DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fifty-two changes to the lead among 21 drivers. There were only three in-race warnings in the first 198 laps of the race and then three more in the final 13 laps, 10 in overtime. The Daytona 500 winner didn’t take the lead until that Round and then advanced into Victory Lane for the first time in over five and a half years.
It all reads like an unlikely confluence of racing events. A once-in-a-lifetime type of sighting of Halley’s Comet. ONE NASCAR Unicorn. But it is not above. Not in Daytona. Not in the biggest stock of racing on its biggest roulette wheel.
No, the pile of spaghetti with spin stats and the metal plate became the Grand Mode of Operation of the Great Race in America. A few hours of calm, then some wacky laps, followed by a driver standing at Victory Lane who prides himself on being there but deep down, if they’re being honest, they can’t believe it either. Okay.
“It feels like a dream, it really is,” winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. confessed as he received a flurry of conga hugs from countless revelers from JTG Daugherty Racing, a car, poor but proud. “But I know it’s true because I know how hard everyone here has worked. How hard I’ve worked. Tonight’s race has finally given us the breaks that we deserve. I’ve been so close for a long time. Standing here has taken a long time. But right now, it’s all worth it.”
Worth the personal wait for the Stenhouse for 2,060 days. Five years, seven months, 19 days. Almost 68 months. One hundred and ninety-nine races. It’s been a long time since he won the NASCAR Cup Series event, also at Daytona, the 400-mile race in the summer on July 1, 2017. This was only his third win. in a decade of trying. For JTG Daughtery, the drought lasted even longer. Car number 47 has not been covered with confetti and champagne since August 10, 2014, for a total of 3,116 days. This is only their second trophy to bring to the race shop. The biggest single-race trophy that can be won in NASCAR.
“We always have to tone down a little bit of the weekly battles with these big teams and that’s okay, we are, but there are nights when we’re asking, ‘Can we keep popping those big teams? this lamp?'” team-owner Tad Geschickter explained Sunday night, standing next to his wife Jodi. The pair moved their team from the Xfinity Series to the Cup before the 2009 Daytona 500, joining forces with former NBA All-Star Brad Daugherty (he had started his day at Daytona but missed the celebration after feeling sorry for him). felt unwell and had to fly home). “Covid has been really hard on us. We’re funded by retailers, grocers, vendors. When they’re squeezed, so are we. We need a break. We need it. the playing field is level and we have achieved that.”
They got it in the form of NASCAR’s Next Generation car launching in 2022, just one part of a series of rule changes made by the sanctioning agency to help teams cut costs and have can bridge the gap between the remote financial terminals of the garage. That parity swept across the sport a year ago with 19 different winners, the most in 21 seasons.
Added to the hypercar racing, plus the constant reset button that the Daytona 500 has become in recent seasons, that level playing field became the introductory stage for the Stenhouse and the 47th Chevy.
“We finished 35th in qualifying on Wednesday and we finished 16th (out of 21) in Thursday’s qualifying race,” Stenhouse recalls. “We were penalized for speeding on the pit lane early in today’s race and even if I took the lead late we were running low on fuel and I was always afraid that I would run out of gas. But then , it worked out!”
For him, yes. For others, not so much. Again, that has become the way of the place.
Over the past decade, the Daytona 500 has averaged more than 32 lead changes in each race. In the past eight races, the race has seen four past the final lap for the lead after only nine in the event’s first 57 runs. Over the past seven races, an average of 31 cars collided at the Daytona 500, accounting for more than three-quarters of the area, including 30 cars on Sunday. The Daytona 500 motorcycle hasn’t won a race since Dale Jarrett in 2000. The last driver to lead the race at half-way and win was Davey Allison in 1992.
It was utter chaos. A force of evil by the sea seems determined to slam doors in the face of NASCAR legends; former NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch And Brad Keselowski combined to lead 61 laps on Sunday but ultimately hit a total of 0–48 in their Daytona 500 career. But then it also likes to open that door to those in need. For example, a Mississippi racer who was once considered a great at the superpower at the time was Roush Fenway Racing and then seemed to be thrown into motorsport purgatory.
Just look at the three previous winners of this race. Stenhouse’s third win was his first in 199 races. Last year it was Austin Cindric, a rookie to attend the Cup Series for the first time. In 2021, that is Michael McDowellwon the first of his 357th career start.
“You expect chaos in Daytona, and you always have, but today it seems crazier than ever. I don’t think anyone can deny that,” Stenhouse explained as the paper sponsor. His janitor threw scrolls around Victory Lane behind him.
“Most of the time, the chaos that this place has become, it bites your ass. You’re in the wall. In the lawn. Devastated and piled up and back home. You start to think it’s going to be. never go your way, especially in this place and in this race.”
The 35-year-old then turns around, pointing to the spot on the giant Harley J. Earl trophy, where his name will be engraved in sterling silver alongside symbols such as the Hall of Fame. Little Richard, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon … as well as the winners who have to look for them such as Pete Hamilton, Derrike deal And Trevor Bayne.
“But sometimes you take a break, you catch some breaks, you make the right move at the right time, and Daytona, that pays off for you.”
