NASCAR Cup Series

Racing was great, wrecking not so much, at the Daytona 500

Published Feb. 26, 2017 8:25 p.m. ET

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Tom Jensen

DAYTONA BEACH, Fl. — The 59th Daytona 500 on Sunday was a thrilling race, with a dramatic last-lap pass for the victory, a first-time 500 winner in Kurt Busch and a successful implementation of the new stage system.

When the 40 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers were racing, it was exciting to watch, especially in the final 20 laps.

Unfortunately, the same 40 drivers spent way too much time wrecking between Lap 105 and Lap 150.

During that 45-lap span, there were no less than five crashes:

• Kyle Busch blew a tire on Lap 105 and triggered a six-car wreck that took out Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth, among others.

• On Lap 128, Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne hit Jimmie Johnson, starting a 16-car crash, involving nearly half the field and taking out some of the top contenders.

• Eight laps later, there was a four-car crash.

• On Lap 143, 11 more drivers wrecked on the backstretch, including Brad Keselowski and McMurray.

• Finally, on Lap 151, three additional cars crashed on the backstretch.

The first 100 laps were exciting racing and the last 50 were, too. But in between, it was a demolition derby. And coming after two wreckfests from the Camping World Truck Series on Friday night and the XFINITY Series Saturday, the carnage over the weekend was substantial and wholly unnecessary.

Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Cup champion, said in effect that some drivers were in over their heads. “We just got some cars up there that didn’t need to be up there and wound up doing more than their car could do,” said Harvick.

“Yeah, there was a lot of carnage at the middle point of that race,” added Kyle Larson.

Opinions were split on why.

“I don’t know what it is about this year, maybe it’s the segments,” said Ty Dillon, who was caught in Kyle Busch’s crash. “I don’t know.  It’s got everybody a little more amped up, but there are not a whole lot of cars finishing.”

“Stage racing hasn’t contributed to any crashes,” added Ricky Stenhouse Jr., another driver who got knocked out. “We finished every stage under green with no issues, so I would say stage racing was not the issue. A couple of (crashes) happened right after restarts.”

Whatever the reason, next time at Daytona, a whole lot more racing and a whole let less wrecking. If that happens, it really will be magic.

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