Should Daytona Be The Cutoff Race For NASCAR’s Playoffs?

Daytona International Speedway usually presents a lot of mystery to the racing world. Thanks to the unpredictable racing at superspeedway tracks with the restrictor plate, you never know what will happen.

There always seems to be the Big One, or two or three or sometimes even more. No driver or team is safe and if you ask many around the racing world the secret to winning at Daytona or Talladega Superspeedway, they will tell you the secret is simple: luck. Just hope you are lucky enough to stay out of the crashes.

Yet, the superspeedways present an interesting concept that we really only see four or five times a year and there is an element of fun to it. However, due to the craziness of the events, many think Daytona or Talladega should not be in a crucial spot of the schedule, like Daytona has been the past couple of seasons.

So, we decided to debate it. Should Daytona be the cutoff race of NASCAR’s playoffs? Trenton Worsham and Michael Nebbia give their thoughts on the topic.

Move it Back to July 4 Weekend Where it Belongs

Daytona as the regular season finale just doesn’t work. There are quite a few reasons for that.

First things first: let’s talk about the weather.

The end of August in Florida is right in the middle of hurricane season. Sure, Florida and its East Coast shoreline are always at a higher risk for a hurricane than say a track like Pocono Raceway, but the risk of a hurricane and the weather that precedes and/or follows them hitting the Daytona area is just too high. With it being the last week of the regular season, this creates additional problems for teams and drivers who have the playoffs just a week around the corner. Any delays to the schedule would be a delay in preparing for the championship, which is something no one wants to see.

The July 4 weekend race at Daytona had it all. It was the perfect race at the perfect date. To celebrate America’s birthday at the place where NASCAR was born just made sense, didn’t it? There’s nothing that is more American than NASCAR and its fans. There was no reason for it to move. We had an elite date on the schedule and now that’s gone because NASCAR wanted to add drama to the end of the regular season. Maybe a better playoff format can do that? I don’t know.

Plus, Daytona is a racetrack where luck is involved and the end of the regular season, where drivers and teams are going to be striving to be their best, shouldn’t come down to a racetrack where so much luck is involved…