Post-Race Thoughts on Daytona 2009

As a longtime NASCAR fan, I had mixed emotions about the ending of the Daytona 500 this year...or, more correctly, the Daytona 380. The race was stopped by NASCAR after a 16-minute rain delay, on lap 152...which makes only 380 of a scheduled 500-mile run.

I always hate to see a rain-shortened race. As a fan, I came to see a 500 mile race, and I feel like anything less shartchanges me. But I also realize that NASCAR can't control the weather any more than I can. In this case, had NASCAR started the race earlier to try to beat the weather--and cut at least 30 minutes out of the insipid 90-minute pre-race television programming--there's a chance they might have gotten in a respectable 425 or 450 miles before the clouds turned loose.

In a way, though, the impending weather did something that NASCAR couldn't have imagined on their own. From about lap 85 on, the drivers actually RACED each other--a novel concept at a restrictor plate race. It was actually an exciting race from that point on, and somehow I think the drivers may have enjoyed that part as much as the fans did. And maybe that's something NASCAR might consider, trying to find a way to get the drivers to actually RACE one another during the middle part of something that's being billed as a RACE. Unfortunately, NASCAR can't count on the weather, so I suppose they might try to figure out something they can insert in their rulebook to actually encourage RACING during a RACE.

As far as the controversial incident between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers goes, I have several thoughts on that one. In the first place, Junior should never have made the TWO bonehead pit mistakes to have put him in position for the incident to occur. Second, when Vickers moved down to block, Junior finally showed the world that he is the son of "The Intimidator," also known to some of his competitors as "Ironhead," the late, great Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Had he found himself in the same position, I have no doubt whatsoever that Dale Sr. would have punted Vickers just the way Junior did. Junior claims it was accidental contact, but whether it was or not, from where I stand it's good to see Junior showing that some of his daddy's racing DNA actually was passed along. Now, if Junior can just work on changing his new nickname from "Bonehead" to "Ironhead"...that would be a big move towards following in his father's footsteps.

As you can see, I'm a fan of the old-fashioned style of racing. I like it when the drivers are thinking about taking the checkered flag the moment the green flag drops, and not just on the final 20 laps of the race. I find watching the motorized equivalent of a chess match to be disturbingly boring, and lately the NASCAR championships have been won by chess players, and not by racers. After Matt Kenseth claiming the championship a few years back without winning a single race that season, the chess players have been in charge. The single exception to that has been Kyle Busch. Love him or hate him, "Rowdy" Busch has been the kind of driver that has the mindset behind the wheel that is exciting. To go into each race and run for the victory from the start, to challenge for the lead every chance you get...to me, THAT's what racing is all about.

And once NASCAR recognizes that they are sponsoring auto races and not chess matches, perhaps the fans who are now drifting away in droves will return, bringing their wallets with them. For when the actual racing returns, the fans WILL return...and so will the sponsors.