New wrinkles need ironing
NASCAR’s changes didn’t make Daytona a better race
Something landed in my inbox Tuesday morning with the headline “The first self-driving race cars are here.”
My reaction: They’re a weekend too late.
The self-driving car is a prototype developed by Roborace, and it’s a sleek Formula E racer that was unveiled at a European car show. I’m thinking some self-driving cars might have saved Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“The Great American Race” became, at times, a great American disgrace because of poor driving, wrecks, a seemingly endless telecast, the list of shouldbe Mark contenders McCarter running out of gas and what felt like a doomed experiment or two.
Sure, there was a 47-lap stretch of green-flag racing at the end and a last-lap pass for the win. Good stuff. But not a good race.
The two major wrecks eliminated much of the field. A 17-car pileup with 80 laps remaining meant only 25 cars were running at the finish and just 15 were on the lead lap. Fewer cars and fewer squirrely drivers — Hello, Jamie McMurray! Hey, all you rookies! — should prompt a long green period.
A new NASCAR rule — and look for this one to get some serious tweaking soon — permitted teams only five minutes on pit road to make repairs. Any car that went to the garage was automatically out.
The other major change, the new format of stage racing, got its share of the blame, too. My skepticism about it certainly didn’t change. It will be interesting to see if it continues to cause recklessness and if the planned cautions — remember, restarts are often the biggest culprit in wrecks — affect more traditional races.
A quick word about the winner: Kurt Busch may never contend to be the most popular driver, among fans or media. He has had a speckled off-track life that has perhaps carried over into his career. But there’s no questioning his talent or his resolve, especially after being jettisoned from a pair of superteams.
A three-time Daytona 500 runner-up, Busch was the best active driver to never win a restrictor-plate race. Prior to this year, he had 19 top-five finishes and 33 top-10 showings in 63 starts at Daytona and Talladega, leading 440 laps and completing 95.2 percent of the laps raced.
Though history says he’s a deserving winner, Busch led only one lap at Daytona — the last one. That’s either a cool stat or something else that points to an unsatisfactory beginning to the 2017 NASCAR season. To me, it’s the latter.
› Last race: Busch won the wreck-marred Daytona 500 atop a nondescript top 10. Behind him, six of the top 10 drivers owned either one or zero wins; except for Joey Logano, none has a win since fall 2014.
› Next race: Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Fox TV. (Atlanta is hosting a tripleheader weekend, with Xfinity Series and Camping World Series Truck Series races Saturday. For ticket information, call 1-877-9-AMSTIX). My pick to win Sunday is Kevin Harvick, who hasn’t won a Cup race there since his maiden victory in 2001.
› Pit notes: Carl Edwards told ESPN.com he has “been working on some really neat stuff” and that he was open to serving as a substitute driver should the need arise. … You’d expect nothing else than to hear Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president for competition, say he was “really pleased” with the stage racing at Daytona. … Talladega Superspeedway will again have its “Two for $88” ticket promotion in honor of Dale Earnhardt Jr. The promotion provides a $42 discount on two seats in the Lincoln Tower. … Atlanta Motor Speedway will be repaved after this race, the first repave on the surface in 20 years.
› Fast 5: 1. Kevin Harvick, 2. Joey Logano, 3. Kyle Busch, 4. Brad Keselowski, 5. Kurt Busch.
› What they’re saying: “If I had known all I had to do was retire, I would have retired 17 years ago if I knew it was what it took to win the race. … I ran this damn race for 18 years and didn’t win it.” — Tony Stewart, co-owner of Kurt Busch’s Daytona 500-winning Ford.
Contact Mark McCarter at markfmccarter@gmail.com.