The conversation comes after Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney won the first race at the Ipswich Super440 behind the Safety Car.
David Reynolds speared off at the final turn and buried his Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro in the bunker, resulting in a lengthy clean-up.
The Bathurst 1000 winner’s car was recovered with two laps to go. However, officials elected not to bring the Safety Car back into the pits for a one-lap dash.
Feeney said it was “a bit anti-climactic” to finish under yellow.
“I think we nearly could have done it at the end,” Feeney said of a one-lap dash.
“It was super touch-and-go. Davey probably got pulled out as we came out of Turn 3, so I think they wanted lights out [on the Safety Car to signal a restart] at Turn 3.
“We were probably a couple of corners too late. I was all hyped up with a few laps to go and the heart rate came down a bit.”
On his Lucky Dogs podcast, Feeney’s teammate Will Brown echoed the Sprint Cup winner’s sentiment, noting that Saturday’s example was just too late for the Turn 3 procedure.
“The track was clear. Everything was off the track. They could have let us go at Turn 4 and allowed us to do one lap to make it interesting,” he said.
“Obviously, I wanted it to happen because I had four tyres and the guys in front of me didn’t. I’m sure everyone wanted it to happen.
“Everyone watching on the hill had come to watch, then you just go ‘Oh, nah, sorry, we’re going to finish under Safety Car’. That race was able to be [restarted] with a one-lap dash to the end.”
How does overtime work?
NASCAR uses overtime across its top three categories — the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Craftsman Truck Series.
If the caution is thrown and there isn’t enough time to go green without hitting the prescribed race distance, then an overtime finish will occur.
Overtime is also known as a “green-white-chequered” as that is the sequence of flags to see a race finish, setting up an additional two-lap dash.
If the caution is thrown before the leader takes the white flag that signals the start of the final lap, then another overtime finish will occur.
There is no limit on how many overtime restarts there can be.
In 2024, the Cup Series set the record at five attempts at an overtime finish at Nashville Superspeedway. That race was scheduled for 300 laps but wound up being a 331-lap contest.
If the caution comes out during the final lap following an overtime restart, the result is declared at the point the yellows are displayed.
Supercars’ overtime obstacles
There are hurdles that currently preclude Supercars from adopting an overtime-style system.
The television window is known to be the biggest obstacle, more so for free-to-air broadcaster Seven than subscription service provider Foxtel.
The Fox Sports broadcast window typically continues much longer than the Seven broadcast and a system where overtime may exist at some events and not others has obvious issues.
However, in the entertainment-first era that some sports have adopted, there’s good reason for Supercars to ensure finishing under green conditions.
NASCAR and more recently IndyCar have elected to red-flag races if an incident happens near the end to ensure some laps can be completed under racing conditions.
Even if Supercars went with that approach, the TV window could still be problematic.
NASCAR’s approach to overtime completely disregards the tight broadcast windows that Supercars has to deal with.
Then there are considerations around fuel. NASCAR takes the view that teams should account for having enough fuel in their cars for an overtime finish.
Admittedly, Safety Car finishes are rare. However, Supercars could have its champion decided at the Adelaide Grand Final with the field coming across the finish line at pedestrian speeds. A far from spectacular sight.
So what do you think? Should Supercars adopt overtime?
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