Daytona 500

Photo Credited to draftingthecircuits.whoobazoo.com

Wow the headlines that have came out of Daytona this week. It is hard to imagine that we even had a race with everything that was happening off of the track. None the less, there was in fact a race that was run, and it was a good one in fact. When it comes to straight up racing, it does not get much better than what it did on Sunday. They were racing three wide for about ten rows with twenty laps to go. How great is that? To me, racing is so much more than tearing up cars, in fact I'm not a big fan of wrecks (although they do tend to turn my head). I would much rather see guys racing clean three wide like toward the end of Sunday's race.

DAYTONA 500

Joey Logano won the Daytona 500, a race that will go
down as one of the best in the race's history
Photo Credited to bleacherreport.com

This Daytona 500 will go down as one of the best in the history of the race. NASCAR is doing nothing but smiling over what happened during that race. It was great racing throughout the whole race, all 200 laps. The fans were on the side of their seats for the entire race, in fact some welcomed caution laps simply so they could catch their breath. There was non stop racing that happened throughout the whole race where in previous Daytona 500's we often see the drivers go into a situation where they tend to just ride for awhile. That was not seen on Sunday. A great performance by all 43 drivers. At the end of the day it was Joey Logano coming away as the Daytona 500 champion. Love him or hate him, there is one thing that everyone can admit, he drove a great race. Looking at the race there were a lot of guys that probably drove a race capable of winning it including Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, and also Jeff Gordon. Those six guys ran up front all day long and were there at the end of the day even though Jeff finished 33 after an accident on the last lap. Another story line coming out of Daytona is Tony Stewart and how he is now 0-17 in the big race. The questions are starting to get more and more wondering if he will ever be able to win the Daytona 500. He is a capable driver to win the 500, but has not been able to have the luck necessary to win the big race. When the sun set over Daytona International Speedway Sunday night, we all knew what we saw on that day. A great race, one for the ages, and a new champion to one of the greatest races to ever be ran.

THE BUSCHS'

Photo Credited to foxsports.com

A huge story line within Daytona would be the fact that this was the first time that a Busch brother has not been in a Daytona 500 since the 2000 race. Both were qualified for the race and as of Friday morning, both were going to be racing. However, after the report with the commissioner's decision to grant Kurt's ex girlfriend a protective order from him. With that report coming out, NASCAR suspended Kurt indefinitely and that left him unable to race in the Daytona 500. Kyle does not have any legal issues, but during the Xfinity race on Saturday had a crash leaving him with a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot. With these two things happening to the Busch brothers, it will be a long time before we see a Busch in a race car. Regan Smith drove the #41 Haas Automation Chevy to a 16th place finish and Matt Crafton drove the #18 M&M's Toyota to an 18th place finish, both very respectable finishes considering the circumstances.

IN MY OPINION

Kyle Busch signaling to emergency crews that something
is wrong with his leg. Kyle had a compound fracture
of the right leg and a broken left foot
Photo Credited to fansided.com

It is such a shame that there was not a Busch brother in this year's Daytona 500. In all reality, both of them should have been driving in this race. First with Kurt. NASCAR is afraid of what could happen if they do not suspend Kurt immediately. The last thing that NASCAR wants is to have a Ray Rice situation on their hands. The fact that he is placed on suspension based upon a family court and has not even been tried in criminal court (the place where it matters) is the reason that he should still be in the 41. Family Court is by no means a sign of being guilty. In a situation like this where so many stories are being thrown around, it is best to give a protective order and move on. It is not like Kurt will be calling her anytime soon anyway, and the commissioner knows that. If Kurt is found guilty in criminal court, then there is no doubt that he should be suspended. If he did place his hands violently on her, then no doubt he should be locked up. However, there is this innocent until proven guilty, and Kurt has not been proven guilty and therefore should be in the 41. Now to Kyle. It is an absolute shame that Kyle got hurt on Saturday and I wish nothing but the best for him in his recovery and hope he has a very speedy recovery. However, why in the world do we have a concrete wall without a SAFER Barrier at a track where they run 200 mph? We have said it for years, if their is an exposed wall, those race cars will find it. This is a situation where Kyle may be lucky to only have a compound fracture and a broken leg, in fact he may be lucky that he is still alive. That was a nasty hit, one of the hardest I personally have seen in awhile. So now we know that Daytona is going to be 100% SAFER Barrier. Now we all need to ask the question, is Talladega? We also need to look to the mile and a half tracks as well because they too run close to 200 mph. Tracks like Michigan, Atlanta (who announced they would have SAFER Barriers by Sunday), Texas, and others. If these tracks and others are not 100% SAFER Barrier, then NASCAR needs to tell them we are not coming. Two Busch brothers out of the biggest race of the year, when in fact they both should have been apart of this race, and now, they will be out for a long time.