To finish First, First you have to Finish!
One of your most important goals during a race should be to avoid crashes. Not only can a crash put you completely out of the race right then and there, but even if you don't break down, chances are your car won't work as well after a crash as it did before. Even if you lose a few tenths of a second slowing down, going wide, or whatever it takes to avoid an "incident", that's nothing compared to what you'll probably lose if you do hit something.