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Belated Daytona takeaways: What was Brian France trying to tell drivers?
Consider our Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• After thinking for 48 hours about what NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France tried to tell drivers before the Daytona 500, we think we know what he was trying to say. But if you asked us if we were sure, we’d say no stinking way.
France awkwardly addressed the 40 drivers in the packed tent for the drivers’ meeting Sunday and said the following as a segue to introducing the CEO of Monster Energy.
What I want you to think about — we realize blocking is part of racing. We understand that, we accept that. But do not look for NASCAR — if you block somebody out there, and it’s going to happen today, it causes almost all the big incidents. Do not look for NASCAR, you’ve got to hope there’s a good samaritan behind you who is going to accept that block because they have that lane and the right to that lane. I don’t often make those statements, but I think it’s important today as we go into our most important event to make that really clear with our competitors. And that said, we are in the fun business.
Odd, isn’t it? We think France was trying to inarticulately tell drivers to avoid the wreckfests of Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race and Saturday’s Xfinity race. The truck race kicked off with a big crash on lap two and ended with Matt Crafton’s truck flying through the air. And there were two red flags in the Xfinity race before lap 30.
But the reason we’re not sure is because blocking was only the direct cause of one accident leading up to the Daytona 500. And that was in the Clash, when Denny Hamlin blocked late on Brad Keselowski because it was a non-points race. The scourge of blocking was non-existent. And to that point, drivers have to move back and forth between lanes to manage the raft as the lead car in a pack. It’s a necessary tactic given the rules of France’s series.
When you add in the fact that NASCAR hasn’t disciplined drivers for blocking in restrictor plate races (save for incidents with the yellow line), France’s comments are even harder to decipher. Can anyone remember the last time a driver asked for another to be penalized in a plate race because of blocking? While France may have had genuine intentions with his comments, they made him look out of touch and unaware of what actually goes on at Daytona.
In our eyes, it’s important heading into NASCAR’s most important event that the sport’s CEO was really clear to competitors. France was about as transparent as a pan of race used oil.
• As NASCAR’s stage format dominated the strategy for the Daytona 500, the impact of the stages is evident when you look at the points standings.
Kevin Harvick finished three laps down in 22nd after he was caught up in a crash on lap 128. But he’s fourth in the points standings thanks to his win in the second stage of Sunday’s race.
Harvick (42 points) is only behind race-winner Kurt Busch, second-place finisher Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, who finished sixth. Logano was second to Harvick in the second segment.
Busch has 56 points. He won 48 points Sunday by finishing first and finishing third in a segment. His other eight points came from finishing third in his Duel race.
• No brakes is pretty much the only way to explain away Corey LaJoie’s crash during pit stops early in Sunday’s race. What a way to exit your first Daytona 500, a race you made by crashing out your main rival to qualify.
• Is it a coincidence three of the top four and four of the top six finishers were in Fords? Did the Ford engines get better fuel mileage than its Chevrolet and Toyota counterparts?
• There are just 39 cars on the preliminary entry list for Atlanta, meaning NASCAR is likely headed to another season of less than a full field attempting most races. You’re not going to notice one less car out on the track, especially if a 40th car is simply a field filler, but it’s more proof that the financial structure of the sport isn’t welcoming to new owners. Without any growth from established teams, 2017 presented a good opportunity for a new team to fill the void. Apparently the opportunity isn’t as good as it seems.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
