DAYTONA 500 STORIES TO WATCH
NASCAR is in the second year of its new Next Gen car and still seeking solutions to a problem with the bumpers that caused several concussions last season.
The rear bumpers were supposed to be softened this year so that the car would absorb more energy during routine contact, but drivers earlier this month complained the hits were just as hard in the exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Racing at Daytona requires deliberate bump drafting and it’s an aggressive race in which the stakes are higher than a typical Sunday.
“Daytona has its own set of rules that everyone plays by,” said Brad Keselowski, who was fastest in Saturday’s final practice.“at the end of the race at Daytona, you have to ask yourself, ‘What am I willing to do to win this race?’ More often than not, especially over the last three years, it’s taken wrecking the leader to win the 500.”
Denny Hamlin seeks a fourth Daytona 500 victory in a career he already finds beyond fulfilling.
The knock on Hamlin is that he’s never won a Cup championship in 17 tries. But when asked this week whether he’d trade a Daytona 500 trophy for just one title, Hamlin snapped: “No. I got asked that last year. No way. No chance.”
Hamlin finished ninth in his qualifying race and the entire Toyota fleet sat out of Saturday’s practice. Both the Ford and Chevy camps seemed both fast and organized — Hendrick Chevys Bowman and Kyle Larson start on the front row, Ford drivers Joey Logano and Aric Almirola start on the second — but Hamlin still likes his chances.
“I LOVE my car,” he wrote on Twitter.
WHO TO WATCH
Indycar driver Conor Daly and action sports star Travis Pastrana make their Daytona 500 debuts in a twist of fate for the good friends.
Pastrana always wanted to start the Daytona 500 to add to his long and storied resume. A decade after running one full season of NASCAR at his second-tier level, he gets the chance in a Toyota fielded by 23XI Racing.
“A lot of the guys that follow NASCAR, just the fans, they know me as a TV personality or a stuntman,”pastrana said.“really in my heart, racer, motorcross racer, built the reputation as a race car driver as well.” He anticipates he’ll draw new eyes, too. “When I announced I was going to come over here, the action sports community jumped onboard 110%,” Pastrana said. “So many people are saying ‘Man, I’m watching the 500.’ I haven’t been excited since I was a kid for our industry to see this.”
Pastrana was part of Daly’s 30th birthday celebration in Las Vegas in late 2021 that saved Daly’s career. There, Daly met with a potential sponsor and that chat over cocktails led to a full season of Indycar funding for Daly. Bitnile is now heavily involved in all of Ed Carpenter Racing and is funding Daly’s effort at Daytona with The Money Team, a fledgling organization owned by Floyd Mayweather.
Daly barely made the race, and the No. 50 is probably the least prepared in the field, but like Pastrana he’s excited to showcase motorsports.
“As a race fan first, I love this race, and I love the Indy 500, of course,”daly said.“that’s the true gem in my heart and mind. But the Daytona 500 is the Daytona 500. I always think in my lifetime that I wanted to do the Le Mans 24-hour race, the Indy 500, and the Daytona 500. Now I’m going to have two of those crossed off the list.”