Kevin Harvick Wins Daytona 500 (Damn)
The finish to Daytona was nothing if not exciting - at the Tank Family Compound we were all hoping Mark Martin would hold off Kyle Busch and never saw Harvick coming on the outside until well into the final lap. And while Harvick won fair and square, we were in the same camp as probably everyone other than Richard Childress and Mrs. Harvick in being disappointed that Martin didn’t take the checkered flag. Class act that he is, Martin seemed to take the change of fortune far better than I did.
My guy, Tony Stewart, did indeed have the car to beat - going to last place after a pit row speeding penalty but working his way back to lead the race yet again before he wrecked. Did anyone else think they should check his trailer for pods based on the equanimity he displayed after getting taken out? Is it the new girlfriend? The personal trainer? Either way, it seems like big bad Tony is sweet Anthony now. If he keeps it up I may have to switch allegiance to Robby Gordon; no risk of him getting his head on straight. Still, this crash was one case where I think Kurt Busch was way too hard on himself. Once Tony got loose in front of him, there was no Earthly way for Kurt to be able to steer clear.
Overall, a good race albeit without any really spectacular wrecks except on the last lap. The #07 did flip over and catch on fire, so I guess that’s something. More importantly, the season is at last underway. On to Fontana.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
One thing I’m surprised about regarding the post-race coverage is how no one is talking about how enormously stupid Kyle Bush was at the end of the race. By swinging outside wildly in a misguided attempt to block the Harvick/Kenseth line (said attempt making Martin Gramatica’s attempt to block Jordan Babineaux at the end of the Cowboy/Seahawk game look effective), Busch cost overwhelming sentimental favorite (as you point out) Mark Martin the Daytona 500 and himself 22 places in the race, however many championship points that amounts to and over $800k, not to mention his team a car.
What an unbelievably stupid move.
Btw, DirecTV was offering a FreeView yesterday of NASCAR HotPass, which offers a dedicated viewing channel for some of the top drivers (Gordon, Johnson, Stewart, Earnhardt and a couple others). I spent a good portion of the race on Jr’s channel. Pretty cool stuff - three cameras going, including in-car, continual monitoring of their comm channel, and in-race interviews from atop the pit box, and even from the car during cautions.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Good point. I think Busch the Younger’s move yesterday surpasses his misguided bump draft on the last lap at Talladega last year that wrecked both Junior and his own teammate, Jimmie Johnson.