last lap of truck race

[super61]

i'm all about  johnny benson, but was he not below the yellow line to pass to for second going for the win?

none of the team in the booth brought that up. it is not a rule in the truck series?

ken

[Lou]

Man, what a lap! If we are forced to have restrictor plate races, at least the truck series does it right. The current Winston Cup car can never do what the trucks can - pass someone from 50 feet back on the last lap! If the COT really can make it like the truck races, then bring it on.

As for Johhny and the yellow line - M. Waltrip DID make a statement about "Johnny was not below the yellow line until after he made the pass". It sounded a lot like someone protesting too loudly if you know what I mean. Had he not said a word (an impossibility for him), then the vast majority of folks would be talking about the great finish instead of now having slight controversy involved.

I really think the yellow line rule sucks in general. Yes, it has it's place at certain spots on the track, like entering turn 1 and 3, but coming to the checkered at the start finish line is not one of those places. Let them run 12 wide and use the grass and pit road if necessary in that situation!

If they (NA$CAR) rule against Johnny in this case, then they deserve all the negative reactions that will come with it.

Lou

[Cheryl]

Awesome, awesome finish!  I pretty much drifted off during the middle of the race; perhaps a defense mechanism to having to listen to Mikey's over the top commentary.  Anwyay, I woke up when Chase Miller wrecked, so I got to see the great finish.  Really feel sorry for Travis; everyone thought he had the win in the bag.  But what a slingshot pass by Benson and Sprague.  Just wish JB couldn't got the win, but I was okay with Sprague winning since he did it clean.  Really, really worried someone was going to get hurt out there last night.  Thankfully, everyone walked away from the scarey wrecks and we had a clean finish.  I did notice JB being below the yellow line on one of the early replays and mentioned it to Lou (even before Mikey opened his big mouth).  Like Lou, I have absolutely NO use for that stupid yellow line rule, especially since it's not consistently applied.

Cheryl

[super61]

don't get me wrong, that was one of the best races i have seen in a long time. like lou said, if the COT is gonna bring racing like that,  bring it on. even travis was like what the hell happened there?  i had the race won!!!  we know the buschwhacker race today will not be like that

for alot of rookies and first time daytona drivers, there was alot of heads up driving with those single truck wrecks, i don't know how they got thru without tearing up more equipment


ken

[Cheryl]

don't get me wrong, that was one of the best races i have seen in a long time. like lou said, if the COT is gonna bring racing like that,  bring it on. even travis was like what the hell happened there?  i had the race won!!!  we know the buschwhacker race today will not be like that

for alot of rookies and first time daytona drivers, there was alot of heads up driving with those single truck wrecks, i don't know how they got thru without tearing up more equipment

The thing about "opening up the plates" on the COT is one of the things that intrigues me too.  They say they were using the plates they use on the trucks last time they tested it, so that would be awesome if you ask me. 

As to Travis, even before I heard his interview, I thought he'd left too much of a gap between him and the rice burner brigade.  Then heard him say he realized that and was dragging the brakes and thinks that's part of what allowed them to get by him.  Either way, awesome race and I couldn't ask for more! 

Today, the race will be dominated by the Buschwackers as usual.     Randy Lajoie and Chad Little are the only Busch regulars I think I've ever seen win this race.  Just hope we have another safe race as there are a lot of guys in this field with very little superspeedway experience as well.  Plus several whackers who seem to have no respect for the Busch guys and kids trying to learn. 

Cheryl

[old hot rodder]

I enjoyed this race quite a bit. It would have been more interesting if one of Kvapel's teammates could have stayed up with him. But the end was exciting and I thought that Johnny's move to the bottom was a great bit of driving. I STILL think the truck races are the most fun in Nascar.
  Did you catch Krista's interview with Mark Martin before the race? He said that he likes the trucks because it is more like the racing they did back in the 80's.

[cowboy271]

YeeeHaaaww, what a race!  The trucks rock at Daytona.  I wonder if NASCAR will ever notice the difference between the trucks and cars at Daytona?  I manged to figure it out after the first truck race and the truck race has been the Speedweeks highlight (for me) since.

Regarding the yellow line and JB (just watched a couple replays).  It appeared to me that JB's bumper was ahead of Kvapel's before he dipped below the line.  Kvapel may have also moved down, forcing JB below the line as Sprague blew by (couldn't really tell by the replays).  Anyway, a very exciting finish for a change.

Oh, btw, can't believe MW pointed the infraction out!  It was a Toyota for crying out loud!  I also didn't notice the blatant Toyota favoritism I've perceived during previous truck races. 

[Cheryl]

I also didn't notice the blatant Toyota favoritism I've perceived during previous truck races. 

They're reserving all their bias for DW and the Cup races now...   Plus I think the Toy manunfacturer is probably done with the truck series now that they've invaded Cup.  BTW, pretty sad that there were only two Dodges in the truck race.  I guess they're also going to concentrate all their efforts in Cup now.

Cheryl

[super61]

dodge is all but done in the truck series..BHR will most likely go to chevy next year. following up on that, i don't see dodge around much longer in the cup series either, not with the parents very unahppy about the black sheep of the family

ken

[Desmond]

We have seen both the Daytona 500 and the truck series finishes, and I still have to go with the truck finish.  Three vehicles instead of two, aggressive but strategic driving by all of them, and no yellow-or-no-yellow controversy.

Those who run Nextel Cup should look to the truck series for ideas for improving the quality of racing, which is the biggest complaint I have had, and probably most of us as well.