Daytona Blockheads Throwbacks And That Black Car Reborn

The 2018 Daytona 500 will go down as a seminal event in NASCAR history as a spectacular race ended in the kind of bizarre fashion that racing often gets and which sparks a lot of reaction.

One theme permeating the week was throwback - Petty 43 vs Ranier 28 in the ARCA race; Elliott 9 vs RCR 3 in the Clash and throughout the Cup portion.   The ultimate throwback then erupted at the finish.

This was one of those races where the official lead changes - 24 - don't quite do justice to the repassing and nose-to-nose combat that permeated over half the race and especially the final ten laps.   NASCAR made numerous changes for this race - a gear change to allow the cars to suck up better in the draft and also lower ride heights.  The way they raced this change seemed to be geared more toward Talladega because it was substantially harder to pass there last season; the effectiveness of the package at Daytona augurs well for the Winston 500 weekend. 

This was a race of contrasts as was Speedweeks in general.   The first 100 laps of the 500 were frantic dicing for the lead, then after the Chase Elliott crash everyone just pounded out laps single file until the William Byron crash set off some of the best racing Daytona has ever seen.

The absurdity of NASCAR's field freeze rule showed again when they let the leaders race to the line after Aric Almirola's crash after not doing so five times in the Powershares 300 while ARCA likewise messed it up in their Lucas Oil 200.

The cynics before qualifying predicted the RCR 3 and Petty 43 of Bubba Wallace would get the front row, and all week promotion for the race noted the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's 500 win; the upshot is the 3 vs 43 dichotomy didn't happen in qualifying, it happened in the race.  

The other upshot is Austin Dillon's history at Daytona was defined by plowing for the grandstands in 2015's Firecracker Fiasco - another irony is it was Hamlin getting spun out (by Harvick) that exploded that disaster.

In this Speedweeks blocking became a massive problem and it caused several crashes, including the last-lap melee that eliminated Aric Almirola.

The irony is Almirola crashed in all three races he ran in - and still showcased he is far superior to his predecessor Danica Patrick, who ended her NASCAR career the way she personified it - by plowing into a wreck after running in the back all day.

Bubba Wallace's comment ripping the sanctimonious Denny Hamlin caused a stir after the race and is the kind of controversy the sport has long thrived on.   It also served notice that Wallace and Richard Petty's #43 are ready to attack.

He also got hugged in the media center by his mom - which appeared to surprise him and he had to pull himself together - aloud.

Chase Elliott's reputation as a driver who can fight for the lead but not finish  the job continues to grow.


This race finished with some other eye-popping trivia -

Overlooked all week was the Rick Ware Chevrolet of Justin Marks, finishing 12th.   Marks, a native of  Rocklin, CA, won at Mid-Ohio in Chip Ganassi's Busch-Xfinity car in 2016; he also won at Palm Beach in a 2010 ARCA race.

This was the first plate win for Chevrolet since the 2015 Firecracker Fiasco and RCR's first plate win since the 2011 Diehard 500.

After Fords seemed to dominate all day Chevrolets took four of the top ten, including the overlooked Brad Daugherty Chevys of Chris Buescher (fifth) and AJ Allmendinger (10th). 

Richard Petty had a striking day - his present team finished second and two of his former drivers (Allmendinger and Almirola) finished in the top eleven.   It also served a larger storyline of the sport's mixture of old school and new - The Black 3 and Petty's 43 showcased young drivers as youngsters and veterans went at it for the lead all weekend.  

This was RCR's first Daytona win since Kevin Harvick's 2007 win.

Ryan Blaney finished seventh after leading 118 laps - and because of stage points (he earned 18 of those plus one playoff point) he is now the point leader ahead of all six cars who finished ahead of him.   Stage racing was meant to incentivize going for the lead - it's clearly working. 

Despite Keselowski's crash, Penske Racing still had a solid Speedweeks as Joey Logano came back from trouble and finished fourth with Blaney seventh. 

Joe Gibbs Racing salvaged third from Hamlin after his other three Toyotas crashed.   Hendrick Motorsports had it even worse as all four of Slick Rick's Chevrolets wrecked; the upshot is polesitter Alex Bowman acquitted himself superbly after he stunk up the joint in the 150 and got himself some trash talk from Harvick about it.


And the end result is the most exciting Speedweeks since..........irony of ironies, last year.   It goes to show that in racing, when the thrill seems to be gone, it comes back.