No, we didn’t get the big BIG one.
But we got pissed-off drivers, an overtime restart, and a photo finish.
You did it again, Daytona!
“Once you come off of 4, all gloves are off and everybody wants it,” said Austin Cindric, the Cup Series rookie who didn’t look like one during Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“I felt like I had a really good chance to lose it, and to lose it means you’ve got a shot to win it. Being on the front row for the last couple restarts of the Daytona 500, you can’t really envision a better-case scenario for you as a driver.”
Daytona 500 race recap: Austin Cindric beats Bubba Wallace in Daytona 500 photo finish
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Austin Cindric gives Roger Penske a Daytona 500 birthday present
Cindric led the field to an overtime restart with two go, and (somehow) kept Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace behind him to win the 64th Daytona 500.
All three cars traded paint over the final few hundred yards, but it was Cindric, in just his eighth Cup start, who nudged the nose of his Ford across the stripe first.
Not a bad birthday present for the boss, either!
“I wish they’d move the finish line further towards Turn 4. That was the first thing I was thinking,” said team-owner Roger Penske, who turned 85 on Sunday. “Another lap and it might have been a different story.”
Bubba Wallace: “I’ll probably punch a pillow” after Daytona 500 loss
OK, let’s talk about what those other stories could’ve been …
For starters, Bubba Wallace, bent fender and all, certainly appeared to have one of the best cars at Daytona (he usually does), but came up a nose short again. Bubba also finished second in the 2018 race.
At least he was honest with us after this one, though.
“This one sucks,” he said. “I’ll probably go punch a pillow or hug my dog when I get back to the bus.”
I hope for the pillow’s sake Bubba chose the latter.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. calls out Brad Keselowski after controversial Daytona 500
That was the storyline that got all the attention, but it wasn’t the spiciest.
No no. That one belongs to a coupe of Daytona ringers — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski.
“I guess he just tried to wreck everybody in the field until he won,” Stenhouse told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass after the race. “I guess his other car won that he gave up. So kudos to him.”
OK, let’s dig in!
Keselowski, who led a race-high 67 laps, was fast all week — he usually is around Daytona.
But ol’ Brad was also — intentional or not — at the center of two of Sunday’s three big wrecks.
The first came late in Stage 1, when he gave Harrison Burton a big shove toward the front of the pack. Too big, unfortunately, as it sent Burton’s No. 21 machine down the track and into William Byron, collecting several cars, including three-time 500 champ Denny Hamlin.
“Too aggressive,” Denny said.
Kez was also at the center of Stenhouse’s late wreck, when he gave Ricky one of those signature Keselowski shoves with five laps to go. Again, though, too big, sending Stenhouse into the wall and out of the race.
“I was just pushing,” Keselowski said. “We weren’t even all the way up to speed …”
Did you feel like you were too aggressive, Brad?
“Whenever somebody spins out obviously there’s somebody over-aggressive, but in the moment I didn’t.”
All right. End of story!
NASCAR wheel change? Will anything come of NASCAR confiscating Penske, RFK tires?
Just kidding. We still have more drama. Because, as you know, we love drama around these parts!
Bubba, you got something to say (or type)?
“Don’t they got them illegal wheels,” Wallace tweeted late Sunday night.
Well …
Wallace’s tweet was referring to NASCAR confiscating sets of wheels from the Penske and Roush Fenway Keselowski garages on Friday, saying the “confiscated parts will be taken to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C., for further inspection.”
No, we don’t know (yet) what they’re looking for, or why the wheels were taken away. And yes, Bubba was probably just joking.
But hey, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth monitoring over the next few days.
Hendrick Motorsports with awful showing in Daytona 500
Anyway, off to Fontana we go for the first time since 2020 when Alex Bowman won his second career race.
And speaking of Bowman and those Hendrick boys …
Fellas, what in the world was that? The Chevy camp in general struggled on Sunday, leading a total of two — two! — laps, while the highest finishing HMS driver was Chase Elliott … in 10th!
Something tells me that won’t be the case this weekend.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Stenhouse Jr. calls out Keselowski after Daytona. ‘He tried to wreck everyone’