With all the talk about the several open wheelers who decided to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008, it was the 30 year old former open wheeler Newman who led the field to the checkered flag. His car owner, Roger Penske won the Daytona 500 for the first time in his illustrious career as a car owner. Following the open wheel motif, Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 14 times as a car owner.

Newman got drafting help from teammate Kurt Busch to surge past fellow Hoosier Tony Stewart as they entered the last lap of the 200 lap race. Interestingly, Busch and Stewart had an altercation at Daytona in practice for the Bud Shootout on February 8. Both were placed on probation for 6 races including the Daytona 500.

Penske got a 1-2 finish with Newman leading Busch to the flag. Stewart was a very disappointed third. Stewart was hoping to give Toyota its first Sprint Cup points race win in NASCAR history.

While I wasn’t there, I watched the Fox telecast with interest. Overall, I think Fox did a good job. They had a ho-hum race for the first 165 laps then everything broke loose. NASCAR orchestrated two “debris” yellow flags in the first 165 to keep the cars packed up. Then there were five more yellow flags in the last 35 laps of the race. There were no injuries in the race.

POSITIVES OF THE RACE AND TELECAST

The race was started under a partly cloudy sky and temperatures were supposed to be in the mid 80s when the green flag flew. Because of Fox, the race didn’t start until nearly 4 PM EDT.

Fox and Daytona had huge prerace celebrations for the 50th running of the showcase race of the Sprint Cup Series. Fox had a nice touch inviting former CBS Daytona 500 anchor Ken Squire to do some historical reminiscing with Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, and Cale Yarborough. Waltrip stated that with 3 former Indianapolis 500 winners in the Daytona field that there might be more former Indy winners at Daytona than would run at Indy this May.

Another poignant DW moment came with his memory of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash in 2001 at Daytona. Waltrip was nearly in tears as he spoke about the passing of his long time friend and competitor. Another powerful Earnhardt moment was the car that Earnhardt won the 1998 Daytona 500 appearing in front of the prerace stage while Brooks and Dunn were singing their tribute to the winners of previous Daytona 500s. Many other former Daytona winning cars were driven on the track during the celebration.

It was great to see Richard Petty drop the green flag. Who better to start the race.

The early stages of the race were rather boring in my opinion. It was good to see 2006 Indianapolis 500 champion Sam Hornish, Jr. running in the top ten early. His effort was not forgotten by Waltrip who said that Hornish was doing extremely well in his first Daytona 500 and that he had the time and the ability to become great in NASCAR.

A Toyota commercial with young boys controlling several Toyota Sprint Cup cars with remotes was quite funny. Tony Stewart made it work with his funny comments about his car being possessed. Another great commercial was the UPS spot thanking Dale Jarrett for his years driving for UPS and finally hanging up the keys to the “truck.”

Kyle Busch ran an exceptional race and looked like he had the strongest car but could not hang on to win.

NEGATIVES OF THE RACE AND TELECAST

Chris Meyers said that the race was going to be 2 and 1/2 miles in length when he was telling viewers about how many cameras were being used to cover the race. Jeff Hammonds called Sam Hornish, Jr. a three time Indy winner when he should have said Sam was a three time IndyCar champion.

Part of the prerace celebration was horrible. Chubby Checker’s lip sync of “Twist” left a lot to be desired. It was a shame that Benny Parsons had passed away too soon to be a part pf the ceremony.

There was a constant comparison to the Indianapolis 500. It was almost like Fox’s talent was trying to convince us that the Daytona 500 is a more important race than the Indianapolis 500. I am biased, but there is no way the two can be compared. Indy is still Indy and by the time the 100th Indy 500 is run in 2016 I am sure the landscape of auto racing will have changed from what we know it as today.

Waltrip commented that Denny Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing was Kurt Busch instead of Kyle. May have been an easy mistake to make. Speaking of Kyle Busch, it was interesting that he was bumping Hamlin very early in the race. He still lacks some maturity, but most 22 year old rich kids do.

Fox used what they called “Mole Cams.” They were cameras placed low near the pavement in the corners. Although that angle has been used before, Fox wanted us to believe that they were the first to use that shot. Seems a common thread in NASCAR. If it happens in NASCAR it has to have originated with NASCAR. The “Mole Cams’ were cool except when they used them into direct sunlight as the sun set late in the race. Those shots were useless in my opinion.

NASCAR had to fabricate two yellow flags to keep the cars close in the first 165 laps. The cars strung out early and the race could have lost viewers had they continued to string out.

Near the end of the race I wondered why Mike Joy called the possibility of a green, white, checkered finish “overdrive.” Maybe NASCAR has changed it, but I have always heard it called “overtime” before. “Overtime” seems more appropriate but it wouldn’t surprise me that NASCAR has changed the term to distance itself from the “stick and ball sports.”

It was great to see a fellow Hoosier win. Especially a born and bred Hoosier. Not a transplanted one.

If you read this and have any comments (good or bad) feel free to contact me at ssmgracing@yahoo.com. I will endeavor to reply to all e-mails sent me.

The comments I have made in this blog are solely my opinion and do not represent the those of any other person, entity, or sanctioning body.

Steve Snoddy
Indianapolis, IN