Are timed races common in IRL?

May be...

That was.......interesting. There was only a few laps left, why not just let them run it. Not that the outcome would've been different, but still? Seeking enlightenment.

The IRL isn't the only series that does time limits to races the Atlantic Series and F1 also set a limit to the time length of the race.

It's common for road and street races. ChampCar started that a couple of years ago because the TV coverage only allowed 2 hours.

There is a couple of reasons why they do this:

1. on street courses, some cities need the street back before a certain time.

2. Some if the race goes over the allotted time and there is still 20 laps to go, some stations will cut the race off and air something different. Rain races take so much time it could take a few hours to complete.

3. TV stations only want to air 2 hours of the race.

Either way, when I watch a race, I like to see the victory celebrations and interviews.