Breezy, partly cloudy and 74 degrees at Daytona International Speedway as pre-race ceremonies draw to a close. Alex Bowman (48) will lead the 40 car field to the green flag. The stages for today’s event are 65-65-70.
They had a lame animation of what I guess you could call a race of champions. Richard Petty was determined to have had the greatest lap. It was really bad animation and nonsensical on top of that. Between that and Michael Waltrip’s dizzy lap down pit lane – the grid walk –
The France Family (Ben, Lesa, and Jim) are announced ahead of a speech by NASCAR president Steve Phelps thanking the fans for supporting the sport in the 75th anniversary year.
Adam Alexander was the ‘track announcer’ for all the pre-race stuff.
Richard Petty, Bobby Alison, Bill Eliott, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano together gave the command after being introduced by Alexander. Joey was the only one who really got a mixed response from the audience.
Joey has new hair this season. It’s weird. It’s more hair than I’ve ever seen him with, and it looks like it was mashed onto the front of his head. It also doesn’t look the same color as the hair he had prior to this season. Weird. If the odd Hairclub hair makes him happy, then good for him.
MRN’s Kim Coon said she lost her lunch up there when she went up with the Thunderbirds. MRN reported Jimmie Johnson did not get sick when he went up. MRN has included more of the Thunderbirds air show in their reporting than television has shown.
Tiffany Haddish is the honorary flag person. She’s a dreadful ‘comedian & actress’. She’s not very good at either. NASCAR seems to be working hard at getting some diversity on the broadcasts regardless of talent and ability. Then again, they’ve done the same with regard to drivers overall, so I guess they’re being consistent.
On lap 3 of 300 TV has already gotten bored and started with the gimmick shots. The field seems to be easily riding along side-by-side in two rows.
Every driver signed today’s green flag, then Jimmie took it up with him when he flew with the Thunderbirds. Once it was waved to start the race it was presented to NASCAR Hall of Fame executive director Winston Kelley to celebrate the 75th anniversary of NASCAR.
Cute Toyota Racing commercial. The guy starts off talking to Martin Truex Jr and ends up in a NASCAR race car, a RallyX car, and standing beside an NHRA Funny Car as it takes off.
It seems nothing is happening in the race watching the television ‘coverage’, but MRN has been steadily calling changes, movement, and racing. So either the MRN guys are way over-selling the event or FOX is doing a terrible job broadcasting an interesting race so that it appears to be a totally boring event without any action.
Ty Dillon (77) is smoking his way toward the pits on lap 27 of 200.
On lap 32 of 200 a gray cloud is mostly obscuring the sun. Blue skies are still visible elsewhere.
On lap 37 of 200 the Fords come in for green flag pit stops.
On lap 38 of 200 the Chevrolets come in for green flag pit stops.
Riley Herbst (15) spins on lap 40 of 200 trying to get onto pit road while the Toyotas and the rest of the field were making their green flag pit stops.
Now that it’s all over FOX is showing the incident over and over. They totally missed it when it occurred.
There were pit penalties assessed including a commitment cone violation for Herbst (15) and driving through too many boxes for Travis Pastrana (67).
On lap 51 of 200 MRN reports Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) bounces off the wall and heads to pit lane. TV is showing Lake Lloyd – the infield of the track. MRN is saying it was a bump draft gone wrong. Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19) was shoved into Wallace by ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11).
The outside line has more cars than the inside lane on lap 55 of 200. With ten laps to go to the end of the stage there’s not much racing at the moment partially due to the lack of cars in the inside lane.
On lap 60 of 200 the field is single-filed out.
On lap 63 of 200 a second line has formed as they encounter lap-down cars of AJ ‘Dinger’ Allmendinger (16) and Riley Herbst (15). Dinger tried to block a lane and ended up in the middle with all the lead lap cars trying to dodge him. What a bad idea. That’s AJ Allmendinger.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowsk (6) is out front when the stage ends.
So far this has been boring, unlike the truck and xfin races
Restarting on lap 71 of 200 with Ryan Preece (41) out front.
On lap 90 of 200 FOX aired a video piece of the celebrities at the track including Charlotte Flair, Tiffany Haddish, Brandon Marshall, Larry Fitzgerald, Pete Davidson, and Michael Jordan talking to his 23XI team.
MRN has run down the previous Chevrolet winners of the Daytona 500.
Everyone is bored. It’s basically two lines of cars placidly driving rapidly around the track. There’s speed, but little action.
MRN mentioned today is Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr’s 19th Daytona 500 start. He drives the 19 car. Today is the 19th of February. Sounds like he may have the numbers on his side.
FOX finally decided to show the Thunderbirds during a return from commercial break on lap 100 of 200.
Green flag pit stops for the Chevrolets on lap 107 of 200.
