Pete Pistone distributes this week’s checkered and black flags following the weekend of racing at Daytona International Speedway.
Checkered Flags
Erik Jones
It’s always a thrill to watch someone in their first race whether it be in a local hobby stock division or on stock car racing’s biggest stage. Jones scored Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career victory number one Saturday night and did so in dramatic fashion.
Martin Truex Jr.
One of “The Big Three” nearly kept that domination going at Daytona with a run to the finish. Truex Jr. hoped to turn around his recent spate of summer bad luck at “The World Center of Racing” by just surviving. He did more than that with a second-place finish.
JTG Daugherty Racing
AJ Allmendinger and Chris Buescher both finished in the top five – the first time JTG Daugherty has had to drivers inside the top five. Allmendinger’s string of four straight top-10 Daytona finishes is the best among active drivers.
Kasey Kahne
He had the Leavine Family Racing entry at the front of the field for 17 laps and ended up with a fourth-place finish. By far it was the best performance of 2018 for Kahne and LFR in their first year together.
NASCAR
Friday night’s Xfinity Series race finish was a black and white example of the yellow out of bounds line rule. It may not have been the popular call to have Justin Haley’s exciting run to try and win the race nullified by breaking the rule but it was the right one for the sanctioning body to make.
Black Flags
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
This one comes with an asterisk because despite being involved and/or blamed for several of Saturday night’s accidents, Stenhouse Jr. faced the music after the race and talked to reporters. Still it was a forgettable evening for the defending winner even though Stenhouse Jr. did take the night’s first two stages.
Team Penske
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and new teammate Ryan Blaney are generally considered among the best restrictor-plate racers in the Cup Series. They didn’t get much of a chance to show those skills Saturday night getting swept up in a variety of incidents.
Jimmie Johnson
The trend of frustration continues to Johnson, who at one point was in contention to win or at least come home with a solid finish. Thanks to a pit road penalty and accidents that did not pan out for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Chase Elliott
The pole sitter led 11 laps. That was the highlight of Elliott’s night as he was eliminated from the race in the lap 54 melee.
Fans Criticizing Out of Bounds Rule
Nobody wants to see a race or sporting event of any kind decided by the officials. But rules are in place and need to be followed even if it’s the last lap of a race. NASCAR did the correct thing by “not swallowing the whistle” as some fans insist should happen going to the checkered flag. Had NASCAR not made the call, there would have been equal criticism from another group of fans.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
