Astoundingly NASCAR has managed to get a 40 car field for tonight’s race. The stages are 50-50-60 laps for tonight’s race. A competition caution is scheduled for lap 20. The front row has Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson (5) and William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) leading the field to the green flag. Skies are mostly cloudy as the field takes the green flag.
Anthony Alfredo (38) has to do a pass thru penalty for an unapproved adjustment while the car was on the grid. Quin Houff (00) has to come to pit road because his hatch blew open. Both pit on lap 2 of 160.
NBC is bored on lap 4 of 160 so we’re stuck with a shot of a driver driving, and a split-screen of something inside a car.
Competition caution on lap 20 of 160.
Restarting on lap 25 of 160 with Chase Elliott (9) and Cole Custer (41) up front.
On lap 27 of 160 NBC is bored again and have a split-screen of a driver driving with a shot of the front of the field.
Chase Elliott (9) takes the early lead with a strong push by Joey Logano (22).
They have single-filed out on lap 30 of 160.
They began racing at about lap 42 of 160.
Chase Elliott (9) holds off ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) to win stage one. Hamlin blocked teammate Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) for second.
Logano (22) drops to the back of the field on the restart to serve a penalty for throwing equipment.
Restarting on lap 54 of 160 with Chase Elliott (9) and Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19) on the front row.
MTJ (19) gets the early lead with a strong push from Carey LaJoie (7).
Caution on lap 77 of 160 for a spin by Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) who spun into Alex Bowman (48).
Some stay out, some come in to the pits.
Restart on lap 81 of 160 with Joey Logano (22) and Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) up front followed by Corey LaJoie (7), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47), Tyler Reddick (8), Kyle Busch (18) and Chris Buescher (17).
Single file on lap 88 of 160.
On lap 92 of 160 an inside line has formed.
For some reason on lap 95 and 96 there has been lapped cars Cody Ware (51) and Quin Houff (00) on the outside line – near the wall, that the pack has to maneuver around. Nervewracking.
Joey Logano (22) wins stage two.
WilliB (24) and Desperate (11) win the race off pit road followed by Kevin ‘KHarv/Happy’ Harvick (4) and Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23).
Restarting on lap 105 of 160 with William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) and ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) on the front row .
They’re dicing it up and we’re seeing some lead changes. Action has picked up from the majority of the first and second stages which were a little boring; everything was a bit too orderly.
Quite a bit of action during the commercial break but due to the stupid non-stop small split-screen shot, it was tough to follow. They come back from commercial break with the idiotic blimp camera shot, again tough to follow. Then they witch to only showing the first three cars, so you can’t see what else is going on on track. Stupid shot. Lap 119 of 160.
Green flag pit stops on lap 122 of 160 for the Fords.
The top line had to dodge lapped cars Anthony Alfredo (38), and Cody Ware (51) on lap 128 of 160. The lapped cars were running on the outside wall. I don’t understand why the lapped cars aren’t going to the bottom when the pack approaches.
On lap 131 of 160 we’re stuck with a blimp shot. It’s like standing on the second floor watching a Hot Wheels car track on the first floor. You can see something going on, but no detail.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2) and Chase Briscoe (14) lost the Ford draft and are getting passed by the leader, Bubba Wallace, to go a lap down on lap 134 of 160.
The Toyotas are unable to get to the bottom of the track to pit due to the Chevrolets on the inside lane.
The Toyotas have finally formed up on the inside lane on lap 138 of 160.
Caution on lap 139 of 160 for spins by Joey Gase (15), Cody Ware (51), Garrett Smithley (53). Smithley turned into the wall in front of the field. Ware and Gase spun out in an attempt to avoid Smithley.
The Toyotas and Chevrolets pit.
KyBu (18), MTJ (19), Corey LaJoie (7), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47), Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23), Ross Chastain (42), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) win the race off pit road. Austin Dillon (3) will restart at the rear due to a pit road speeding penalty.
Restarting on lap 144 of 160 with Joey Logano (22) and Ryan Blaney (12) and the rest of the Fords up front.
Logano (22) quickly drops down in front of teammate Ryan Blaney (12) for the early lead.
Caution on lap 145 of 160 for a crash by MTJ turns into the wall, bounces and and turns in front of the field, Daniel Suarez (99), Anthony Alfredo (38), Tyler Reddick (8), Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) and Chase Briscoe are collected.
Red flag is out for clean-up on lap 147 of 160.
WilliB (24) is on the hook and headed to the garage.
MRN’s Steve ‘Postman’ Post is reporting that Austin Dillon (3) is having an electrical issue in the car.
The caution flag is out at 2227 eastern
The Tyler Reddick (8) team is cleaning the oil off the car and off the oil cooler so it doesn’t smoke when he gets back up to speed. They send him out after a slap of bondo on the right side of the hood.
Reddick’s teammate Austin Dillon (3) is getting a battery replacement. Dillon is attempting to wrest the final playoff spot from Reddick.
Reddick returns to his pit stall to get left side tires.
Restarting on lap 150 of 160 with teammates Joey Logano (22) and Ryan Blaney (12) on the front row followed by Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer (41), Matt DiBenedetto (21), CBell (20), Kurt Busch (1) and Erik Jones (43).
Logano drops down in front of teammate Blaney.
On lap 154 of 160 they finally dump Chris Buescher (17) into the middle. Buescher is not used to slicing and dicing at the front of the pack and it showed. He had several near misses. KHarv, Chase, KuBu saved him and the field by slowing up to give him room to get himself straightened out.
