 0.002 seconds in the Talladega race that year. Though it wasn’t Johnson’s biggest win, it was one of his most enthralling.
