DAYTONA BEACH, Fla – Sunday’s 61st annual Daytona 500 was definitely a much better race than any of the capacity crowd of 101,000 at the Daytona International Speedway expected or the millions watching on FOX at home.

That’s a big takeaway from this weekend’s race. In fact, there were a lot of things to takeaway from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season opener.

Completely Different Race

All week long we were told the Ford’s would be the ones to beat for the Daytona 500. Rightfully so too. They swept the Duels on Thursday night and Paul Menard in a Ford led 51 of the first 55 Laps in last Sunday’s Clash. They had six of the top eight starting spots. Also, they had combined to win 13 of the last 18 points paying restrictor plate races.

Instead, they only had two cars come away with a top five finish. Furthermore, they combined to lead only 40 of the 207 laps on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer entered as favorites. They led as many laps around the 2.5-mile superspeedway than you and I.

That was shocking.

Another thing we were told is how boring the race would be. Rightfully so on that too. The Clash, both Duels and Saturday’s XFINITY Series season opener featured single file racing around the top of the banking. It was a high speed parade.

The drivers kept blaming the car and this restrictor plate package. They said you had to run up top and that you couldn’t pass when going to the low line.

But, from the drop of the green flag, we saw the low line work. In fact, it was just as good as the top line.

Overall, Sunday’s race was a complete opposite of what we thought we’d see and that’s a good thing.

Penske’s Struggles

Joey Logano looked like the best Ford out there but lack of drafting help from Michael McDowell left him with a fourth place finish. He led only 11 laps on Sunday though. His teammate Ryan Blaney led 13 laps and even won Stage 2 but he didn’t look like a legitimate contender though. He did lead 13 laps in his No. 12 Ford but was caught up in a crash on Lap 190. He’d finish 31st.

Brad Keselowski’s nightmare of a Speedweeks came to an end with two crashes and a 12th place finish. His No. 2 Ford was badly damaged as his Speedweeks was surprisingly off.

Keselowski, failed to lead a single lap in any of the race as he crashed in the Clash and finished 18th. In his Duel on Thursday night, he had a pit road penalty for pitting outside of the box but then was hit with speeding on pit road while serving that penalty a few laps later and would finish 20th.

In the ‘500, he never was a factor all day.

More Carnage

Recent history shows that we were due for a big crash in Sunday’s 61st annual Daytona 500. In last year’s race, 31 of the 40 cars were heavily damaged in crashes. In the 2017 edition, 34 of the 40 were involved in accidents.

Last July, another 34 cars were left on the hook of a tow truck.

So, when we reached 11 laps left in regulation of Sunday’s race at the Daytona International Speedway, it was shocking that only nine had any damage. In fact, the only crashes we had were a six car dust up in Turn 2 on Lap 49 which only left Kurt Busch, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Jamie McMurray with any damage.

Then, on Lap 106, Parker Kligerman and Casey Mears crashes into one another in Turn 1. After that, a bizarre Lap 158 crash occurred at pit entry when teammates BJ McLeod and Cody Ware made contact heading into pit lane and saw them hit Tyler Reddick and Jimmie Johnson as a result.

At that point, that was it.

189 laps down, just three crashes and a Kyle Larson spin.

Then came the “Big One.” It was big too.

18 cars in all were involved when Paul Menard made a mistake and got into the back of Matt DiBenedetto entering Turn 3 on Lap 190. That started a chain reaction crash that took out several contenders.

DiBenedetto had led the most laps of the race (49) and Menard had an extremely fast race car. Defending Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon was collected as what the driver he wrecked to win last year Aric Almirola. His No. 10 Ford got airborne and on top of David Ragan’s at the top of the banking. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Jimmie Johnson and others were involved.

For whatever reason, Turn 3 got everyone again.

Last year, there was a nine car crash on Lap 60 in Turn 3. Then, on Lap 97, we saw another seven car crash. In 2017, there was a five car crash in Turn 3on Lap 105. On Lap 127 of that year, we saw a 14 car accident.

In last year’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, there was a 28 car crash in Turn 3 on Lap 55.

Turn 3 is the turn that creates mayhem.

Rough Speedweeks For Larson Ends With A Surprising 7th Place Finish

Like Keselowski, Kyle Larson had a rough Speedweeks. Larson, was caught up in that crash in the Clash and finished 19th. In his Duel, he had no speed and lost the draft in a 12th place finish. On Friday’s practice, they found he had a leak in his transmission. The team would repair it and he’d end up being fast after. Then, they found another leak in Saturday’s final practice and would elect to just change the whole transmission.

The Daytona 500 was off for him too. He didn’t have the speed then crashed on his own on Lap 180. He crashed again on Lap 194 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Still, despite three crashes this past week, battling transmission issues and overall bad luck, Larson finished seventh in the season opener.

That’s a finish he will take.

Last 34 Laps Overshadowed How Good Of A Race Sunday Really Was

As I stated above, the Daytona 500 was pleasantly good. The first 172 laps were edge of your seat good. Then, the amateur hour that usually occurs on restrictor plate tracks crept back in.

From the Lap 173 debris caution through the 207th and final lap, we saw six cautions and two red flags which totaled over 46 minutes. All the momentum from such a good race was halted with those long breaks and big crashes.

I think it overshadowed a good finish and an all around good race before that.

Chevrolet And Toyota Alliance

They hinted on race morning that they have a new plan. Well, it was a good one. The Toyota’s formed an alliance with the Chevrolet camp to help increase their numbers. See, both manufacturers knew they couldn’t beat the Ford’s by themselves. The Ford’s all hook up and run together and utilize their overall speed. How can you pass them when they line up and move forward?

The Toyota’s only had five real cars that could win. The Chevy’s had the Hendrick camp that had fast cars but likely not good enough to win on their own. The Chip Ganassi Racing camp was struggling and the Richard Childress Racing camp was a step below Hendrick. So, why not all team up to gain more numbers which creates a longer line of cars which creates more energy and speed.

It worked.

Ford’s only led 40 laps on Sunday.

After watching the Ford camp beat them the last few years by a wide margin, the other two manufactures had enough.