Another Daytona in the Books

By Keith Ott

I’m going to start with the finish and probably ramble around from there.  Talk about a punch.  Tony may have had the advantage in the trailer, but Newman and Busch pulled off the one-two combo that put the Toyotas on the canvas.  Toyota’s loss is all on Stewart and Shrub.  Big egos, great cars, and that, “I must win mentality,” did them in.  There’s an “I” in win, but it takes a team to get one.  So, congrats go to Penske, Newman, and Busch.  The first Daytona win is always the sweetest.  On the other hand, Toyota earned a bunch of respect Sunday.  They came to play ball.

With the price of racing gear, team 88 must have made a killing.  The stands were conspicuously absent of red.  I’m not sure I’d even like to look at the net sales over at DEI.  But, I know Hendrick is smiling all the way to the bank.  I’m not sure anyone is smiling at DEI.

I’m kind of so so on the coverage.  It seemed like there was no through the field coverage.  If your team didn’t have “ota or icks,” at the end, you weren’t in the shot and seldom mentioned.  It sometimes almost seemed like they setup the cameras for the old cars where 10degs or so of viewing angle had the whole field in it.  Everything was focused totally on the front.  I don’t think the announcers did too badly.  However, if Waltrip had expressed much more “man-love” for Kyle, I might have checked a certain national registry.  GopherCam seemed to be this year’s new video twist.  It was annoying, but harmless.  I guess last year’s military spec 3D global positioning video game didn’t work out so well.  I’m surprised they didn’t go with the UM-1 Predator for overhead shots.  Maybe they had an issue with the Hellfire missiles and debris cautions. 

I like the new car, the CON, for safety.  Especially the safety provided, by the wing, and the bumpers being inline.  I’m still not all that excited by its looks, and yes I am going to say again that the black spoiler looks like crap.  The racing was decent but not spectacular.  It had its up and downs and a decent finish.  At least, and thank you NASCAR (<- won’t hear that often from me), they had more horsepower, because of a larger plate, to play with.  In other words…it was racing.  We may have been thrilled with the “Big Pack,” or “The Big One,” but that was artificial.  Real racing has its ups and downs.  Unless you’re at Fontana, and then it’s all down (Sorry, Doug, you know I had to say that), that’s how racing goes.

Ok, I’ve rambled long enough.  Most everything else has been covered.  I’m fabreezing all my Fontana pillows, so I can write about that venue.  Quick prediction…more horsepower, no restrictor plate, and Toyota will walk away with their first Cup win (Didn’t say which Toyota), in this one.  You want to fill Fontana?  Run the GN’s and Cup’s on the same day.  It won’t make the racing better, but the TV cameras could at least do crowd shots once in a bit.

Your turn…