Regular Season Finale at Daytona Race Review and Analysis
Chaos in Daytona Beach! The Nascar Cup Series made its highly anticipated visit to Daytona International Speedway. Two spots were left, as playoff implications were on the line. Austin Dillon walks it off at Daytona, he takes home the checkered flag at the world center of racing. Dillon captures his 1st win of the 2022 season, which is the 4th of his career. Austin Dillon will be the 16th driver in the 2022 Nascar playoff field.
(Austin Dillon with the Trophy)
Heading into today, it wasn’t a given. Rain was the factor all weekend long. Both qualifying sessions for the Xfinity and Cup Series were canceled due to rain on Friday. The Xfinity Series race didn’t start until 10:30pm ET on Friday night after a washout for most of the day. Saturday night is when the Cup race was supposed to take place at 7:00pm ET. With rain cells in the area, this postponed the Cup Series event until 10:00am ET this morning. The Flordia rain wasn’t done as we saw a three-hour, and 19-minute weather delay with 21 laps to go in today’s race. Mother nature had her way all weekend long, but Nascar still found a way to get in both the Xfinity and Cup Series races. The Xfinity Series race started just after 10:30pm ET, and ended at 1:33am ET on Saturday morning. Jeremey Clements won the Xfinity Series race. Followed by the Cup race that started at 10:00am ET, and finished at 4.19pm ET today.
(Austin Dillon in Victory Lane)
Let’s rewind through today’s race. Kyle Larson saw engine issues at lap 16 of today’s race, after starting on pole. Larson finished 37th, but he will make the playoffs with a win at Auto Club and Watkins Glen. The first major caution for a wreck came off of turn 2, with Erik Jones’ #43 getting loose in front of Denny Hamlin #11. Hamlin gave Jones a tap on his back bumper which set off a wreck. Erik Jones struggled with handling his #43 car all day long. Brad Keselowski who was involved in the crash finished 35th, and Christopher Bell another driver that was involved finished 36th, followed by Jones who was able to continue in 17th. Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney were able to continue but later saw trouble. The stage 1 winner was Joey Logano.
Kyle Busch was busted for running over equipment while exiting his pit box on lap 39. Kyle Busch was able to overcome this penalty by winning stage 2. Busch was later hit with another penalty on pit road for speeding while in the pit area. Kyle Busch finished 10th this afternoon. Heading onto the backstretch, Michael McDowell was spun by Tyler Reddick in front of the field. Corey LaJoie, Ross Chastain, William Byron, and Chris Buescher were all collected. LaJoie finished 30th, Chastain scored 33rd, Byron finished 34th, and Buescher finished 27th. McDowell who was first to spinout finished 32nd. Coming into the trioval, Chase Briscoe tried to clear himself by going up high in the top lane. Briscoe instead set off a wreck that collected several cars, but only his afternoon ended early with a 31st place finish. Justin Haley set off a wreck, as aggression was high as the rain threatened the race track. Haley collected, Erik Jones, and Joey Logano, but all were able to continue. In what was the craziest wreck of the afternoon started entering turn 1. Justin Haley’s spotter Brett Griffin reported rain prior to the wreck, while he was on the spotter’s stand above the race track. The rain was indeed the issue, as the majority of the field spun on lap 138. Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cody Ware, and Daniel Suarez were all involved. Cody Ware, Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, and Tyler Reddick were able to continue. Austin Dillon was the leader after the massive pile-up, as the rain hammered the track.
Let’s go through today’s top finishers. Austin Dillon led the charge after he gave Austin Cindric a tap which eventually gave him the lead. Dillon captured his 4th career win, and second at Daytona. Tyler Reddick who aided Austin Dillon by drafting with him finishes 2nd. After a damaged race car, he still brings it home with a good finish. Richard Childress Racing finished 1st and 2nd. Third place goes to Austin Cindric. After winning the Daytona 500 back in February, this was his chance to sweep both Daytona events. He was ushered out of the way by Austin Dillon, which led to a 3rd place finish. Fourth place went to Landon Cassill of Spire Motorsports. Cassill avoided trouble to capture a good result. Fifth place goes to Noah Gragson of Beard Motorsports. Gragson will join the Cup Series full-time with Petty GMS Motorsports in 2023. But today, he ran well for Beard Motorsports. Sixth place goes to Cody Ware of Rick Ware Racing. Cody Ware was another driver that stayed out of trouble throughout today’s contest. Seventh place went to B.J. McLeod of Live Fast Motorsports. McLeod is known for staying out of trouble during each Cup event. Eighth place goes to Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex Jr. was in a battle with Ryan Blaney on the cutline all afternoon long. Truex Jr. went out on swing as he will miss the playoffs. Ninth place goes to David Ragan of Rick Ware Racing. Ragan just like every other top finisher stayed out of trouble and made it to the end of today’s race. Tenth place goes to Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing. A resilient day for Busch was capped off with his second top-10 since June. Honorable mentions go out to Bubba Wallace in 11th, Joey Logano in 12th, Ty Gibbs in 13th, Alex Bowman in 14th, Ryan Blaney in 15th, and the last running car in today’s race, Cole Custer in 16th.
(A look at the storm from today's race)
(A look at the playoff field concluding the regular season)
Today was the regular season finale, but the 2022 season isn’t over yet. The Nascar Cup Series playoffs with kick off at Darlington Raceway. The field will consist of Chase Elliott as the one seed for Hendrick Motorsports. Chase Elliott is the 2022 regular season champion, he clinched the title after Watkins Glen. Joey Logano is the two seed for Team Penske, followed by Ross Chastain as the third seed for Trackhouse Racing making his playoff debut. The fourth seed will be Kyle Larson, followed by William Byron in the fifth slot both for Hendrick Motorsports. The sixth slot will belong to Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing. The seventh slot goes to Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, who was bailed out by the results this afternoon at Daytona. Tyler Reddick of Richard Childress Racing will fill in as the 8th seed. The Ninth slot will be handed to Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing. Following him with by Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing as the tenth seed. Kyle Busch will be the eleventh seed for Joe Gibbs Racing. Chase Briscoe will make his playoff debut as the twelfth seed for Stewart-Haas Racing. Also making his playoff debut will be Daniel Suarez for Trackhouse Racing in slot thirteen will make his playoff debut. The fourteenth slot will go to the 2022 Daytona 500 champion, and 2022 Rookie of the Year Austin Cindric who will make his playoff debut for Team Penske. The fifteenth slot goes to Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports. Then lastly, returning to the playoffs will be the man who walked it off at Daytona this afternoon, Austin Dillon for Richard Childress Racing in slot number sixteen.
Welcome to the round of 16, after Darlington on September 4th, followed by Kansas on September 11th, and lastly Bristol on September 17th, four drivers will be eliminated. Before the cutoff, will be the first race at Darlington Raceway this Labor Day weekend. The Xfinity and Cup Series will make the trip down to Darlington, South Carolina. Practice and qualifying will be Saturday at 10:05am ET for the Xfinity Series. The Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 will be 3:00pm ET Saturday, September 3rd. The Cup Series will have practice and qualifying starting at 12:05pm ET on Saturday. The famous crown jewel, Cook Out Southern 500 will be Sunday, September 4th, at 6:00pm ET.
( All images credited to https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/cup-series.)
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