Okay… now that you’ve had the time to think and listen to all the media input about it, what did you really think of “The Shootout” Saturday night in Daytona. Admittedly, it was eye-opening in many ways. Not only was it that way for the drivers and the crews, but also for the fans.
In some ways, (and in my opinion, of course), the Shootout was a very exciting race and if you listened to the drivers during and after, you found that there is a new way of racing even at a historic place like Daytona.
That new way is like nothing ever seen in the history of racing at Daytona, and now, it may be that racing will never be the same as it was, but it may be better than ever. That is, if the changes NASCAR is making after speeds of up to 206 mph on Saturday night (which is a little over the edge when it comes to what they already know about the safety of the drivers and the fans), don’t drastically change the intensity level of the racing.
The questions have already been raised and somewhat addressed by NASCAR, but the one question that remains unanswered is whether or not fans will want to watch a race with numerous groups of two cars hooked together and running that way for 500 miles. I have listened to many comments about the subject and the opinions are diverse amongst all NASCAR fans across the board.
What with the delay of practice at Daytona as I write this today (Wednesday), there are still a lot of unknowns about the changes made on Monday and how they will affect the racing tomorrow in the duels and the racing on Sunday afternoon, but as has been the case so far this week, time will definitely tell us all we need to know. (I just won’t be talking about it today.)
Personally, I don’t know the answer to the overall acceptance of the two-car draft over 500 miles, but I do know the drivers will do whatever they have to go fast (and going as fast as necessary at Daytona this year is hard unless you have someone to hook up with.)
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© February 16, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
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