More of the Same & a Late Winning Shot

Not long after William Byron was declared the winner of the 66th running of the Daytona 500, I got a text message from a close friend.

“That’s a wet fart of an ending.”

Indeed.

Not because Byron won.

Congratulation to him and the No. 24 team.

No, it was the how. Or, at least how it always seems to happen in the “Great American Race” these days.

For 190 laps, the drivers kept their relative cool.

After a lap 7 crash that involved seven cars, we had an intriguing and often-weird race with fuel mileage strategy and no crashes.

There were 41 lead changes among 20 drivers, nine of whom led double-digit laps.

As the laps ticked down, I nervously wondered if NASCAR’s elite could repeat what they did last year when they went the last 44 laps at the Speedway Motorsports’ personal Frankenstein’s monster of a track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, without crashing.

But that was Atlanta.

This is the Daytona 500. And hope can be a dangerous thing.

Enter lap 193 and a 23-car pileup on the backstretch.

Because of course.

After a 15-minute cleanup, the boys went back at it for all the glory.

Only for the Daytona 500 to finish under caution for the fourth time in five years.

Ross Chastain and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric went for a wet spin in the infield grass, triggering the caution after the field had taken the white flag.

I’m really tired of superspeedway racing and their conclusions.

I long for races like the 2004 Daytona 500, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. beat Tony Stewart in a two-car duel by .273 seconds and third place was roughly 10 car lengths back.

But no, the field has to be a parking lot or a demolition derby at the moment of truth.

But hey, at least Monday (Feb. 19) was the second 500 to actually end at 500 miles since 2017.

Remember, last year ended after 530 miles.

Progress is progress.

Also, at least it’s not like we’re going to a second superspeedway race next week.

*holds hand to ear*

What? Since when!?!

Now let’s talk about the finish.

I posted a tweet Sunday night that took off.

It’s the on-board camera shot from Alex Bowman‘s No. 48 car in the moments before the yellow caution light flashed on and stopped the field.

I recorded and posted it after hearing FOX announcer Mike Joy remind viewers that the winner isn’t determined by the last scoring loop, but by the “moment of caution.”

OK.