The wait is over. The first official race of the year — the Daytona 500 — has come and gone. It was nothing like NASCAR fans expected considering the weather decided to play havoc and shortened the “biggest race of the year” by 48 laps. It was pretty much a sour end to a much anticipated race and week.
Speedweeks, as it is known in the NASCAR world, began Thursday, Feb. 5, with the random drawing for starting positions for the Budweiser Shootout. It was then followed by practice sessions for both the Shootout and Daytona 500 qualifying, which is unique in itself.
The Shootout was, of course, won by Kevin Harvick.
As for qualifying for the Daytona 500, it is done a tad bit different than qualifying for the other 35 races. Qualifying takes place on two separate days. The first day, which is usually the Sunday after the Shootout, all drivers make qualifying runs as if it was any other race and one driver gets the Coors Light pole award for being the fast qualifier (Martin Truex Jr.).
What makes it different is that the second fastest qualifier (Mark Martin) is the only other driver and position set. Two drivers are guaranteed spots because of speed, if they don’t race their way into the race. The most recent past champion who doesn’t race in on speed is also guaranteed a spot (Terry Labonte). The remaining cars have one more chance to set their start for the 500.
That chance was the following Thursday with the Gatorade Duels — a set of two 60-laps races. With the Duels the remaining 41 spots are determined for the 500. The winners of each duel — Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch — start on the second row. Two drivers per duel have to race their way into the 500 (Tony Stewart, Scott Riggs, A.J. Allmendinger and Jeremy Mayfield) because they are not set in owner points. The remaining three or four spots are determined after the duels are complete and are based on their qualifying run the Sunday before.
Speedweeks continued with the truck race, which is now called the Camping World Series, and that Nationwide race before it came to an abrupt end with what all the NASCAR fans thought they had been waiting three tedious, dreadful, long months for — Sprint Cup racing featuring our favorite drivers.
The first 40 odd laps were good, clean racing. As the crews (and the fans) checked the radar religiously and the drivers were informed the rain was “very close” they all started racing like it was the last few laps.
If a race is red flagged for rain, or any weather occurrence, and more than half of the laps have been completed, regardless of the track’s capabilities, NASCAR can call a race official.
Amazingly the first couple of cautions were not the cause from the sudden speed. That happened on lap 124 when Brian Vickers decided to come down in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to block him. Both were racing to be the first car a lap down. Earnhardt Jr. went down into the grass and cut back up clipping Vickers’ No. 83 Toyota to cause the inevitable “big one,” taking out several lead lap cars and possible winners.
It caused a bit of a controversy, Earnhardt Jr. denies any intention. However, many fans, both for and against him, believe he did.
Twenty laps after restarting and two cautions later, the rain appeared. NASCAR red flagged the race and Matt Kenseth, who passed Elliott Sadler for the lead a lap before the initial caution, brought the cars down pit road.
The wait lasted 16 minutes, but it wasn’t the rain that had stopped, it was NASCAR declaring the race official and Matt Kenseth the leader at lap 152. It was Kenseth’s first win in more than a year and his first Daytona 500 win. It was also the first his team owner, Jack Roush, visited Victory Lane as a the Daytona 500 winning car owner.
Granted most fans were not bummed about Kenseth’s win, especially after seeing the tears filling his eyes as he was making his post-race interview. They were, however, disappointed at how the first and biggest race of the year ended. This didn’t set the tone very well for how this season may play out. Rain, or weather conditions, may play havoc with this season as it did with last season. We’ll all have to see and wait.
Don’t miss:
From Fontana
- Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 6:30 p.m. on SPEED
- San Bernardino County 200 (Camping World race), Saturday at 3 p.m. on SPEED
- Stater Bros. 300 (Nationwide race), Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
- Auto Club 500 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 5 p.m. on FOX
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The first official race of the year getting shortened 48 laps because of rain really scares me for how many rain delays we are in for this year. I know NASCAR can’t control the weather. Knowing the rain was coming, though, it seems like NASCAR might have been able to start a little earlier Sunday.