Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Speeding Bullets: Daytona 500 '11


  • Congratulations to Trevor Bayne on getting his first Sprint Cup victory.  The fact that it came in the Daytona 500 makes it even more remarkable.  To top it all off, at only 20 years of age, he is now the youngest winner ever of the Great American Race.  History was made on Sunday in more ways than one, and it will be a day that this young man will remember for the rest of his life.  The Daytona 500 may be the only race he ever wins, but it is the one race that every driver wants to win more than any other.  FOX said during the broadcast that Bayne doesn’t even have a sponsor for the whole season; I don’t think he’ll have that problem anymore though…
  • Carl Edwards is the guy that everyone is asking “Where did he come from”???   He ran mid-pack all race long but had a power surge in the final Green-White-Checker and got pushed by David Gilliland to a second place finish.  At the finish line, he was right on the bumper of Bayne and was almost able to overtake him.  If the line were down in turn one like it is at Talladega, then we might have had a different winner of the Great American Race...
  • Trevor Bayne wasn't the only no-name driver who had a terrific day.  Just look at the results, and you will see that five of the top ten finishers are guys you normally don't see up there.  David Gilliland finished third, and he was a start and parker for most of last season.  Bobby Labonte came home in fourth, and he is a former champion who has just lost his spark over the past decade.  Regan Smith and Paul Menard crossed the line in seventh and ninth, respectively, and they were frontrunners throughout the day who haven't had a huge amount of success in the past.  Old timers Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte even managed to finish in the top fifteen...
  • In addition to seeing some new faces toward the top of the field, it was also nice to see Jimmie Johnson falter.  His hopes of a second Daytona 500 came to an end in the early Big One.  Don't get excited though after only one race that this may be the year his championship streak comes to an end.  You will probably be having completely different thoughts after next week's race at Phoenix...
  • After the past two Daytona 500's being effected by rain and holes in the track, we finally got to watch one on a bright sunny day with no problems in sight.  There was a record setting number of 16 cautions, but that was partly due to all of the great racing which made this 500 one that will stand out in peoples' memories...
  • I noticed that FOX has decided to start using their NFL music in their NASCAR broadcasts.  I guess they finally realized the stuff they have used the past couple of seasons has gotten too cheesy.  I think the best solution though is for them to go back to the theme music they were using in their early years when the ratings were much higher...

That's all for the Daytona 500 edition.  Next week, NASCAR goes out west to Phoenix for a duel in the desert.  This will be Jimmie's chance to redeem himself after his Daytona performance.  Of course, we all hope that he will just get into even deeper of a hole...









9 comments:

Dwindy1 said...

Interesting insights Brent!

I said in another comment that Trevor was about the only driver in the field that everyone in attendance could be happy to see win. Was a star born?

I wonder if a single person in Daytona's stands if asked to pick the 2011 winner would have said Trevor Bayne...

tezgm99 said...

nice to see you back posting on here, gonger :)

do you reckon Mikey will get penalties for his truck being so obviously failing inspection with the half spoiler thing? I haven't heard anything about it yet...he should given that was much more obvious than Bowyer's Loudon car, lol

tezgm99 said...

never mind, found it -
Waltrip’s crew chief, Doug Howe, was fined $25,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the year, while the No. 15 team lost 25 owner points.

25 points is 19th...106 points in the old system, so less than Bowyer for a more obvious fault. Good old NASCAR consistancy there *rolls eyes*

Gene Haddock said...

Good job, Brent. Yes, I expect JJ to rebound with a top-3 at Phoenix.

I enjoyed seeing the low budget teams racing up front in the 500.

Congrats on your fantasy team! I guess I wasn't the only one that had Trevor last week?

Dwindy... Mike Joy of Fox TV picked Trevor to win... before the race started!

jon_464 said...

Brent, good insights. As far as the race, it was an excellent race. Bayne put the block on Edwards like a 10-year veteran that's won a few 500's, and didn't look like a second-race rookie. What was sweet was it didn't cause Edwards to let up on the gas and cause a big pileup behind him.

Mikey should get SEVERE penalties. He did something FAR more blatant than Bowyer last year. Perhaps being stripped of the win, the points, and the purse and having it handed to the second place finisher would be a good start.

Brent said...

Dwindy, all of the fans were happy to see him win because he hasn't been in Cup long enough to make anyone mad. I don't know if a star was born, but we got a glimpse Sunday of some fresh, young talent...

tez, after seeing Mikee in action this weekend, I've decided it's time for him to hang up being a driver. Just being an owner is much more up his alley...

Gene, I wasn't clever enough to go out on a limb and pick Trevor like you did; Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya are the two guys who were the magic for my team...

Brent said...

Jon, I'm glad Edwards didn't do to Bayne what he did to Brad Keselowski last year during the Atlanta race. He took enough heat from the incident that I guess he learned how to behave himself...

Perhaps Mikee just needs to be banned from racing in NASCAR completely for the rest of the season...

klvalus said...

I am still picking my way thru the TV broadcast on my DVR - I missed so much of the commentary being there but was impressed with the coverage Trevor got by FOX in the prerace.

Kurt went to VL to give his congrats - as he crossed start/finish he asked "Did that rookie just win this race??!!" 10 - 4 was the answer. LOL

Great job on the bullets and the fantasy team! I'm gonna have to catch you this week at PHX! =P

Brent said...

Kristen, I guess Kurt won't be referring to Trevor as "that rookie" anymore after what he accomplished on Sunday... haha. Good luck in the fantasy league; it'll be interesting to see how long I'll be able to stay on top...