An auto racing contest is not comparable to war.
You can win a race by being merely 1 second faster getting to the finish line than the 2nd best car.
In war, if you're evenly matched or close to evenly matched, you'll probably just destroy each other. Assuming roughly equal resources and roughly equal efficiency in allocating resources, battle plans etc. Winning a war but your country being in ruins anyway is not exactly a good outcome.
You can win a race by being merely 1 second faster getting to the finish line than the 2nd best car.
In war, if you're evenly matched or close to evenly matched, you'll probably just destroy each other. Assuming roughly equal resources and roughly equal efficiency in allocating resources, battle plans etc. Winning a war but your country being in ruins anyway is not exactly a good outcome.