Road-racing weekend a success at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The jury is out regarding the popularity of roadcourse racing at Daytona International Speedway. But there’s no doubting the popularity of victory lane’s latest inhabitant.
Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular racer, crossed under the checkers Sunday afternoon just ahead of Denny Hamlin to win the Cup Series’ Go Bowling 235. It was a relatively close finish in a day of racing that featured plenty of racetrack spacing, as if coronavirus protocols had invaded the NASCAR rulebook.
“It means a lot. We’ve been struggling these last few weeks,” Elliott said upon exiting his No. 9 Chevrolet. “I didn’t know for sure if we were going to be good here.”
The downsized crowd was estimated at 10,000, including a solid chunk of weekenders in RVs that filled much of the infield property inside the west banking. That’s likely what the Speedway was expecting, given the limited ticket availability due to spacing efforts – an estimated 10% of the 101,500 grandstand seats were priced at $49-$75.
Originally, Daytona’s first laps around the famed road course, best known as home to the Rolex 24 sportscar race, was going to come in next February’s Busch Clash. But the annual sports-car race at Watkins Glen was canceled due to travel restrictions for visitors to New York state.
Necessity is often the mother of invention, they say, and while necessity – brought on by the coronavirus – didn’t exactly bring on the invention of NASCAR road racing, it did introduce it to Daytona Beach, where visitors and natives are accustomed to watching cars fly around the big track while employing four left turns and one high-speed twitch through the front-stretch dogleg.
The reviews will depend on whom you ask, as they always do. But anyone who enjoys a little chaos mixed into their race days was probably disappointed. Without any practice laps allowed in this season of COVID adapting, and with a hard left-turn just beyond the start/finish line, the potential of a pileup was theoretically high with each restart.
But NASCAR’s Cup Series racers aren’t just talented at their craft, they have the miracles of modern technology – namely the world of racing simulators – to prepare them for any track with amazing realism. By and large, they tiptoed through the track’s tightest turns without incident.
Ken Willis
NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling 235 at the DAYTONA Road Course Sunday At Daytona Road Course, Daytona Beach, FL Lap length: 3.81 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (7) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 65 laps, 54 points. 2. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 65, 45. 3. (3) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 65, 37. 4. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 65, 41. 5. (21) Chris Buescher, Ford, 65, 32. 6. (12) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 65, 47. 7. (10) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 65, 0. 8. (13) William Byron, Chevrolet, 65, 40. 9. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 65, 37. 10. (30) Michael McDowell, Ford, 65, 27. 11. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 65, 31. 12. (27) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 65, 25. 13. (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 65, 24. 14. (8) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 65, 25. 15. (9) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 65, 28. 16. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 65, 27. 17. (1) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 65, 23. 18. (18) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 65, 19. 19. (14) Ryan Newman, Ford, 65, 18. 20. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 65, 17. 21. (15) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 65, 16. 22. (26) Cole Custer, Ford, 65, 17. 23. (22) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 65, 20. 24. (6) Aric Almirola, Ford, 65, 13. 25. (19) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 65, 12. 26. (16) Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, 65, 11. 27. (31) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 65, 10. 28. (33) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 65, 9. 29. (37) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 65, 0. 30. (38) James Davison, Chevrolet, 65, 7. 31. (24) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 65, 14. 32. (29) Corey Lajoie, Ford, 65, 6. 33. (35) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 64, 4. 34. (32) JJ Yeley, Ford, 64, 0. 35. (28) John H. Nemechek, Ford, accident, 62, 2. 36. (36) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, garage, 60, 0. 37. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, accident, 53, 1. 38. (34) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 49, 1. 39. (39) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, transmission, 46, 1. Race Statistics Average Speed of Race Winner: 89.389 mph. Time of Race: 2 hours, 37 minutes, 30 seconds. Margin of Victory: 0.202 seconds. Caution Flags: 4 for 7 laps. Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers. Lap Leaders: K.Harvick 0; D.Hamlin 1; Ky.Busch 2; D.Hamlin 3-9; M.Truex 10-12; C.Elliott 13-16; J.Logano 17; D.Hamlin 18-21; M.Truex 22-27; D.Hamlin 28-31; C.Elliott 32-48; M.Truex 49; K.Grala 50-52; C.Elliott 53-65 Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): C.Elliott, 3 times for 34 laps; D.Hamlin, 4 times for 16 laps; M.Truex, 3 times for 10 laps; K.Grala, 1 time for 3 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 1 lap; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 1 lap; K.Harvick, 1 time for 0 laps. Wins: K.Harvick, 6; D.Hamlin, 5; B.Keselowski, 3; C.Elliott, 2; J.Logano, 2; R.Blaney, 1; M.Truex, 1; A.Bowman, 1; A.Dillon, 1; C.Custer, 1. Top 16 in Points: 1. K.Harvick, 939; 2. D.Hamlin, 821; 3. B.Keselowski, 803; 4. C.Elliott, 775; 5. R.Blaney, 755; 6. J.Logano, 754; 7. M.Truex, 753; 8. A.Almirola, 682; 9. Ku.Busch, 673; 10. Ky.Busch, 652; 11. C.Bowyer, 618; 12. A.Bowman, 610; 13. M.DiBenedetto, 596; 14. W.Byron, 577; 15. J.Johnson, 552; 16. E.Jones, 542.