The style of racing at drafting speedways inherently will cause wrecks. And those wrecks lead to NASCAR having to make decisions on when to throw the caution, especially on the final lap.
The easy answer to all the discussion after the Daytona 500 is this: Dude, this ain’t new. Been frustrated over this for more than 30 years. It’s the nature of the beast. Get used to it.
But that isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the answer, especially when seeing Ryan Preece have another scary flip at Daytona.
Daytona 500: Ryan Preece’s scary flip with five laps to go
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So to listen to Denny Hamlin on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast about the style of racing and Kevin Harvick and his “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast on the inconsistency of calls at the end of the race and hear their frustrations, NASCAR should take notice.
The flat underbody of the Next Gen car is a new element in recent years. The flat underbody keeps teams from spending money and trying to manipulate aerodynamics underneath the car. Introduce something different and teams will be spending countless hours and dollars trying to find an advantage.
Some would argue they already do, and if it creates some separation in the field, that might be a good thing considering the current style of racing. Give the drivers just a little more time to react or a little more space to make a move, and maybe the talk would be about what a great move it was to win the race instead of how everyone up front wrecked and the seas parted for a driver to win the race.
Whether any slight change in horsepower could make a difference also should be explored (if it hasn’t already).
As far as the decisions at the end of the race, it seemed the Thursday night call to throw the caution just before the leaders came to the line was a little bit of a quick trigger. The decision Sunday where the leaders raced to the finish (with William Byron coming out on top) was the right call.
NASCAR says that its decision to let the leaders race to the finish Sunday occurred because they could safely dispatch safety equipment on the backstretch with the race still green and then throw the caution after the leaders crossed the finish line.
When a wreck happens on the frontstretch, safety equipment could come from a variety of angles and possibly into race traffic.
The reality is, though, drivers are not going to lift from Turn 4 to the checkered flag. That’s already clear. Yes, the Ryan Newman wreck in 2020 was viscous, but whether the caution comes out or not, that wreck happens.
Daytona 500: William Byron, Denny Hamlin & more postrace interviews
As far as those who argue about inconsistency? They appear to have a valid point that decisions appear inconsistent.
While inconsistency is frustrating and certainly impacts the sport’s integrity (and at the top level of the sport it shouldn’t happen), NASCAR shouldn’t hesitate to make the right call over fear of being inconsistent. Just because NASCAR probably made a bad call Thursday and could have let the leaders race to the finish, shouldn’t mean it impacts other races that weekend or the coming weeks. The fans deserve a race to the finish and if that means competitors have to guess when the caution might come out and if it means fans will question whether NASCAR plays favorites, then so be it.
The bottom line: The sport’s biggest race should have moments where fans remember a great move for the win. That didn’t happen Sunday. And to be fair, it doesn’t happen in all sports — the Dodgers clinched the World Series in Game 5 where the biggest moments weren’t what the Dodgers did but instead the fifth-inning collapse of the Yankees.
That doesn’t mean everyone should just say “that’s superspeedway racing” and resign themselves that this is just the way it is. NASCAR has a working group to study the playoffs and the points format. Maybe one is needed to study the actual racing at superspeedways.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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