The 2018 Winston Cup Series: Thoughts on Dillon's Daytona win

Austin Dillon burns a "3" into the infield grass, after winning the 60th Daytona 500.

     Austin Dillon got a symbolic win Sunday, in an otherwise wild, crash-filled Daytona 500. Dillon grabbed the lead after making contact with Aric Almirola on the final lap, sending Almirola around and crashing in turn three. Dillon's win takes the #3 car back to victory lane in the 500, 20 years after Dale Earnhardt Sr. did the same. The win also came on February 18th, 17 years to the day that Dale Sr. died in the same race... Dillon's victory, so far, is the pinnacle of his career, as he begins his fifth full season with Richard Childress Racing, driving the #3. With all the pressure he faced bringing back Earnhardt's old number, the wait has been worth it... Coming home 2nd was Darrell Wallace Jr., the best finish ever by an African-American driver at Daytona... Ryan Blaney, who led 118 laps, finished 7th.

Driving for Team Penske, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano had two of the 500's fastest cars. Both came home with top-10 finishes.

     While I enjoyed the race overall, I was disappointed by the risky moves which wound up causing several accidents. After practically spending a month preparing for the Great American Race, we wound up with far too many wrecked race cars. It was easy to tell the cars were very unstable around eachother, and drafted differently than recent 500's...
     On lap 60, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. aggressively blocked Blaney, getting loose and causing a wreck that involved Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones, who both had great cars... Then on lap 102, Brad Keselowski gave Chase Elliott a powerful bump draft, wrecking both cars, Kevin Harvick, and Danica Patrick in her final Cup race... and on lap 199, Blaney turned Kurt Busch around in turn 1, ending his day, along with Matt DiBenedetto and Brandon Gaughan, who were looking at possible top-10's for their small organizations...

Chase Elliott (9), Danica Patrick (7), and Kasey Kahne (95) all wreck on lap 102 of the Daytona 500. Other cars involved include Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick.

     All three major incidents were completely avoidable, and could have kept the strongest cars up front... The longer I've watched NASCAR, the more I can't stand seeing the strongest car not win the race, it just doesn't feel right. With only a handful of laps remaining, Austin Dillon was running off pace, half a lap behind the lead pack of cars. Two late cautions gave him a chance to catch up, and lead the final lap, whereas Blaney's hard work was forgotten due to two late cautions. My pick for the 500 was Keselowski, based on how well the Penske cars ran in the Clash. It's a shame they couldn't replicate those results over 500 miles.

Aric Almirola crashes on the final lap, after being turned around by Austin Dillon

     And of course, if we're talking unnecessary crashes, look no further than the final lap. Almirola's attempted block on Austin Dillon got him turned into the wall. It's hard to outright defend Dillon, who said he wasn't going to lift off the throttle, and slightly takes away from the #3's return to victory lane... But I'll respect the move as just good ol' hard racing.
     If we're keeping track of old-school points, Dillon leads the standings after Daytona, by five points over Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin. Once we get a few races in, I'll get a points chart going... Now the Cup drivers head to Atlanta, for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. Watch for Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick to have a good race...

Kevin Harvick leads the field in last year's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta