Pete Pistone distributes this week’s checkered and black flags following the weekend of racing at Daytona International Speedway.
Checkered Flags
Denny Hamlin
He’s now a two-time Daytona 500 winner and Hamlin quickly ended the drought that lasted through the entire 2018 season. His first outing with new crew chief Chris Gabehart sent the duo to Victory Lane and Hamlin is on the select list of drivers with multiple wins in “The Great American Race.”
Joe Gibbs Racing
The emotional win for Hamlin and its ties to the late J.D. Gibbs were just the beginning of an incredible day for the Gibbs organization. Kyle Busch and Erik Jones followed Hamlin across the finish line and the 1-2-3 sweep was the first time a team took the top three positions in the Daytona 500 since Hendrick Motorsports accomplished the feat in 1997 with Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven.
Daytona 500
There wasn’t much left out of the 61st running of the Daytona 500, which truly had it all. Exciting racing, strategy, controversy, drama and emotion were all rolled up in a race that was definitely on the long side thanks to multi-car crashes and two red flags but an ending certainly worth the wait.
Matt DiBenedetto
Leavine Family Racing’s first outing as an alliance partner of JGR nearly turned into one of the sport’s true Cinderella stories. DiBenedetto led 45 laps and was in the mix for a victory all day until getting caught in a late accident that knocked him – and others – out of the race. It was still a more than impressive start for a driver and a team that will be interesting to watch this season.
Ross Chastain
He completed every lap run over the weekend in the Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Chastain capped it off with his first career Cup top-10 and brought Premium Motorsports only its second inside the first 10 finishers.
Black Flags
Kurt Busch
A very rough start to Busch’s new career with Chip Ganassi Racing. He was involved in everything ranging from accidents, pit road penalties and other malfunctions that all added up to finishing the race 11 laps off the pace.
Paul Menard
A misjudgment by Menard triggered the 21-car accident that brought out the first red flag and ended the day for a number of drivers including DiBenedetto. The Wood Brothers Racing driver owned up to the mistake and found himself in the opposite spot he was in with Jimmie Johnson earlier in the week during the Clash.
Daniel Hemric
The rookie driver’s first official Cup start with Richard Childress Racing went wrong when Hemric was black flagged for driving during a red flag period. His Daytona 500 ended with a 34th-place finish.
Xfinity Series Race
The story of Michael Annett winning his first career series was a good one. Unfortunately it will be the only thing remembered from a dull race that saw drivers content to ride in single file without challenging for the lead, including in the scramble to the checkered flag.
Fickle Fans
Thursday’s mostly single file Duel races were the catalyst for a number of fans to bail on watching the Daytona 500, at least as stated on social media. The “I’m not gonna watch a parade on Sunday” crowd missed out on a 500 that didn’t remotely resemble the 150-mile qualifying races.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
