Daytona 500 Review

Another Daytona 500 is in the books and this one had a bit of everything. NASCAR’s Super Bowl was scheduled to start an hour early due to rain but due to some pre race festivities, the race got off to a later than desired start. A few rain delays later, we were able to see what we all tuned in Sunday for. 500 miles of high octane racing, and from start to finish you didn’t know what to expect. However what started as a day of highs ended in a day of frustration for many. Let’s look into it.

The race was moved up an hour due to rain, and was scheduled to start however due to a guest appearance by the President of the United States Donald Trump, the race start was delayed. After his pre race festivities ended Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric led the field to green. The urgency level immediately looked high with rain in the area, but it wasn’t for long as the 1st caution of the race fell on lap 11 due to rain. The cars were brought down pit road where they sat and waited out the hours of rain that was to come. That on top of the track being 2.5 miles long meant that this delay was going to be awhile. After about 3 hours drivers got back in their cars and the field ran 12 pace laps to keep heat in the track before stopping again for another 20 minutes due to more rain. After that 20 minute delay the forecast was clear and that meant a full night of racing ahead.

The field went back green but it wasn’t too long until a caution came out involving Denny Hamlin and Zane smith and Josh Berry. Joey Logano was able to win stage 1 but that was short lived. Throughout the last portion of stage 1 there was a noticeably large piece of trash on Logano’s grill that went into his intake. On the next restart Joey’s car didn’t go and that stacked up the outside line. This led to an accordion effect that caused a multi car crash behind the leaders. Several cars were involved including Ross Chastain, Helio Castroneves, Shane Van Gisbergen, Martin Truex Jr and more. This was a trackhouse killer as Ross and Helio retired from the race and Shane lost many laps due to damage over the duration of the race.

Stage two restarted with Blaney and Cindric side by side leading the field to green. The race was able to get into a grove but it was clear that Penske had some fast cars as r Cindric led most of the laps in stage 2, but in a last lap effort in stage 2 teammate Ryan Blaney was able to drag race Cindric to the line to steal the stage 2 win. To this point the race has been fairly calm but we all know how stage 3 Superspeedway racing is.

Stage 3 starts and fuel saving started getting more intense and with this we saw new players leading the pack. Bubba Wallace became the race leader and was able to lead a lot under green until a caution with 39 to go slowed the field down. This was important because everyone should’ve been good to regulation end on fuel. At least that’s what we thought until a report that the 8 car didn’t get the car full of fuel meant that Kyle Busch was going to have to save. Wallace and Cindric restarted the race and while Cindric was able to stay up from, Wallace got shuffled back. The intensity started picking up until 15 to go when off of turn 2 Ricky Stenhouse Jr went for a block on Joey Logano, while Joey was looking to feel a hole. The two made contact for a few seconds before the 22 ultimately spun the 47 and the big one occurred. This wreck changed the dynamic of the race as it knocked out some fast cars such as Logano, Blaney, Kyle Busch (who dnf’d over misinterpretation of the damage vehicle policy), and more. The race restarted with 9 to go and the wrecking was far from over. The pushes we’re getting a lot harder and the margin for error was as small as it had been all race long. Christopher Bell with the help of Cole Custer was able to contend for the lead, until 5 laps to go. Going down the backstretch Custer was pushing Bell so hard that Bell’s car got unstable and Custer turned Bell into the wall. Bell’s car then bounced off the wall into traffic and caught several cars but the guy who got the hit the worse was Ryan Preece. Preece’s car went airborne in a wheelie motion before flipping over on his roof and sliding into the turn 3 wall before flipping back on all 4 wheels. Several others such as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace were also involved. All drivers either walked away without injury or continued the race.

This led us into overtime and also the final restart of the night. Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric led the field to green. Cindric got out to a jump all the way until turn 2 on the last lap when Denny Hamlin pulled a move on him to get to his inside. Custer was on the outside and also gaining time and made it 3 wide before he tried what looked like an aggressive side draft but ultimately he made contact with Hamlin causing a last lap crash that took out or slowed down at least the whole top 5, allowing William Byron and Tyler Reddick to sneak by on the outside. The race stayed green as drivers crashed in turn 3 but without help Tyler Reddick was unable to pass William Byron for the lead and Byron was able to win the Daytona 500 while also going back to back in The Great American race.

What started off as a race for about 80% of the race turned into a demolition derby in the last 20 or so laps and left a lot of fans and drivers in disbelief and distress. Ryan Preece said something has to change and I don’t blame him for saying that as this is the 2nd time he’s gone upside down on the backstretch at Daytona in the gen 7 era. Denny Hamlin said it’s luck based and when only 4 drivers in the field go the week without being involved in a wreck can you blame him? He also voiced displeasure over a X post where Cole Custer was quoted saying he can’t hold back with 5 laps to go, and Denny said “yes he can” in reference to Custer pushing Bell into the wall. Overall the main talking point is that the Daytona 500 isn’t the spectacle it once was, and it seemed like the magic was back until it wasn’t. NASCAR doesn’t seem likely to change the package anytime soon so as of this moment this is where we are. A good race that turns into a junkyard at the end and a catch 22 to get into victory lane.