Kyle Busch (18) picks up a pit road speeding penalty and will have to perform a pass-thru.
Some of the Fords are signaling their intent to come to pit road on lap 109 for 200.
Some Toyotas and Fords make green flag stops on lap 110 of 200 as Kyle Busch serves his pit road penalty.
Additional Fords come to the pits on lap 111 of 200.
MRN reports on lap 112 of 200 the field scattered almost wrecking just after the last group’s green flag stops. They go to an ad break. TV is in a commercial break.
MRN said the Fords ran down the Toyotas and the Fords had to split the Toyotas ending up three-wide. Also they mentioned a solid bump from MTJ (19) on Ryan Blaney (12).
Caution on lap 118 of 200 for Tyler Reddick (45) getting into the wall and collecting Ryan Blaney (12), Chase Elliott (9), Erik Jones (43), Daniel Suarez (99), Kyle Larson (5), Martin Truex Jr (19). TV is in a split-screen commercial break. They missed the incident itself and are showing the damaged cars in the smaller of the two boxes with a few gimmick shots thrown in to make it unintelligible. Erik Jones is reversing down pit road.
Replay: The 4 of Kevin ‘Happy/KHarv’ Harvick bumped the 45 of Tyler Reddick who got loose and hit the outside wall, bounced off it and hit the 12 of Ryan Blaney who hit the outside wall. Cars behind them began to run into each other and the wall trying to avoid the spinning cars of Reddick and Blaney.
Erik ‘DaBrat’ Jones (43) drove backwards to the garage. Chase Elliott (9) was towed to the garage. Tyler Reddick (45) was towed to the garage.
BJ McLeod (78) and Jimmie Johnson (84) will have to serve penalties for speeding on pit road.
Restarting on lap 124 of 200 with Joey Logano (22) at the front followed by MTJ (19).
Ross Chastain (1) crosses the line inches ahead of Alex Bowman (48) at the end of stage two.
Still a boring event. Either the Cup cars need more stages or less practice or something to make this watchable. They look like they’re out on a Sunday afternoon ride overall.
Restarting on lap 137 of 200 with Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) leading the field.
Caution on lap 138 of 200. MRN reports Alex Bowman (48) gets turned toward the infield but saves the car. TV is showing a Wendy’s banner full screen. They got back to the track for a moment after missing the action, then back to the Wendy’s banner, then to the tire carcass and on to Ryan Blaney’s (12) car. Ryan Blaney lost a right front tire and t’s carcass is sitting on the race track. TV then went to a split-screen commercial break with a gimmick shot in the small-box for racing. So FOX seems to have missed the on-track action completely.
Restarting on lap 143 of 200 with Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) and Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) up front.
That’s the second time during this Speedweeks I’ve heard someone on MRN call Corey LaJoie (7) ‘Randy LaJoie’ during a Cup event. The first time it was Jeff Striegle, this time I think it was Dillon Welch.
On lap 148 of 200 there seems to be more clouds than sunshine currently at the track. Due to the gimmick shots I see the track surface, a bumper or hood of a car and lots of the sky; not much actual racing though.
On lap 171 of 200 Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace makes a green flag pit stop.
The inside lane seems to have all of the energy right now. The outside lane has not been able to move forward very much since the restart.
MRN is calling action. TV is showing the bumper of a car.
On lap 175 of 200 some of the Fords make green flag pit stops.
On lap 177 of 200 the Toyotas make green flag stops.
On lap 178 of 200 additional Fords make green flag stops.
On lap 179 of 200 Chevrolets pit under the green flag.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) gets popped for speeding.
More Fords pit on lap 180 of 200.
The lights are shining brightly at the track. The clouds seem to make it appear later than it appears outside my window. It lookss been sunnier he
Caution on lap 181 of 200 for a crash involving Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19), Chase Briscoe (14), Michael McDowell (34), Kevin ‘KHarv’ Harvick (4), Ryan Preece (41). It looks like Preece got into the back of Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) tried to get off him and turned into the outside wall collecting the rest. It looks like an accordion affect incident from the replays. Jimmie Johnson (48) and Ty Gibbs (54) also got some damage in that incident.
TV just showed a lovely shot of the sunset behind a pine tree. They should stick to sky shots. They’re good at that. They suck at live race coverage.
Another beautiful sunset shot, this time with some thin, purplish-gray clouds across the middle of the big orange sun.
Restarting on lap 187 of 200 with Harrison Burton (21), Joey Logano (22), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8), Kyle Larson (5), Austin Dillon (3), Daniel Suarez (99), AJ Allmendinger (16), Brad Keselowsk (6), and Noah Gragson (42) in the top ten. Jimmie Johnson (84) is in 13th followed by Afterburner (10) and Alex Bowman (48). With the choose rule there’s no telling how they will line up for the restart.
