how is the domain server choice for domain chosen when there are many resolving domain servers

Not really a problem, but more of an inquisitive DNS question:
on a work network, we have a cloud share thisdomain.com ( fake name in the post, but just used as an example)

if I open a cmd prompt, and type in
tracert thisdomain.com
then it resolves to a server that may, or may not be geographically close( when pinged)

If I use nslookup
then type in thisdomain.com
I get a list of all the IP responding for thisdomain.com

I have two questions:
1) is the list given by nslookup in order of preference of which resolved domain name will be used first.
2) when I use tracert thisdomain.com, why is the IP getting resolved for the thisdomain.com  geographically far away instead of choosing a geographically closer server? Meaning I type in tracert thisdomain.com ...and tracert command picks a server far away when there are other servers that are closer that could resolve to the thisdomain.com domain.

Sorry for asking a confusing question, but I just don't understand why, when I use tracert thisdomain.com that is has to pick a server far away with a lot higher ping time...when there is a local server that could resolve thisdomain.com a lot faster.