Sitting here watching the race. As compared to other events an awful lot of cars get lapped very early. At the halfway mark there’s only 15 cars left on the lead lap. The only difference between this and other races on similar length tracks is the race length (600 miles), but I don’t know why this would make any difference.
Anyone?
It’s a mechanically demanding race for the cars.
Drivers save their cars until the later laps because engine failure is common, and it’s fairly easy to get your lap back in an average race thanks to the free pass and the typical large number of cautions. Look at Kasey Kahne, he got his lap back and was back running in the top 10 after he was blocked out of his pits under green.
That last hundred miles is uncharted territory. It’s the only race of this length, so after the normal race distance it’s a crapshoot.