[Megatron96]

I think I might know why someone tied a Hangman's Loop/Lanyard Loop here.

I just noticed that in the picture, the loop is hanging right about at head height; s someone measured how long they wanted this rope/loop to be. If you just tied a bowline or a simple slip knot, you'd basically be left with a 4 foot-long tag end. If the loop is about 10-12 inches from the base of the wraps to the end of the loop, that'd be about 3-4 feet of tag end hanging there off the loop. For someone that works with ropes/lines, that's messy. Of course, you could just cut off the excess, but again, for someone that works with rope or line that's just lazy.

If I were this guy (or girl) and I was a fisherman or hunter or somehow spent a lot of time tying knots and working with rope, I'd think about how to tie the loop I wanted without either leaving a long tag end or having to cut a long piece off a perfectly good rope. Both of which are highly undesirable if you work a lot with rope or cordage.

And a Hangman's Loop is just about perfect for the pull loop we're all looking at in the picture. To make the knot, you'd put the door up and then form the loop (known as a bight) you wanted (it's exact size, length, height off the ground, wouldn't have to be adjusted while tying), pinch that together, probably pull the door down about halfway to make it easier to work, and then basically see if you had enough tag end to make 3.5 equal size bights or loops. If you did, and you were familiar with knots, you'd know right then that you could tie a Hangman's knot/Lanyard Loop, which is an adjustable friction slipknot, weighted near the loop so it wouldn't blow off a nail in a strong breeze, would be easily untied just by pulling it through, and finally you wouldn't have either a long tag end or have to cut the line.

Not saying that's what actually happened, as we'll probably never really know, but I've tied dozens of these knots, and one of the biggest reasons is their simplicity and neatness. It's not out of the spectrum of reality to think that, among NASCAR workers there'd be a few fishermen/hunters/whatever that knew their knots. And a Hangman's Loop/Lanyard Loop would be an elegant and easy solution.