Daytona 500 Results | Standings | Photos
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – “The Great American Race” turned into “Last Man Standing” and Austin Dillon was that man.
A frantic, thrilling, exciting, maddening and intriguing afternoon ended in a wild finish with Dillon taking the Richard Childress Racing Iconic No. 3 back to Daytona’s Victory Lane 20 years after Dale Earnhardt scored his first and only 500 win.
This year’s Speedweeks had a common thread – the unknown. It started last week in qualifying and the Advance Auto Parts Clash, carried through the Can-Am Duel races, permeated both the Truck Series and Xfinity Series races and finally came to a crescendo in the Daytona 500. Drivers wrestled their cars throughout the 500-plus miles and aggressive blocking by some proved to be their downfall along with some innocent bystanders.
It came down to the nuts and bolts of finishing the race and just like the rest of the week, the outcome wasn’t known until the last possible moment. That turned out to be the unlikely sight to many of Dillon celebrating his win by replicating Earnhardt’s 1998 slide through the infield grass.
There will surely be much debate in the days to come about what transpired on Sunday. Arguments can be made on many sides but one thing is certain, for a variety of reasons the 60th running of the Daytona 500 was memorable.
- The seven-car accident that ended the first stage wiped out the hopes of several top drivers including Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones. It generated much discussion about the advent of stage racing and its impact on the competition. On the one had there’s the school of thought drivers have much more incentive to race hard at intervals of the race with stage points on the line. The other side of the pendulum is whether the big picture, especially in a race the magnitude of the Daytona 500, outweighs the benefit of racing for stage points. It’s going to be interesting all season long to see how year two of stage racing evolves.
- Danica Patrick’s NASCAR career came to a bitter end when she was involved in a huge accident during the second stage. Patrick had nowhere to go when Brad Keselowski made contact with Chase Elliott to trigger the violent crash. She’ll have one more chance to race later this year in the Indianapolis 500 but her NASCAR legacy will be remembered as one of great anticipation but disappointing performance and results. There’s no doubt in the big picture Patrick’s presence was good for the overall exposure and publicity of the sport. However, you can’t help but wonder what a much bigger story and impact Patrick would have had if she were able to put better numbers up on the board.
- Saturday’s Xfinity Series season opener was memorable for both the right and wrong reasons. The first two segments featured some of the most intense racing seen at Daytona in years with drivers running three and four-wide for what seemed like lap after lap. But once the final stage rolled around things went in a much different direction. There was some controversy over drivers hooking bumpers (Chase Elliott-Elliott Sadler), more yellow out of bounds line debate and count ‘em, five overtimes to finally get to the end, the byproduct of several multi-car accidents. But the end with Tyler Reddick edging Sadler in the closest-ever finish was certainly for most worth the wait. It wasn’t by any means a masterpiece but much of the race especially the finish was indeed a work of art.
- The term “Chamber of Commerce Weather” could not better describe the week in Daytona leading up to and including the Daytona 500. The perfect central Florida conditions brought out strong turnout and another sellout for Sunday’s main event. As someone who has experienced what seemed like all four seasons over the course of one Speedweeks in my life, it was a welcome experience to enjoy such pleasant conditions. The thousands of fans that attended the variety of events no doubt agree.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
