Coble: A lot of risk required just to finish, much less win, Great American Race
But one thing they all will share in Sunday’s Great American Race (1:30 p.m., FOX), are cars that are edgy and hard to handle.
“Say a prayer. It’s going to be crazy,” said Joey Logano, who won in a Ford in 2015.
One thing a field of 41 probably won’t have to worry about at the Daytona International Speedway is bad weather. NASCAR moved the starting time of the race to an hour earlier to miss a forecast of late afternoon thunderstorms. The green flag now will wave at 1:30 p.m. (FOX).
While rain is out of mind, fire isn’t.
The best way to make speed is to lock bumpers in a nose-to-tail train of cars. The lead car punches a hole in the air, while the trailing cars push the pack in a draft. A group of cars can overtake a single car as quickly as 150 yards a lap.
The problem this year is, the cars don’t seem to react well when they get pushed, Logano said.
“I think the whole field has learned that pushing each other is pretty sketchy, he said. “(The) Daytona 500 could be a total wreck-fest.”
In Logano’s 150-mile qualifying race on Thursday, there were four crashes that involved 11 of 23 cars. It’s a race where all but two cars were locked into Sunday’s main event, so it was imperative for drivers to take care of their cars.
Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe won the front row of the starting grid in Wednesday night’s pole qualifying. Busch was fastest at 183.651 mph in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet; Briscoe will be on the outside pole in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after running 183.587.
The rest of the lineup was set by the finishing order of two qualifying races on Thursday.
The carnage in the first Duel made a big impression on the drivers in the second qualifying race. It had no wrecks or cautions, and it was won by Chase Elliott.
But that didn’t mean Elliott didn’t have his concerns with the way the car handled.
“I could see the cars being out of control,” he said. “I think it’s fine, but what happens is you get to pulling a group around there really fast in a single line, and then you get late race and guys start making moves, it seems like the more this place ages, the more room you need to run a fast pace. You can’t just lock to the bottom and stay there. When the pace gets fast like that (you) just need some room to spread out.
Unfortunately, when it gets late in the race nobody’s willing to give that. That’s where the problems typically come in. I’m sure it will be much crazier on Sunday.”
By winning the Duels, Logano and Elliott will start third and fourth, respectively.
The rest of the top 10 starters will be Ryan Blaney in fifth, Carson Hocevar in sixth, 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon in seventh, defending Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson in eighth, Brad Keselowski in ninth and 2021 500 winner Michael McDowell in 10th.
William Byron, who was involved in one of those four crashes on Thursday and was forced to go into a backup car, will start 39th. He will try to make history by winning his third consecutive Daytona 500.
The ride to the front will be treacherous, especially since it will require bumping and pushing through traffic.
“I didn’t see any car that was taking a push that was, like, comfortable on the straightaways,” Logano said. “A lot of cars were just squirrelly. I’m assuming everyone’s push-ability is weak.”
