This is all so stupid.
Sorry.
But it is.
For the entirety of what is now Daytona Speedweek(end), we have collectively argued about the most inconsequential nonsense in the grand scheme of everything that ultimately mattered. Like, not a single thing the NASCAR community debated over the week mattered upon reaching the cool down lap.
Think about it: We have spent all this time arguing about how important practice was to simply shake down the cars in advance of Daytona 500 qualifying. And sure, maybe it did to Brad Keselowski given his mechanical problems but it didn’t matter to an otherwise locked-in chartered driver.
Fast forward to the race: NASCAR ‘kind of, sort of’ needed to throw away nearly 25 laps under caution as part of numerous rain delays and making sure pit road was appropriately dry. The procedure was actually pretty efficient, all things considered but fans felt like it robbed them of something.
This is ridiculously stupid too because all they were really robbed of was 30 laps of drivers running around at quarter throttle saving fuel just to spend less time on pit road in a ploy for track position. Even this process has been stripped of a degree of human imperfection with some teams now displaying a tablet to drivers signifying when to launch off pit road.
Again, also stupid, because this strategy of taking less fuel and pitting with your fellow manufacturer-mates is all about obtaining track position that doesn’t mean jack nothing once the pay window opens.
Remember all the silly rules that Tyler Gibbs, Jim Campbell and Mark Rushbrook impose on their drivers each year about only working with your OEM teammates?
Before they all crashed, it was in the best interest of an independent Chevrolet driver in Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to team up with an independent Ford driver in Corey Lajoie. And before they all crashed, Logano was working with both of them to chase down his Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric.
It’s every man for himself after all.
This whole community spent the entire race lamenting that they weren’t really racing for 450 miles only for the race to devolve into a demolition derby once they actually did start racing. Sure, the cars are too draggy and have too much power to compensate for it. Spec cars are too equal. This steering box is too sensitive to pushes.
These are all valid points.
But it’s also true that when winning means absolutely everything in the modern NASCAR Cup Series championship format, with drivers largely feeling bullet-proof in these cars, there is nothing they will stop short of doing in the pursuit of Victory Lane.
They’re out there short track racing on superspeedways now.
The blocks being thrown out there would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. The seeing red reactions to being blocked, treating Daytona and Talladega like Martinsville and Bristol, would have been unthinkable 15 years ago.
The consequences were too fresh in the back of mind.
And again, this makes the whole fuel saving and manufacturer pit stop thing ridiculously stupid because the race was once again decided by a series of crashes that invalidated everything that came before it.
Did the 25 misty laps under caution really strip you of anything?
Did having practice or the lack thereof mean anything?
Did the track position mean anything?
For all the talk of having the first two rows, the 67th Daytona 500 was won on the final restart from 10th (and the final lap from 7th) and only as a result of even more crashing that William Byron just happened to miss.
This isn’t to invalidate their accomplishments over the past two years, either. These races count and they’re not going to ask how but how many when the Hall of Fame committee meets two decades from now.
The Daytona 500 — like all superspeedway races — count but it’s hard to make an argument that it matters right now. Jimmie Johnson finishing third counted but it didn’t mean anything. Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. still can’t finish these races like that really means anything.
At best, superspeedway racing isn’t healthy from a dietary standpoint but at least it was sweet. The current iteration isn’t even candy. It’s a salty bag of vinegar potato chips.
The Great American Race is a special event but the Southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 are NASCAR’s most consequential races from a sporting element right now and anyone on the inside will tell you that.
It’s unfortunate because Daytona is still a special place and its history speaks to anyone that steps foot on the property. The answers are not obvious here but hopefully everyone recognizes that lack of sustainability in the status quo.
This is a ridiculously stupid way to celebrate national Stock Car racing on the brightest stage every February.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
