Buckle Up! NASCAR's return to Daytona has officially left July in the dust
DAYTONA BEACH — Sure, you can find some constituencies who continue howling to the contrary.
Longtime race fans clinging to long-held traditions.
Local hoteliers and bar-keeps who loved what a NASCAR weekend did for their coffers on a Fourth of July weekend, as opposed to late August after schools have reopened.
And among the hard-core, “inside baseball” types, there are those who don’t think such an important race — The Coke Zero Sugar 400, the final race of the 26-race regular season, finalizing the field for the ensuing playoffs — should be one where, quite often, happenstance trumps horsepower.
As in . . .
“I’m glad we’re not depending on it,” says Kevin Harvick, a playoff lock.
“It’s definitely not a style of racing I necessarily enjoy or am comfortable with. A lot of time, it’s out of your control,” says Kyle Larson, another playoff lock.
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And this, from Aric Almirola, whose playoff future is tied to just one Saturday night outcome: Victory. Imagine getting to the closing laps and leaning on this strategy to secure any hope of a 2022 championship.
“You feel a little bit like a kamikaze pilot,” Almirola says. “You just kinda strap in, pull your belts tight, and you go for it.”
And you thought Interstate 4 was dicey.
That playoff picture got a tweak Thursday afternoon. Kurt Busch, who earned a playoff spot with a win earlier this year, announced he won't be recovered from concussion symptoms to compete next week in the playoff opener at Darlington.
The change NASCAR foresaw when race was moved is now happening
Seems obvious by now, doesn't it? For those of you hoping against hope for a “return to the future,” where NASCAR and Daytona take us back to the July Fourths of before, forget about it.
The summer race was always going to be a stepchild, since the season-opening Daytona 500 has become stock-car racing’s Indy 500, or, to borrow the familiar hype, its Super Bowl. But recent scheduling overhauls have raised our summer race's importance, if not its cachet.
This is exactly what NASCAR had in mind three years ago when Daytona’s July race — the old Firecracker 400, more recently rechristened the Coke Zero Sugar 400 — was moved to this spot on the calendar, where competitive needs overtake tradition.
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Everything points to those closing laps Saturday night, but the roll-out begins Friday, mid-afternoon, when the undercard triggers the ignition and qualifying begins for Friday night’s 100-lap Xfinity Series race, the Wawa 250, which is basically doing a Daytona drive-thru — qualify in the afternoon, go racing Friday night, with green flag scheduled for 7:50.
Before Friday night’s race, the big-league Cup teams set the Saturday night lineup with late-afternoon qualifying, beginning at 5:05.
The Friday-Saturday schedule features various Q&As with drivers in the infield midway and FanZone areas, as well as other modes of diversion. But within the mammoth confines of Daytona International Speedway, self-entertainment is the norm.
This year figures to be the usual, except maybe more of it, as the infield takes on the look of a dozen KOA campgrounds rolled into one. If there's a shortage of kiddie pools at your nearest Walmart, blame Daytona's infielders.
“Year over year, we’ve sold more camper and RV spots,” says Speedway president Frank Kelleher, whose first big event as track prez was last year’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Kelleher, by the way, won’t be lobbying for a return to July.
“Book-ending the regular season at Daytona has really been a success,” he says. “Yes, traditions are hard to break. For 60 years, we were here for Fourth of July weekend. But the drama of this being the regular-season championship is really paying dividends.”
Yeah, but what about the weather?
If only someone could pay off the weatherman. Yes, sad to say, Ol’ Man Doppler is one grumpy July regular who came along to August.
A look at the long-range forecast shows solid chances of showers — and their ugly, thunderous cousins — as far as the eye can see. A tradition unlike any other, as they say. But in the fickle world of Florida summers, forecasts are doled out with a grain of salt — they’re about as predictable as, say, the closing laps of a race at Daytona.
And those closing moments, of course, are why we’re all here.
“It’s gonna be wild,” says Harvick. “I think there’s gonna be people doing anything they can do to put themselves in position from a strategy standpoint. I think you’ll see drivers take a lot more risk than what they probably feel comfortable with . . .
“That’s why the scenario is so great, to have that race in Daytona. It’s gonna be wild and I’m glad we’re not depending on it to try to put ourselves in position to get into the playoffs.”
Tighten those belts.
Racing Schedule
FRIDAY
12:30 p.m.: Parking lots open.
1 p.m.: Infield FanZone opens.
1-1:15: Austin Hill Q&A (Midway).
1:15-1:30: Natalie Decker Q&A (Midway)
1:30-1:45: Landon Cassill Q&A (midway).
2:30: Stadium gates open.
3:05: Xfinity Series qualifying.
4:45-5: Myatt Snider Q&A (FanZone).
5-5:15: Austin Hill Q&A (FanZone).
5:05: Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 qualifying.
7:30: Xfinity Series Wawa 250 race (USA Network). Green flag scheduled for 7:50 but subject to change.
SATURDAY
12:30 p.m.: Parking lots open.
2:30: Stadium gates open.
3:45-4: Kurt Busch Q&A (Midway).
4:15-4:30: Harrison Burton Q&A (FanZone).
4:30-4:45: Martin Truex Q&A (FanZone).
4:30-4:45: William Byron Q&A (Midway).
4:45-5: Kyle Larson Q&A (Midway).
5-5:15: Richard Petty Q&A (Midway).
5:15-6:30: Pre-race concert featuring Better Than Ezra.
7 p.m.: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (NBC). Green flag scheduled for 7:45 but subject to change
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Coke Zero Sugar 400: NASCAR back in Daytona with a lot on the line
