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Sprint Cup
CUP: A Bigger, Badder, Better Daytona 500?
Today's Daytona 500 has all the elements to be a memorable one...
Kevin Harvick edged out Mark Martin to win the 2007 Daytona 500. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Daytona International Speedway’s public relations staff took a shot this week at identifying the five best finishes in the 51-year history of the Daytona 500.
Based on historic value and drama (and certainly open to debate), the choices were:
1. The first 500 in 1959. Lee Petty wins the race in a side-by-side finish with Johnny Beauchamp, but officials need several days of studying film and photos to award the trophy.
2. 1976. David Pearson beats Richard Petty in a gathering of eagles at the finish.
3. 1999. Jeff Gordon passes Rusty Wallace with a startling move in turn one 11 laps from the finish and beats Dale Earnhardt to the line.
4. 2007. Kevin Harvick edges Mark Martin by .020 of a second as calamity erupts behind them, including Clint Bowyer finishing the race on his roof.
5. 1993. Dale Jarrett wins the race while his father, Ned, a retired driver, calls him home on the CBS broadcast.
Those PR drumbeaters and every NASCAR and television official in a five-state radius of Daytona would love to push Sunday’s 52nd Daytona 500 finish to the top of that list.
This will be the first point race of the “have at it, boys” era of Sprint Cup racing, as vice president of competition Robin Pemberton instructed drivers in a widely quoted proclamation last month in a NASCAR preseason press conference. Anticipation of a great race with a spine-tingling finish is high, particularly since NASCAR upped the odds this week by modifying its “green-white-checkered” finish platform to expand that concept to as many as three attempts.
A bigger restrictor plate and a slightly modified aero package have improved throttle response and car maneuverability and seem to have boosted the potential for better racing. And more on-the-edge racing.
Carl Edwards said his Thursday qualifying race produced drivers racing “right to the edge. It looked like disaster was going to happen and then all of a sudden everything would work out, and somebody would give and somebody would take. It ended up being a very good balance, and I think no matter how loose NASCAR’s rules become on the racetrack, I think there’s only a certain limit you’ll see everybody go to. That’s right at the limit of disaster, and that’s where we’ll race.
“You just feel like you’re a little more free, and I think that’s good. It feels a little better to race like that to me.”
And that could bring on NASCAR’s green-white-checkered extravaganza.
“People are racing really clean, but you’re pushing and yesterday (Thursday’s qualifying races) was only half a field,” said Juan Pablo Montoya. “And it was out of control. It was good, but it was out of control. I think it’s going to be interesting because you’re going to have a lot of the good cars up front because the way the tires wear and everything at the end, they’re going to be a handful. But it makes it interesting.”
Interesting. After a 2009 that was sometimes lackluster, there is that hope.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Based on historic value and drama (and certainly open to debate), the choices were:
1. The first 500 in 1959. Lee Petty wins the race in a side-by-side finish with Johnny Beauchamp, but officials need several days of studying film and photos to award the trophy.
2. 1976. David Pearson beats Richard Petty in a gathering of eagles at the finish.
3. 1999. Jeff Gordon passes Rusty Wallace with a startling move in turn one 11 laps from the finish and beats Dale Earnhardt to the line.
4. 2007. Kevin Harvick edges Mark Martin by .020 of a second as calamity erupts behind them, including Clint Bowyer finishing the race on his roof.
5. 1993. Dale Jarrett wins the race while his father, Ned, a retired driver, calls him home on the CBS broadcast.
Those PR drumbeaters and every NASCAR and television official in a five-state radius of Daytona would love to push Sunday’s 52nd Daytona 500 finish to the top of that list.
This will be the first point race of the “have at it, boys” era of Sprint Cup racing, as vice president of competition Robin Pemberton instructed drivers in a widely quoted proclamation last month in a NASCAR preseason press conference. Anticipation of a great race with a spine-tingling finish is high, particularly since NASCAR upped the odds this week by modifying its “green-white-checkered” finish platform to expand that concept to as many as three attempts.
A bigger restrictor plate and a slightly modified aero package have improved throttle response and car maneuverability and seem to have boosted the potential for better racing. And more on-the-edge racing.
Carl Edwards said his Thursday qualifying race produced drivers racing “right to the edge. It looked like disaster was going to happen and then all of a sudden everything would work out, and somebody would give and somebody would take. It ended up being a very good balance, and I think no matter how loose NASCAR’s rules become on the racetrack, I think there’s only a certain limit you’ll see everybody go to. That’s right at the limit of disaster, and that’s where we’ll race.
“You just feel like you’re a little more free, and I think that’s good. It feels a little better to race like that to me.”
And that could bring on NASCAR’s green-white-checkered extravaganza.
“People are racing really clean, but you’re pushing and yesterday (Thursday’s qualifying races) was only half a field,” said Juan Pablo Montoya. “And it was out of control. It was good, but it was out of control. I think it’s going to be interesting because you’re going to have a lot of the good cars up front because the way the tires wear and everything at the end, they’re going to be a handful. But it makes it interesting.”
Interesting. After a 2009 that was sometimes lackluster, there is that hope.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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