Todd Gilliland was declared the winner of Sunday night’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Smyrna Speedway after the race was extended an extra lap accidentally.
The flagman in the flagstand issued the white flag after the leaders had crossed the start/finish line for the 150th lap of the 150-lap race. The white flag was still waving when the leaders came back to what was supposed to be the checkered flag and went on for a 151st lap that wasn’t necessary.
Then some fun started. Though he was declared the winner because he was leading at the completion of the 150th lap, Gilliland was not leading at the end of the 151st lap. From PopularSpeed:
During the course of this extra lap, third-place driver Ronnie Bassett Jr. took Gilliland and Spencer Davis three-wide. The resulting contact sent Davis crashing into the Turn 4 wall and Bassett crossed the line as the announced initial winner. But realizing they made a critical mistake, NASCAR reverted to the previous lap, which was the intended final lap and Gilliland was declared the winner.
Here’s NASCAR’s statement from the evening.
As tonight’s K&N Pro Series East race neared the conclusion of the advertised distance, there was a delay in the appropriate flags being displayed to the field. As a result, the race continued for an additional lap beyond the scheduled 150 laps, during which a wreck occurred involving cars at the front of the field. Per the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rule Book Section 10-2.11.B, the official results of the race reverted to the running order at the completion of lap 150, the advertised distance. NASCAR will review the circumstances surrounding the finish and take steps to avoid a recurrence.
The sanctioning body apparently also prevented Gilliland from answering questions about the final lap that didn’t count.
We try to ask Gilliland about what happened on the last lap and a NASCAR rep says, ‘We’re here to talk about his win, not the last lap.’
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverSBN) February 15, 2016
The K&N Pro Series is a regional development series for NASCAR that has East and West divisions. Though it’s worth pointing out that NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series has had mistakes by people in the flagstand affect the outcome of races recently too. In March 2014, the button to make the caution lights come on was accidentally hit by someone in the flagstand at Bristol. It happened with two laps to go and rain prevented the race from restarting.
A month later in Formula 1, the flagman waved the checkered flag a lap early in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The first race of the East season was Sunday night. New Smyrna is approximately 15 minutes south of Daytona International Speedway.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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