Howdy race fans! This week's serving of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly by Crappafoni Pictures is a good mix of youth and experience, with a twist of flair and a dash of drama. Served with new dinnerware and flatware. Enjoy!
THE GOOD
Trevor Bayne: as the race winner, he gets first billing. He is the youth in the recipe. At 20 years one day, he becomes the youngest winner of the 500 and the second youngest winner in Sprint Cup history. He also ties a record in winning in just his second Cup start, joining Jamie McMurray, who accomplished the feat at Charlotte in October 2002. He also joins Lee Petty as the only drivers to win the Daytona 500 in their first start in the Great American Race. (Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500.) For the first time since David Pearson in 1976, the Wood Brothers are back in Victory Lane in the Great American Race. It's also the first time the Wood Brothers 21 car has won since Elliott Sadler's first Cup win in 2001. And also he joins six other drivers to have their first Cup win be the Daytona 500. What cannot be overlooked is the block Bayne put on Carl Edwards coming out of turn 4 for the final time. He looked like a 10-year veteran that's won a few titles rather than a rookie in just his second start. Great block! Congratulations Trevor!
Carl Edwards: he very nearly won his third straight points race, but the aforementioned block by Bayne put the kibosh on that. He ran a smart, sound race, and was PATIENT, something he's had a short supply of in the past. Although he never led, he put himself in a position to possibly win the 500. He now leads the points standings by one over Bobby Labonte and David Gilliland.
David Gilliland: like Edwards, he ran a smart, sound race, and slowly crept his way towards the front. He managed to stay out of trouble when the leading contenders FOUND trouble. And like Edwards, he never led, but put himself in position for a very good finish.
Kurt Busch: he had an amazing Speedweeks. He won the Bud Shootout, one of the two twin 125s, and was stout in the 500. It looked like he was going to be the first driver to win the Speedweeks Trifecta (Shootout, 125s, and 500). When he lost his draft partner Regan Smith, he paired with younger brother Kyle, but Kyle didn't have the juice Regan had. Still, Kurt had a Speedweeks to remember.
Regan Smith: he had an AWESOME Speedweeks. He and Kurt Busch did a LOT of dancing together during Speedweeks and the 500. But late in the race, he and Busch got separated, Tony Stewart tried to bump Busch into Smith, but bumped too hard. That led to the wreck that ended Smith's chances to win the 500. A great bounce back to finish seventh, easily his best Daytona result.
Juan Pablo Montoya: he was strongest in the middle of the race, when he and Jamie McMurray swapped the lead. The Ganassi teammates ran well together, but when McMurray lost a cylinder and dropped off the pace, Montoya had to find a new partner. He was in a late race crash that could have killed his chances for a strong finish, but he dug in for a sixth place finish.
David Ragan: he was in prime position to get his first Cup win until he got black flagged for leaving his lane prior to passing the start/finish line. He had to start at the tail end of the lead lap and that was too many positions to make up. But he gets a Good for running up front for most of the race.
Brian Vickers: his first race in nine months after battling life-threatening blood clots. The long-term prognosis for Vickers is good. Unfortunately he got caught up in a crash. Welcome back to Cup, Brian!
THE BAD
J.J. Yeley: he was the first car out with engine trouble at lap 10.
Michael Waltrip: in possibly his final 500, he causes the Big One on lap 29 that took out A LOT of good cars, including 3/4 of Hendrick Motorsports' lineup. (Can you guess which HMS driver was NOT involved?)
THE UGLY
Kevin Harvick: for the first time in nearly 160 races, he blows an engine, and blows it early. The ECR engine packages are usually some of the most reliable engines on the circuit, and for Harvick to blow the engine early was an anomaly, to put it mildly. A sub-Good to Harvick for leading a lap early.
Jeff Burton: Harvick's RCR teammate also blew an engine, but his lasted 72 laps longer than Harvick's. A sub-Good to Burton for leading laps and running a sound race up to that point.
Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours!
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6 comments:
Another Good, and an oversight on my part, is for Bobby Labonte. He stayed out of trouble, ran a smart race, and was there at the end. He'll be more competitive than in the last few years. So far, a good match.
yeah, that's pretty accurate, Jon. What I like about Trevor's 'block' was that, unlike what pretty much everyone else does, he didn't allow Carl get a fender inside him so we didn't see a wreck/DQ due to yellow line violation....are you listening other 42 cars? That's how it should be done :)
not sure I'd have put Yeley over Montoya in bad....blowing an engine is more unlucky than anything else while Juan seemed intent on trying to be involved in as many incidents as possible, lol
Certainly a different race at Daytona this year. Seems that dancing partners is the way to go fast now on the new surface.
Only one problem I saw was doing it in a tight bunch three wide is certainly going to get some one loose and take a wild ride.
It was great to see the Woods Brothers back in the winners circle and with a some what obscure young driver that was not to well known and won the 500. This young driver drove like a seasoned veteran through out the race.
Trevor Bain might well be the next great driver in NASCAR providing he doesn't get a big head. The big test is going to be how well he can drive on the short tracks against the veterans.
Glad you remembered Bobby. I have to agree with Tez, the only times I saw JPM all day were when he was in the middle of some mayhem.
Mikey caused two wrecks by my math. Also, Biffle has had better days than he did Sunday.
Photo... Bayne is a very level headed young man, deeply religious. LDS, I believe.
Tez, that was a YouTube moment on how to execute a textbook block. He timed it just enough to where he was able to block Edwards safely WITHOUT Edwards letting off the throttle and causing a big wreck. As far as JPM, he was in his share, but Travis Kvapil could have been put in the bad--he was getting more face time for causing wrecks than JPM.
Photogr, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Jeff Gordon thinks this guy can be the next superstar in NASCAR. When you're a raw rookie, and a four-time Cup champion approaches you and asks you YOUR input on how to tandem draft (as Gordon asked Bayne prior to a practice session), you're mega-talented. I agree, it was great to see the iconic 21 car back in VL at Daytona.
Gene, both Mikey and Biff have had better days. I think they were playing bumper cars out there. I'm not sure what faith Bayne has, I just know that he has a deep religious faith.
Enjoyed all of the statistics you loaded into this post. Now, I'm going to assume you didn't just pull all of these out of the back of your head... haha.
To answer your question... Dale Junior survived the early crash, but he still managed to get taken out closer to the checkered flag.
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