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Lightning flashed around Daytona International Speedway in all four directions, but in the end, the thunder happened on the track. The final race in the regular season, and thus becoming the deciding factor on who makes it into the 10-race playoff, made the Coke Zero Sugar 400 more important than the usual summer NASCAR Cup Series race.
A win at Daytona always makes for a valuable line on any driver’s resume, and first-time Daytona winner William Byron, driving the descendant of the No. 24 Chevrolet that Jeff Gordon made famous with his four championships, was a popular victory with the crowd. Here are 10 random takeaways from Saturday night’s race:
The crowd
1 When we say popular with the crowd, we mean it: The 100,000-seat track was nowhere near capacity, but we estimated that there were maybe 8,000 fans in attendance at the road-course Cup race two weeks ago, and last night, we’d suggest that there was three times that many, if not more. The track mentioned that more than 20,000 people were here, but we’d bet money there were more. Regardless, it made this by far the largest sporting event in Florida since the (barely) pre-COVID 19 Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA golf tournament in Orlando on March 8. At the end, it was as though the crowd had been waiting nearly six months for something to cheer about, and a first win by a nice kid and his crusty old crew chief sufficed.
Knaus Proved Something
2 Speaking of that crew chief, Chad Knaus said he “felt awful” that Byron winning, and thus making the playoffs, meant in part that his partner in seven championships, Jimmie Johnson, didn’t make the cut. It was going to be Johnson, Byron or Matt DiBenedetto, and Johnson ended up the odd man out. Johnson, said Knaus, is “one of my best friends. He means the world to me.” But Knaus admitted that his first win after he and Johnson divorced was important – “I wanted to prove I could win with a car that didn’t have ‘Jimmie Johnson’ above the door.”
Goose Eggs Got Johnson
3 As for Johnson, who was in contention until circumstances beyond his control turned his Chevrolet into a demolition derby victim, was suitably crestfallen but, as always, the ultimate professional. “Things just got ugly. But that’s (restrictor-)plate racing.” The fact that Johnson missed a race when he was infected with Covid-19, and was disqualified when post-race inspection showed his car’s rear alignment was out of spec at the Charlotte race, meant that he was saddled, he said, “with two goose eggs” in points. “But I don’t know what we could have done different.” He has 10 races left to redeem himself and his plucky team, and don’t be surprised if and when that happens.
Best Feel-Good Story of the Race
4 Besides Byron’s win, the other feel-good story of the night was that Matt DiBenedetto, in the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford, made the playoffs, when “This time last year,” he said, “I didn’t know if I would ever be able to drive a Cup car again.” Long – and we mean for decades – the Wood Brothers have been the Little Team That Could, and they did again Saturday night. For DiBenedetto, the Chase “couldn’t have been scripted any crazier. But we came out clean, and that’s all that matters.” Betting your paycheck on how far Byron and DiBenedetto will get against the other 14 drivers in the Chase, like Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano would probably be unwise, but it’ll be a nice moment as long as it lasts.
Best Line of the Night
5 The best lines of the night came from Ryan Newman, who again ended up with a car less damaged that his Daytona 500 car, but still undriveable, taken out when Tyler Reddick in the No. 8 Chevrolet made a move for the lead and caused a crash that became the first Big One of the night, after 151 wreck-less laps. What happened? “The No. 8 ran out of talent,” Newman said, then called Reddick a “goofball.” To his credit, Reddick manned up and took the blame for a move that would have made him mad if “somebody else had done it to me.”
Danger is His Business
6 If he ever gets a truly competitive Cup ride, Ross Chastain, currently in the mid-pack No. 77 Chevrolet, will be dangerous. And we mean that in every sense of the word.
Take a Bow, Chevy
7 Speaking of Chevrolet, after a few tough years they are reasonably well-represented in the Chase, with five of the 16 finalists. Ford has a whopping eight, Toyota three, which doesn’t sound that bad if you note that there were only seven Toyotas in the 40-car field Saturday night, and two were Timmy Hill and Daniel Suarez.
And Drive Home Safely
8 Finally, we’ll leave you with this message from the Speedway that flashed on the big-screen TVs after the race: “Please exit in a sequential manner. And please continue to social distance as you exit the venue.”
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