I just wish somebody would have paid somebody for a late caution yesterday. A goofy restart was the only way the 24 was going to beat the 78!
I don't think NASCAR consciously tries to dictate the outcome of the race, I just think their threshold for what will bring out a caution gets more liberal as the laps wind down. Sort of the opposite of how refs in stick and ball sports often seem to swallow their whistle late in games. I have always marveled at how NASCAR would waste 10 laps under caution cleaning the track after a minor wreck at the halfway point, and then clean up a similar wreck in three laps at the end of the race.