DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Another summer race at Daytona International Speedway has come and gone, and another checkered flag has waved above another driver nobody saw coming.
Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 produced a surprising winner that was celebrated by two legendary NASCAR families. That victory will reverberate through the playoffs – which begin in just two weeks – and put even more pressure on drivers hovering around the playoff bubble entering next weekend’s regular season finale at Darlington Raceway.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday night’s race that also saw a car spin multiple times while upside down and another car catch fire:
1. Wood Brothers deliver another longshot winner
Add Harrison Burton’s name to the ever-growing list of surprise winners at Daytona.
In reality, can we call any winner here a surprise?
Burton, a 23-year-old racer headed for the unemployment line, survived all the carnage that chewed up so many contenders in the late laps. All that remained was passing and holding off one of the best ever — Kyle Busch, who just so happened to be rather desperate for a win and playoff berth.
It wasn’t any easier than it sounds, because Busch gave him all he could handle off the final turn toward the stripe.
This puts the Wood Brothers back in Daytona’s Victory Lane, with the organization’s 100th NASCAR win in the team’s storied history, 13+ years after their unlikely win in the 2011 Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne.
And it’s career win No. 1 for Burton, who several weeks ago learned he won’t be retained in the No. 21 car next year after three underperforming seasons.
Until Saturday.
The takeaway here: Don’t be too surprised. This is one of three tracks in NASCAR where these things can happen, along with Talladega and the newest “plate-race” track, Atlanta.
2. Did Harrison Burton help his employment chances?
Here’s the only certainty on that topic: He sure didn’t hurt it.
And there’s no doubting the feel-good vibe of the whole deal.
With Burton’s dad Jeff in the broadcast booth, it conjured images of Dale Jarrett’s 1993 Daytona 500 win with dad Ned on the call for CBS. The emotions were real for a family who knows how rough-and-tumble this sport can be on not just man and machine, but the psyche.
You lose your ride, yet you’re still obligated to show up week after week and play out the string, putting your best out there when the heart might be thinking otherwise. And then this, a real jolt of glory on NASCAR’s biggest stage.
This can’t hurt Harrison Burton’s chances.
But in all honesty, how much can it help? This was, in large part, about missing all the messes and being around at the end. There’s a lot to be said of Burton’s courage and desire to stay hard in the gas on the backstretch and into Turn 3 as he got past Kyle Busch.
And a lot to be said of the dogged way he protected the lead down the stretch.
But what will it do for his near-future job possibilities? Given how few decent rides are out there and how many quality drivers are pounding the pavement, maybe not a whole lot.
3. Another week, another upside-down slide
Well, back to work at NASCAR’s R&D center near Charlotte.
Corey LaJoie’s airborne flip onto his roof at Michigan last week got everyone’s attention. New equipment — an additional rail alongside the rear window — was attached to cars this week in effort to help avoid such things, since the old roof flaps and other air-deflecting devices proved to be less than bulletproof.
Josh Berry’s crash in Saturday’s closing laps told the engineers there’s more work to do. Running at the front, he got nudged from behind, snapped violently sideways and immediately flipped onto his roof. Berry then slid a long way upside-down before violently smacking an inside retaining wall head-on.
Chasing safety is as old as racing itself. It seems as if they can make these cars 100% safe, then something happens to tell you they’re only 99% safe.
4. Grandstands bring the view, infield brings the crowd
Maybe Daytona’s summertime NASCAR race is taking on the personality of the Rolex 24 sports-car race, which is largely an infield event for the paying customers.
The stadium crowd was big enough to satisfy most tracks. Looked to be somewhere in the 40-50,000 range in the grandstands, which is OK except when compared to the full house of the Daytona 500.
At least that’s the eyeball judgement.
However, the infield was thick with motorcoaches, travel trailers and a ton of tents crowding the west-central half of the infield.
Speedway president Frank Kelleher, in the hours before Saturday night’s race, said reserved campsites were sold out, as were all suites fronting the track. All 50 states, 56 countries and six continents produced ticket buyers, he added.
5. NASCAR rolls from Daytona to Darlington, playoffs follow
One more race remains in the 26-race Cup Series regular season. That comes next Sunday night at historic Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
After Darlington, it’s on to Atlanta and the start of the 10-race playoffs.
Thirteen drivers have now clinched playoff berths, leaving three available to claim in the regular season finale. Drivers on the playoff bubble will be scrambling to clinch on points, while other winless drivers will be hoping they can recreate Burton’s stunning victory.
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