The blimp shot completely loses the cars it goes so high.
Joey Logano (22) eventually gets the lead.
AJ Allmendinger (16) dumps Logano and takes over the lead on lap 187 of 200.
Ty Gibbs (54) heads to the apron after bouncing off the outside wall trying to get by a car hung out in the middle. MRN announced that Ty went down to the apron. I saw on a blimp shot Gibbs kissing the wall and smoke fly.
They’re single file on lap 192 of 200.
Ty Gibbs (54) is still rolling around trying to stay out of the way, much slower than the pack on lap 193 of 200.
There’s an 8 car single-file breakaway, followed by four cars, followed by another group on lap 195 of 200.
The three cars joined the leading eight.
Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8) jumps out on lap 196 of 200 and passes the lead as the field follows him. His teammate Austin Dillon (3) and WilliB are behind him.
Daniel Suarez (99) spins out into the infield bringing out the caution on lap 197 of 200.
Restarting in overtime with Kyle Busch (8) out front. Also in the top fifteen Dillon (3), Byron (24), Logano (22), Keselowski (6), Chris Buescher (17), Stenhouse (47), Larson (5), Cindric (2), Johnson (84), Bell (20), Allmendinger (16), Noah Gragson (42), Hamlin (11), Bowman (48).
KyBu will take the outside and Dillon (3) will take the inside. they’re followed by Logano behind KyBu and WilliB behind Dillon. Buescher (17) is behind Logano. Stenhouse is behind WilliB.
KyBu get a good start and crossed to the inside. Logano is pushed by stenhouse and staying alongside Dillon (3) then moving ahead.
There’s a crash going on behind the leaders according to MRN. TV is showing a tight short of the front of the field so we’re not seeing it.
Caution!
Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, Austin Dillon, involved.
Austin Dillon (3) spun out off a push by WilliB (24). Dillon collected WilliB then they both shot back up onto the track in front of the field collecting Corey LaJoie (7), Austin Cindric (2), Harrison Burton (21), Noah Gragson (42), Ross Chastain (1), Zane Smith (36), Todd Gilliland (38), and Justin Haley (31), Riley Herbst (15), and Brian ‘It’ Keselowski (6).
Ricky Stenhouse (47) is at the front of the field.
There will be extensive clean-up and they’re starting to worry about fuel as a result.
MRN reports Chris Buescher (17), Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6) and Afterburner are pitting.
“The 6 car drove through the 24, that’s just what he does”, Austin Dillon on MRN from the Care Center. Dillon said he really wanted to help KyBu get to victory lane. Kyle has never won the Daytona 500 in his many wins.
The current top ten: Stenhouse, Larson, Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20), Joey Logano (22), AJ Allmendinger (16), Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Alex Bowman (48), Bubba Wallace (23), Travis Pastrana (67).
Restarting on Overtime again.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) on the outside alongside Kyle Larson (5) followed by Joey Logano (22) behind Stenhouse and Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) behind Larson, Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8) behind Logano and AJ Allmendinger (16) behind CBell.
Both get good pushes so they’re staying together until KyBu (8) catches up to the back of the top lane and pushes Stenhouse out front.
White flag.
They’re three-wide through the field.
MRN reports Larson is into the wall and there’s a crash. Tv is now showing it involving allmendinger Travis Pastrana (67), in the middle, gets into Larson (5) sending Larson into the outside wall in front of the field collecting Ryan Blaney (12), Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8), Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), AJ ‘Dinger’ Allmendinger (16) and Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23).
Stenhouse (47), Logano (22), and CBell (20) head to the finish line.
The caution flag and the checkered flag are out.
It’s official Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) wins.
Stenhouse (47) is climbing the fence and doing pull-ups on the fence after getting as high as he could.
MRN reports Rick Stenhouse Sr is in Victory Lane with his son and there are tears of joy.
So, the race was totally boring until lap 196 when Kyle Busch (8) makes a move and they start racing. In the end there was 16 laps of racing in a 200 lap event. That’s just not enough legit racing. The radio call indicated there was more racing than that – but as a television viewer I didn’t see any real racing until four laps before the scheduled end of the event. The overtime laps tripled the laps of actual racing that I saw. There was a lot of hoopla. The racing seemed competitive, though dull. The racing did not become intense until the final 16 of 212 laps. I expect more of the Daytona 500.
Christopher Bell (20) says he’s really bummed about his finish, but that he’s very happy for Ricky.
“..the stats are going to look shitty again”, Kyle Larson on the MRN broadcast interview.
Ryan Blaney (12) gives Stenhouse a hug in Victory Lane.
My television signal died! Boo!
It finally came back on an Atlanta Motor Speedway commercial.
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