Logano (22) is hitting the outside wall a lot on lap 156 of 160 and heads for the pits with a right front flat and lap 156 of 160.
Matt ‘MattiD’ DiBenedetto (21) has contact with Chase Elliott (9) and causes a big wreck on lap 157 of 160 collecting Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18), Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2), Ricky ‘Wrecky Spinhouse/Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse Jr. (47), Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10), Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Chase Elliott (9), Ryan Preece (37), Cole Custer (41), Kaz Grala (16), and Alex Bowman (48).
The Kyle Busch (18) car is on the hook.
Overtime.
Restarting in overtime (162/165) with Chris Buescher (17) and Ryan Blaney (12) up front followed by Corey LaJoie (7), Austin Dillon (3), Kevin Harvick (4), Ross Chastain (42), Kyle Larson (5), Daniel Suarez (99), Bubba Wallace (23), Kurt Busch (1), Ryan Newman (6), and Justin Haley (77).
Caution as Kurt Busch (1) turns Daniel Suarez (99) who turns Kevin Harvick (4) into the wall and the field crashes behind him, but the leader had taken the white flag. Corey LaJoie (7) gets collected along with Austin Dillon (3), Kurt Busch (1), Kyle Larson (5), Ross Chastain (42), Kevin Harvick (4), Ryan Newman (6), Erik Jones (43), Alex Bowman (48), Justin Haley (77), Chase Briscoe (14), and most of the rest of the field.
Ryan Blaney (12) wins under caution.
It was wonderful to see some unusual names in the top 10 finishers.
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- RYAN BLANEY (12)
- CHRIS BUESCHER (17)
- BUBBA WALLACE (23)
- RYAN NEWMAN (6)
- RYAN PREECE (37)
- JUSTIN HALEY (77)
- TYLER REDDICK (8)
- ALEX BOWMAN (48)
- CHASE ELLIOTT (9)
- BJ MCLEOD (78)
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Congratulations to Tyler Reddick (8) on securing a spot in the play-offs with a sixth place finish.
Congrats to Chris Buescher (17) on finishing second in the race.
Congratulations to Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) on his third place finish.
Congrats to Alex Bowman (48) and Chase Elliott (9) on surviving the carnage and finishing eighth and ninth.
Congratulations to BJ McLeod (78) and Josh Bilicki (52) on finishing tenth and eleventh respectively.
| Â | Driver | Car No. | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1. | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2,052 points |
| 2. | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske | Ford | 2,024 points |
| 3. | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2,024 points |
| 4. | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2,022 points |
| 5. | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2,021 points |
| 6. | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2,015 points |
| 7. | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2,015 points |
| 8. | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2,014 points |
| 9. | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske | Ford | 2,013 points |
| 10. | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Team Penske | Ford | 2,008 points |
| 11. | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 2,008 points |
| 12. | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2,005 points |
| 13. | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 2,005 points |
| 14. | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 2,005 points |
| 15. | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 2,003 points |
| 16. | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 2,002 points |
The finish was a nail-biter. The results were a mixture of good and bad, but mostly good. The two boring sections of the race reminded me of why I prefer daytime races – they usually have more action throughout. The last 10 laps were definitely a payoff for watching the rest of the race. It was a pretty good race overall, though only a decent Daytona race. It was much better than the Richmond races that have previously concluded the regular season.
Inexplicably, NBC with their horrible camera shot choices chose to focus on the Ryan Blaney (12) car driving around, seemingly alone – the shot was really tight, instead of showing the wreck behind him. I wish they would manage to get someone with some idea of how to broadcast an exciting NASCAR race in the booth calling the shots. The camera choices are generally awful in most events and their ability to miss the action that would be most stimulating to the viewer; the action that would make a viewer wish she/he were in the stands at the event. The camera work seems to avoid relevant action in most situations. Sometimes the viewer gets a distant replay, often at a bad angle, but rarely are the cameras focused on the right, obvious, relevant action. When the field is wrecking the camera follows the car at the head of the pack that isn’t wrecking. The only shot of the whole crash appears to be the blimp shot, which eliminates the detail from the action because it’s too bloody far away. I know it’s a big track, but can’t NBC Sports afford to higher a few extra camera operators to cover the end of the regular season race? That is one of my biggest complaints about NBC’s coverage – it looks cheap; like they’re scraping by on a skinny budget unable to afford to produce a quality broadcast – from broadcast talent to coverage to technical talent. It looks shoddy. A NASCAR race is a visual and aural spectacle. I could see that in the past with the SPEEDTV and FOXSports coverage. Now I as a viewer am constantly stuck watching the least visually appealing elements of a race – a driver driving (looks like anyone else driving, boring), the very limited view through the front windscreen (looks like most traffic jams I’ve endured), the even more limited view from bumper cams (who the hell wants to spend time watching bumpers and pavement), the super limited side-view camera (a boring view of the side of cars with absolutely no context to understand its relevance). I enjoyed
the visual feast of NASCAR when I started watching after becoming hooked on the radio broadcasts. The visuals I used to see matched the pictures painted by the talented radio broadcasters. Time has passed, and so have some of the best radio broadcasters, others have retired. The television broadcasts have seemingly also suffered the same loss of top tier talent. Some of them remain, but are generally drowned out by the mediocre (at best) newcomers. In the past I’ve watched newcomers rapidly improve and become respected broadcasters. Those days also appear to be long gone as the mediocre remain mediocre and seem to simply more higher in the ranks by virtue of not going away and – I have to believe – accepting a lower salary than the talented folks they replace.