Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Hampton, GA. – As Nascar moves beyond Daytona, the sport stares questions about his biggest race and how it crowns its champion.
Denny Hamlin’s rant on his Podcast this week How happiness can play a dominant role in the outcome of the Daytona 500 is not a new argument. Managers raised similar issues in the past quarter century, but the momentum among competitors is to build up for changes.
Change can also be made with the playoffs. Nascar has decided not to change how the champion is determined this season. Instead, a group of competitors and industry insiders will investigate, which, if any, will change for the play -offs in 2026.
While the focus for fans on the races is on the track – the cup series thing on Sunday part in Atlanta Motor Speedway – which Nascar decides in the coming months with Daytona and the playoffs, the sport can change significantly.
Highlights: 67th Daytona 500
Relive all the high speed action from the 67th run of the Daytona 500 to open the 2025 Nascar Cup season.
The image of cars that are three wide for a few rows at Daytona, over 185 km / h, is impressive – unless you’re in one of the cars in traffic. One mistake can ruin several cars.
Hamlin is concerned that the Prestige of the Daytona 500 and its winner will be provided because of the role that happiness plays in missing the inevitable accidents.
“Are we going to start viewing the Daytona 500 winners now as we question our champions?” Hamlin said on his “act -determined” Podcast this week. “… it’s their big moment to shine and it’s a great achievement (winning the Daytona 500), but I hate the fact that good luck is now involved with Nascar.”
Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were one of the best drivers on the reconfigured Atlanta track.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, said the driver’s ability used to play a greater role in the outcome of the 500.
“I feel like we’ve lost it,” he said. “It’s just a matter of wreckage at Superspeedways. I feel like the Daytona 500 is a microcosm of our sport in general when it comes to how we also crown our champion.
‘It started with the competition group a decade ago when we started cutting horsepower because we wanted to look good on TV. We want you to think they can succeed, not that they can actually succeed.
“It’s just the place for me … The entertainment of it has overcome its sport far. I don’t know how we turn things around. “
Fords take 10 of the top 11 places in the qualification for Sunday’s race.
The Daytona 500 has the highest TV ratings of NASCAR every year and has been sold out over the past decade. Racing at Daytona and Talladega usually has one of the highest TV ratings for cup races every season.
Asked if there is a better way to chase at Daytona and Talladega, Brad Keselowski said: ‘There is always a better way. It’s just to find it. I don’t necessarily know how to find it. ‘
After that, Keselowski noted that Atlanta Motor Speedway and the hybrid essay style offered by this race have been reconfigured since the 2021 season.
“This cut almost proves kind of that there is a better way,” Keselowski said. ‘It’s a cut that runs two- or three-wide, tackling a fairly exciting race, but still showing TradeCraft, whether it’s the teams or car achievements, or the drivers and the movements they make with their racetrack. I think this is a kind of poster child for the idea that both can exist in the right circumstances at the same time.
‘The cup series is now in this interesting place. I think some days we have to decide whether or not we are the Harlem Globetrotters. I don’t know if I have a perfect answer for it and maybe there is a balance. What we need is that this series must be completely legal at all times and for Racecraft, TradeCraft to matter. “
Byron credit the team for back-to-back daytona wins
William Byron shares what makes the win of his second straight Daytona 500 so special, and emphasizes why so much of his success is due to the team he has around him.
William Byron does not apologize for being a two-time Daytona 500 winner not after he went to the front of the final round of the last round of the last round when the leaders crashed on the back of the race .
“When I started Superspeedway Racing, I treated it as happiness, and I didn’t think that strategy worked really well,” Byron said. “So for me, I’m just going into it and trying to control the things I can control.
“It was clear that I was happy in that situation, but I made movements that put me in that position. I felt it was coming and just trying to position myself. So I don’t know. I don’t really read too much in things beyond my circle of people. Obviously, I’m proud of the victory. I’m not going to apologize for apologizing. ‘
The 1.54 mile cut produced the nearest three-wide endpoint in Nascar history a year ago.
Kyle Larson’s philosophy is simple to deal with the matter.
“Apart from the races, you try to make the entertainment better,” he said. “You have more things for the fans to do before or after the race. Entertainment value. But then to make the race pure and let it play pure is what I like it. “
Depending on one’s view, the play -off system can provide the purity. For others, it doesn’t.
After seeing some championship races, he finished before the final race of the season, Nascar changed his mind to determine a champion in 2004. Then it was ten drivers over 10 races. The driver with the most points below the ten was the champion.
The system has changed over the years. Now 16 drivers make the play -offs called. The play -offs remain ten races, but four drivers are eliminated after every third race in the cup series, which chases four drivers in the season final, held at Phoenix Raceway since 2020.
After a difficult 2024, the team owned by Jimmie Johnson made several changes to help managers John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones.
Although there was some controversy with a winner-take-all event for the championship, it was nothing like this past season when Joey Logano won his third cup title.
Logano was 15th in points before the standings were set back at the start of the playoffs. If he did not win in the ordinary season, not a five-time finish in Nashville-Sou Logano did not advance to the playoffs. In the playoffs, Logano won three races, including the final at Phoenix to claim the title.
“They used it, they did,” Kyle Busch said of the title of Logano. “It wasn’t a competent team that played perfectly all year. I would say Larson was probably a better team. I would have said that the 45 (Tyler Reddick) probably let the best team go there. So they were more deserving champions when you look at the competition aspect of our sport, but if you look at what the rules are and everyone plays according to the same rules, Logano got it, so that’s kind of what it is. “
Nascar issued tight penalties against JGR and Chase Briscoe for violating Spoiler on the Daytona 500.
So what to do with the play -offs, if anything, beyond this season?
The operating group that investigated the play -off system held its first meeting at Daytona last week.
“Good dialogue, wonderful discussions,” says Keselowski, who is in the group. ‘Appreciate the openness Nascar should listen. Just proud to be part of it. “
As for the first meeting, Keselowski said: ‘It’s nice to hear other perspectives. I am limited to my own sights as an owner and manager. I heard about media members, other team members, of course broadcast partners and the tracks. … I finally think we are just looking for the highest level of legitimacy we can have. ‘
