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NASCAR Notebook from Daytona: A Race Worth Waiting For
With a 2:11 p.m. green flag scheduled to start the race, it was a long, rain-delay wait until the 9:36 p.m. checkered flag, but it was worth it. Not that we saw remarkable racing—this is the Daytona 500, remember?—but it was entertaining to see the 41 drivers exploring what worked and what didn’t as they tried to figure out how to be in the right place, at the right time, at the end.
There were multiple “big ones,” including on the last lap, where the leaders managed to take each other out, leaving 2024 winner William Byron, who started that last lap in ninth, to dodge the mayhem and win in the number 24 Axalta Chevrolet for car owner Rick Hendrick. “I honestly can’t believe I’m here,” Byron said afterward. (Neither could anybody else.)
One of the favorites was 2024 NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano, who came back from three mechanical problems to challenge until an awkward, too-late block thrown by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. with 15 laps to go took out Logano and several other contenders. Besides Logano, the two other favorites appeared to be Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, looking for his fourth Daytona 500 win, and Penske’s Austin Cindric, racing for his second. But they were eliminated in the last-lap crash, which could only be considered one of them racin’ deals.
Tyler Reddick steered through the carnage for second, and third was Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion whose Legacy Motor Club team, which he owns most of, was a true dark horse. Johnson, driving part-time, had to qualify to make the race, but Legacy ended up with two cars in the top five, the other one being fifth-place John Hunter Nemechek. Finishing fourth was pole-sitter Chase Briscoe, making his first start for Coach Gibbs’ team.
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The race had 56 lead changes between 15 different drivers. There were nine caution flags for a total of 45 yellow-flag laps, nearly a fourth of the race. Daytona remains a fascinating event, but with the engines choked down to 510 horsepower from their usual 670, it tells us nothing about what to expect for the rest of the 36-race season. The first reliable indicator comes next Sunday at 3 p.m., with the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Like the Daytona 500, it airs on Fox.
SPEAKING OF FOX: Lead announcer Mike Joy, who has been calling races since 1970, is as good as it gets—a virtual encyclopedia of motorsports lore. So is former crew chief Larry McReynolds, who has worked in NASCAR since 1975 and is as accomplished as anybody in explaining the technology. Retired drivers Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer are coming along as color commentators, especially Bowyer, who has toned down the good ol’ boy delivery.
Production-wise, nobody can touch Fox, as evidenced by the coverage of RFK driver Ryan Preece’s spectacular crash, which was only slightly less stunning than his 2023 crash at the Daytona summer race. That Preece was uninjured in both is remarkable. And telling was Preece’s somber comment after last night’s flip: “When the car took off like that and it got real quiet, all I thought about was my daughter. I’m lucky to walk away but we’re getting really close to somebody not being able to.”
The Fox broadcast team did the best they could vamping during the rain delay, but by the time it seemed that every driver in the field had been interviewed twice, the network started re-running the 2024 race. Fox didn’t seem to have many videotaped features that are usually in reserve for rain delays. Surprising.
Fox and Fox Sports 1 will air the NASCAR Cup races until Amazon Prime takes over on May 25th, then TNT on June 28th, and USA on August 3rd. NBC returns for the August 23rd race at Daytona, then deeds coverage back to USA for most of the balance of the season. NBC is back October 19th for the final three races; only four NASCAR races will air on NBC, which kind of makes you wonder: Why bother?
It will be interesting to see the reaction of NASCAR fans when the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway rolls around on May 25th, which is the big Memorial Day weekend race, and they realize they’ll have to buy Amazon Prime to see it, as well as the next four races. Kyle Larson is primed to do the double, meaning running the Indianapolis 500, then jetting to Charlotte for the 600.
HELIO’S LONG WEEK: Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, making his first, and possibly last, Daytona 500 start, must feel like a pinball, judging from how many times he was hit in Sunday’s 500, Saturday’s ARCA race, and Thursday’s 150-mile Duel qualifying race. Castroneves, competing for Trackhouse Racing’s Project91, which periodically makes a car available for a star driver from outside of NASCAR, hoped to either qualify for the race in time trials, or race his way in with a good finish in his Duel, but ended up having to take advantage of the just-passed NASCAR provisional rule that saves a spot for a driver with an “international” reputation. The normal 40-car field was increased to 41 to make room for him.
Castroneves crashed out of his Duel, then was involved in multiple crashes in his ARCA race, though he managed a fifth-place finish. Then he was speared in the Daytona 500 by Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain, who had been spun by another car. Castroneves’ number 91 Wendy’s Chevrolet had a broken axle, and left the track on a wrecker after 70 laps of the 200-lap race. The Brazilian driver finished 39th. “It’s incredible when you have more laps in it and how you understand the air flow and what the guys are doing, like saving fuel. There were some sketchy moments, but what a shame. I was starting to get a little more comfortable with the whole process, but it is what it is.” It’ll make for some entertaining stories, as if he needs any more, when he is the honoree at Hagerty’s Amelia Concours d’Elegance on March 6-9.
We should mention that Garrett Mitchell finished 30th in his first ARCA race. Mitchell is much better known by his YouTube character, Cleetus McFarland, who has 4.1 million followers. After he crashed out, McFarland ended up in the TV broadcast booth, wearing shorts and his trademark sleeveless tee-shirt. “I was having the best day of my life, rippin’ around Daytona like a bald eagle,” he said, until a car spun in front of him, “and I zigged when I should have zagged.”
PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE: President Donald Trump and his Cadillac limousine, nicknamed “The Beast,” made their second appearance at the Daytona 500, arriving well before the start. The Beast and his motorcade led the field around for a couple of laps before pulling off, and the crowd seemed more than appreciative.
President Trump voiced his support for the race: “I’m a big fan. I’m a really big fan of you people. How you do this, I don’t know. But I just want you to be safe. You are talented people and a great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun, and I’ll see you later.”
He was expected to stick around until the end of Stage 1 of the competition but was (wisely) back on Air Force One long before that, likely seeing that the first of the two rain delays, which lasted three hours and 10 minutes, was going to be a long one.
FRANKIE MUNIZ HAS A SOLID FINISH: In his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck race with full Ford factory backing, the Malcolm in the Middle star stayed out of trouble in Friday night’s Fresh from Florida 250. He finished 10th in his number 33 Electric State Ford. He, and the rest of the field, moved up one spot after the apparent winner, Parker Kligerman’s Chevrolet, was found in post-race inspection to be too low.
The race of the lucky winner not the best driver anymore.
They need to lose the independent rear ends. They break so easy. Get back to the 9”.
I won’t buy cable or streaming packages to watch these races. Every race in the Xfinity series will be on the CW which I get over the airwaves. If I want to see real racing I go to YouTube and watch videos from the 60’s and 70’s.
And INDYCAR is also carried by FOX. NBC and their Peacock can just go away. No viewership anyway.
Nascar is getting even worse tan the NFL for all the streaming crap. Many fans will just be turned away for good! Its getting to be a joke anymore, why can’t the CEO’s understand that??
Could be worse like MLB blackout rules. Where I live if any baseball team plays in Texas I can’t see it, even if I pay for a package from MLB. It sucks.
Glad I didn’t watch. Wreckin’ ain’t racin’.
Between all the commercials and switching to different networks becomes a pain . count me OUT this year.
there are better things to do for fours.
1. I already pay for cable to see races. Paying to stream them is dang near highway robbery. Just because a streaming service is willing to pay more, is it really a service to us fans?
2. Did DOGE approve of the costs of the President’s visit for a three hour tour?
3. Sucks for Parker’s disqualification. How low is too low anyway?
Daytona 500 (and NASCAR in general) have become the automotive equivalent of Championship Wrestling. Too bad, it was once a serious form of racing.