Tyler Reddick, the driver of the #9 BurgerFi Chevrolet, crosses the finish line in front of Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Florida Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

As Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler came off the turn four on the final lap of the PowerShares QQQ 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, reporters watching from the press box knew it was going to be close.

At the finish line, after side-to-side contact between the two Chevrolets, Reddick was less than three inches ahead, and the scoring monitor showed no time difference between the first- and second-place cars.

When NASCAR announced in the a winning margin of .000 seconds, closest in the sanctioning body’s history, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “That’s like a tie. Am I right? Either way, fine with me.”

Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports, of course, owns both cars.

But the race didn’t end in a tie. NASCAR timing and scoring doesn’t measure beyond thousandths of a second and couldn’t express the photo finish in numbers smaller than 0.000.

“Can I protest?” Sadler quipped.