Racing fans were raving over the official start to the NASCAR 2016 season – the Daytona Inernational Speedway in Daytona, Florida was looking beautiful and worthy of a race day. Expectations were high and excitement levels were through the roof; the drivers reflecting those feelings from their fans as they rushed around the track looking to secure a win for themselves at the start.
Rookie Chase Elliot wrecked his own rhythm with a slide through the infield of the track – the rookie lost control around the fourth turn of the track causing him to hit the grass and damage his car in the beginning of the race. The front of the number 24 car was heavily damaged and had to be taken to the garage, causing Elliot to fall directly from first (where he had started the race) to last place in only a matter of minutes. It was a disappointing beginning for Elliot, but the race was not going to stop over one accident.
Of course the peace on the track could only be maintained for so long: the next incident involved Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers and Trevor Bayne in their own three-car pile up. Lucky for them, their cars did not sustain enough damage to take them out of the race – pit stops were made and the race continued after the caution was cleared. Even then the crashes continued to pile up almost halfway through the race; around lap 90 Chris Buescher’s car hit the wall nose-first in an incident that competing driver Matt DiBenedetto claimed was his fault, saying that he “messed up” and caused the accident.
Following in the rookie’s footsteps, one of the favorites – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – spun out terribly enough to damage his racecar and be taken to the garage. Just ten laps later the damage ensues between Danick Patrick and Greg Biffle as they make contact; Biffle’s car was positioned behind Patrick and tapped it just enough to send her car to the infield, where it “bounced” to the point that the front end was damaged.
Even though most of these drivers would not have wanted to start off their season the way they did, Denny Hamlin sure had a noteworthy end to a tremendous beginning. On the final lap he completed a photo-finish worthy win against Martin Truex Jr., where there were only inches separating the two cars. It became the closest finish in Daytona 500 history, with Truex Jr. coming in second place and Kyle Busch taking third.
One could only hope that those who encountered trouble today learn from everything that happened and keep up their efforts to make strong comebacks just as Denny Hamlin did.
