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Past Summer Race Winners Not A Factor At Daytona
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
The talk all week heading to the 400 miler at Daytona newly dubbed The Coke Zero 400 was
that it wasn’t so much of a “wild card” race because the superspeedway in the summertime
required handling and not just speed. The top teams that have been running well all season
could possibly escape the ‘shuffle and fall back’ syndrome normally associated with the high
speed chess match.
Tell that to the past, active summer event winners and they might tell you differently.
Kyle Busch, who had never won a race at Daytona, benefited from some other driver’s
misfortune and held off a charging Carl Edwards in the closing caution-filled laps to win the
Coke Zero 400.
Greg Biffle, winner of the 2003 July race, finished 43rd
Jeff Gordon, winner of the 2004 July Race, finished 30th
Tony Stewart, winner of the 2005 & 2006 [car] finished 20th.
Jamie McMurray, winner of last summer’s event, finished 32nd.
The best placing past race winning driver from the last 5 summer events finished 20th, but
wasn’t even in the car and as Tony Stewart went out at lap 72 due to illness described as
flu-like symptoms and the remainder of the race was run by replacement driver, J.J. Yeley.
Yeley failed to qualify his no. 96 DLP Toyota for the event and was running strong in the top
ten as the laps wound down before getting caught up in an accident not of his doing.
If you go back a little further to 2002, Michael Waltrip was victorious at the event who came
in 27th after a last lap accident. Back further still to 2001 you find Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who
managed an 8th place finish. The 2000 July race winner, Jeff Burton was caught up in
several accidents and finished 37th.
Without pit strategy, fuel mileage or staying out on old tires even a factor, Daytona had its
own unique way of making the event a wild card race. The factor was the close confined
racing associated with the restrictor plate and 30 cars on the lead lap at Daytona. The
“bump”, inability to check out and clear the car that you are passing, bump drafting and
handling issues created a wreck-fest for a total of five cautions in just a little over the last
20 laps of the race, which not coincidentally concluded under caution during a green, white,
[yellow] checkered finish.
Daytona is a wild card. Not to say that the top running drivers don’t have a great shot at a
win there, but more to say that the top running drivers have a better shot at getting caught
up in an accident or shuffled out and relegated to a worse than top 20 finish.
The top teams were all optimistic because the track did require a good handling car and
good horsepower to be a contender. The middle to back of the pack teams were optimistic
because they knew they were at Daytona and anyone had a chance at a win.
Restrictor plate racing is exciting to watch and a great show [minus the above mentioned
barrage of cautions in the closing laps], but who your favorite driver is and how he is
performing during the season might make this a less than desirable event for you. Jeff
Burton, for example, Mr. Consistency had his first DNF of the season and lost a spot in the
points. Burton was involved in two incidents, one at lap 125 and again at lap 141 that finally
ended his night with the car too damaged to continue.
Other notables who had a bad night were Elliot Sadler who crashed on lap 110 finished
39th, David Gilliland who was running well at times wrecked on lap 125 and finished 40th,
Ryan Newman who was in a total of three incidents finished 36th and Denny Hamlin who led
6 laps, finished 26th.
The top 12 [Chase] in points is set as follows after Daytona:
1. Kyle Busch increases his points lead to 182 [race winner]
2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moves up one position. [finished 8th]
3. Jeff Burton falls back one position. [finished 37th]
4. Carl Edwards remains in 4th. [finished 2nd]
5. Jimmie Johnson (no change) [finished 23rd]
6. Jeff Gordon (no change) [finished 30th]
7. Denny Hamlin (no change) [finished 26th]
8. Kasey Kahne moves up two positions. [finished 7th]
9. Matt Kenseth makes the biggest jump moving up four positions. [finished 3rd]
10. Clint Bowyer moves up one. [finished 9th]
11. Greg Biffle falls back three positions after a last place finish. [finished 43rd]
12. Tony Stewart fall three positions and hangs on to the top 12 by 2 points. [finished 20th]
Kevin Harvick who dropped out of the top 12 losing one position not due to his finish of
12th, but because of being on the bubble and Matt Kenseth leap-frogging him
The commentary already this [Monday] morning is about the green, white, checkered ending
under caution after one attempt, but some of that might be because of who the race winner
[Kyle Busch] was. Dave Despain commented Sunday night on his show Wind Tunnel on
Speed that he would like to see the green, white, checkered repeated until the race actually
finished under green. That would make it more exciting for sure and even more of a wild
card in the end.
