The 60th edition of the Great American Race was run Sunday under sunny skies in Daytona Beach, Florida. From the start, shortly after 3:00 p.m., it was nearly four hours of chaos. At the end, there were only a few competitive cars left to race.
Over the years the racing at Daytona International Speedway has proved that when it comes to the finish, it doesn't matter how strong a car may be; things become a crapshoot. But with that being said, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace's Daytona Speedweeks went like a dream as he was fortunate enough to have one of the strongest cars in Daytona Beach.
Forty drivers, 40 spots. Still, despite the lack of interest and resources for additional teams to attempt to enter the iconic competition, we have some high-quality contenders to watch out for. Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin are locked into the front row, as long as their cars last. The rest of the top 20 qualifiers went into Thursday trying to protect their positions from all challengers in the two 20 car heats.
It looks like the new ride height rule has crew chiefs and engineers scratching their heads about how to make the car handle at Daytona. Thankfully they have a couple of days to run simulations and get a plan together and hopefully bring us an action-packed Daytona 500.
A new season has dawned, the engines roared back to life, and the Clash delivered a...well...a modicum of excitement. If you are a Brad Keselowski fan, it was one hell of a race. If you like Jamie McMurray, it kind of sucked. If you were looking for diving and dashing for the opening, Chase Elliott gave us one or two moments. If you wanted to sit on the edge of your seat, share the chair. This was not one for the ages, I am afraid.
NASCAR can really tick me off, and the use of “tick” was not my first choice. Yet, every year I seem to get that itch, one that I had already scratched raw the year before, and every year I return. Why? Well, there seems to be a few things about NASCAR that I really, really like as well.
The cream rose to the top, as the top four accumulated half of the wins between them this season. Four drivers, 18 wins, and now four shared championships.
Given the current landscape of sports in the United States, there are two questions that remain unanswered. One, will there be an NFL team that finally signs Colin Kaepernick? And two, will there be a NASCAR team that finally gives Bubba Wallace a chance to be a regular in the Monster Series?
Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Pocono Raceway Sunday in the historic No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. There were a few bumps along the way but he characterized it as “a wonderful day for me, a wonderful day for the sport.”
Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang, looks at his second full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series season as one of growth and maturity after a successful rookie campaign in 2015.
