I don’t know what to say. Plain and simple, that finish was like a fairy tale, come real. Sure, I expect to hear the claims of “fix”, “scripted” … all that stuff the non-race fans will claim. But that race was just fated to happen that way. There is no way you can have that wreck that took out a lot of the cars that could run near the front. There is no way you could have the points leader purposely blow oil out on the track to cause a yellow and a single file restart just when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. needed it. Face it, it was just meant to happen.

I had a million things to say about my lack of writing lately but the heck with excuses, I was just too lazy. So with no further delay… “Let’s Go Racing!”

Sterling Marlin showed once again that he will always be a force to reckon with at the restrictor plate races by grabbing his first pole of the season. Of course, the front of the field looked like a pre-race Dodge parade with 5 of the top 7 starting spots. Now before all the Ford and Chevy fans start screaming remember where all those Dodges went when they weren’t running on a track by themselves. The way those Dodges dropped faster than the trousers of a teenage boy, I can assure you, they all would have traded that fast qualifying for a car that handled in the draft.

Ward Burton, starting on the outside pole, managed to drive by Sterling on the first lap. As Marlin tried to keep the inside line from blowing by him Ward got a push from behind and led the first lap. By lap 3 Sterling was pushing that #40 back out front but behind him it looked like the whole RCR and DEI stables were ganging up to take on the whole field. With Kevin Harvick on the front of the train and two Mikes (Waltrip and Skinner) helping from behind Harvick put the #29 out at the point on lap 10. Sterling wasn’t crazy about being 2nd and took 1 lap to grab his lead back, leading through lap 23. At lap 24 another DEI/RCR freight train came charging up, this time with Mike Waltrip on the point and Skinner pushing.

Now with Mikey leading it was Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hooking up to lead the next DEI/RCR train to the front with Harvick taking lap 26 and Jr. showing the field on lap 27 what they could look forward to seeing much of the remaining laps, his rear bumper. And that’s all the field saw for the next 22 laps. Finally at lap 50 Jr. dove down pit road to start a round of green flag pit stops. Matt Kenseth, having a strong run against his BGN and “Rookie” rival was sitting on Jr.’s bumper waiting for his turn and when the #8 headed down pit road the #17 of Kenseth took over the lead. Matt stayed there until giving up the lead at lap 54 with his green flag stop.

When the dust on pit road had cleared it was the surprising #66 car on the point with Todd Bodine behind the wheel. An amazing pit stop had given him his first lead in a while but Jr. was close behind and getting ready to rain on Todd’s parade. Two laps after Todd had grabbed the point Jr. grabbed him and flew on by, once more showing the field an unfamiliar, but familiar white Budweiser bumper. Hard on that bumper was Skinner and Park, Waltrip and Harvick were close behind them. It was all Jr. over the next 30 laps with the other DEI/RCR stable sharing the rest of the top 5 or so positions when, at lap 89 the field finally got a break. Andy Houston lost a tire on his #96 and slapped the wall bringing out the first caution of the day.

Pit stops by all saw Robert Pressley get the lead and the 5 points bonus but when the green flag dropped it was all Jr. once again. He took HIS lead back at lap 91 and still had nobody that could touch him, leading the next 50 laps until the “BIG ONE”. (I’m not going to get off on a rant here but I’ve seen bigger ones at Dover.) You know, that wreck we hear about at every restrictor race before an engine is even started? Anyway, before I get started, the lead cars started to check up to pit. Kurt Busch, who was probably looking in the glove compartment for a map pulled a “Busch-League” maneuver and drove all over Mike Skinner. The ensuing melee took out or damaged the cars of Jason Leffler, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Harvick, Skinner, Marlin, John Andretti, Bobby Hamilton, Dave Marcis, Pressley and Kurt Busch. Skinner, Marlin, Labonte and Hamilton suffered the worst damage and were done for the night.

Getting the quickest service and grabbing the lead was the #10 of Johnny Benson, who always seems to show up at the front near the end of the Daytona races. Benson did everything he could to make his car as wide as possible and got some help from lapped cars to hold the lead when green flag racing resumed at lap149 but just two laps later, Gordon, who had been involved in the recent wreck, lost an oil line and brought out the yellow once more with 9 laps remaining.

A quick 3 lap clean up saw the field line up single file for the “under 10 to go” restart. Lapped cars were not going to be a factor on this restart. With Benson, Dave Blaney, Kenny Schrader, Jeremy Mayfield and Tony Stewart sitting out front on two fresh tires and Jr. sitting like a Tasmanian devil ready to pounce in 6th place on four fresh shoes it was time for a six-lap “dash for the cash”. Jr. dove low as Benson did everything he could to keep the pack behind him with a 40-foot wide car. In one lap the #8 was up to 3rd and going high. Benson was unable to block everyone so he stayed low to hold the “faster” lane. Someone forgot to tell Jr. and one lap later he blew by Benson high, to retake his pre-destined place at the point. Teammate Mikey Waltrip was charging hard down low and swept by 4 cars on the same lap to pull up behind Jr. One lap later, as the white flag came out it was the Daytona 500 being played out again, this time with the #8 in front and the #15 chasing instead. And as we all watched DE’s hand come down from Heaven and give that #8 a little extra push the checkered flag fell on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. As fitting an end as could possibly have happened on this return to Daytona. And I wept.

Kudos go out to Mike Waltrip (2nd) for returning a favor, Elliott Sadler (3rd) where’d he come form, Ward Burton (4th) saving face for the Dodge boys, Bobby Labonte (5th) who stayed above the yellow line, Jerry Nadeau (6th) who also stayed above the yellow line, Rusty Wallace (7th) who ran second for a while but settled for a top 10, Jeff Burton (8th) who managed to avoid all the wrecks today, and Brett Bodine (9th) and Mike Wallace (10th) who both got much needed top 10s. Also a little nod to Todd Bodine who ran in the top 10 for a good part of the race, ran clean and held on for a 12th, and to Johnny Benson (13th) who runs up front at every Daytona race but just can’t seem to get it all together for that win. But the Big Yahoo, the Hallelujah, the Amen has got to go to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. How could anyone not enjoy that finish?

Next week it’s off to Chicagoland for the Inaugural Tropicana 400. Sorry about the Fun Fact I promised a few days ago. I’ll run it in a day or two, it was a good one. Thanks “boB” for giving me a reason to procrastinate by filling in some writing time for me. Don’t forget to stop by the Message Board to give your opinion on this race or anything else that’s needs saying. And spread the word, “The Stooge is back in town!”

Keep The Shiny Side Up!

HOME