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
The talk all week heading to the 400 miler at Daytona newly dubbed The Coke Zero 400 was
that it wasn’t so much of a “wild card” race because the superspeedway in the summertime
required handling and not just speed. The top teams that have been running well all season
could possibly escape the ‘shuffle and fall back’ syndrome normally associated with the high
speed chess match.
Tell that to the past, active summer event winners and they might tell you differently.
Kyle Busch, who had never won a race at Daytona, benefited from some other driver’s
misfortune and held off a charging Carl Edwards in the closing caution-filled laps to win the
Coke Zero 400.
Greg Biffle, winner of the 2003 July race, finished 43rd
Jeff Gordon, winner of the 2004 July Race, finished 30th
Tony Stewart, winner of the 2005 & 2006 [car] finished 20th.
Jamie McMurray, winner of last summer’s event, finished 32nd.
The best placing past race winning driver from the last 5 summer events finished 20th, but
wasn’t even in the car and as Tony Stewart went out at lap 72 due to illness described as
flu-like symptoms and the remainder of the race was run by replacement driver, J.J. Yeley.
Yeley failed to qualify his no. 96 DLP Toyota for the event and was running strong in the top
ten as the laps wound down before getting caught up in an accident not of his doing.
If you go back a little further to 2002, Michael Waltrip was victorious at the event who came
in 27th after a last lap accident. Back further still to 2001 you find Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who
managed an 8th place finish. The 2000 July race winner, Jeff Burton was caught up in
several accidents and finished 37th.
Without pit strategy, fuel mileage or staying out on old tires even a factor, Daytona had its
own unique way of making the event a wild card race. The factor was the close confined
racing associated with the restrictor plate and 30 cars on the lead lap at Daytona. The
“bump”, inability to check out and clear the car that you are passing, bump drafting and
handling issues created a wreck-fest for a total of five cautions in just a little over the last
20 laps of the race, which not coincidentally concluded under caution during a green, white,
[yellow] checkered finish.
Daytona is a wild card. Not to say that the top running drivers don’t have a great shot at a
win there, but more to say that the top running drivers have a better shot at getting caught
up in an accident or shuffled out and relegated to a worse than top 20 finish.
The top teams were all optimistic because the track did require a good handling car and
good horsepower to be a contender. The middle to back of the pack teams were optimistic
because they knew they were at Daytona and anyone had a chance at a win.
Restrictor plate racing is exciting to watch and a great show [minus the above mentioned
barrage of cautions in the closing laps], but who your favorite driver is and how he is
performing during the season might make this a less than desirable event for you. Jeff
Burton, for example, Mr. Consistency had his first DNF of the season and lost a spot in the
points. Burton was involved in two incidents, one at lap 125 and again at lap 141 that finally
ended his night with the car too damaged to continue.
Other notables who had a bad night were Elliot Sadler who crashed on lap 110 finished
39th, David Gilliland who was running well at times wrecked on lap 125 and finished 40th,
Ryan Newman who was in a total of three incidents finished 36th and Denny Hamlin who led
6 laps, finished 26th.
The top 12 [Chase] in points is set as follows after Daytona:
1. Kyle Busch increases his points lead to 182 [race winner]
2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moves up one position. [finished 8th]
3. Jeff Burton falls back one position. [finished 37th]
4. Carl Edwards remains in 4th. [finished 2nd]
5. Jimmie Johnson (no change) [finished 23rd]
6. Jeff Gordon (no change) [finished 30th]
7. Denny Hamlin (no change) [finished 26th]
8. Kasey Kahne moves up two positions. [finished 7th]
9. Matt Kenseth makes the biggest jump moving up four positions. [finished 3rd]
10. Clint Bowyer moves up one. [finished 9th]
11. Greg Biffle falls back three positions after a last place finish. [finished 43rd]
12. Tony Stewart fall three positions and hangs on to the top 12 by 2 points. [finished 20th]
Kevin Harvick who dropped out of the top 12 losing one position not due to his finish of
12th, but because of being on the bubble and Matt Kenseth leap-frogging him
The commentary already this [Monday] morning is about the green, white, checkered ending
under caution after one attempt, but some of that might be because of who the race winner
[Kyle Busch] was. Dave Despain commented Sunday night on his show Wind Tunnel on
Speed that he would like to see the green, white, checkered repeated until the race actually
finished under green. That would make it more exciting for sure and even more of a wild
card in the end.
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