By Jonathon Masters

In recent months, I’ve discussed how speed weeks in Georgia and Florida is a preview of what the season may bring in the realm of dirt racing. The same can be true for many other forms of racing. 

Almost every division in the country has some form of kickoff event that takes place in the Southeast during the months of January and February. The reason for this, of course, is the annual date of the Daytona 500.

East Bay: Dirt, Sweat, & Cheers:

NASCAR’s season opener and largest event of the season was the catalyst that started the tradition of the racing community’s annual trip to Florida in February. Racing may have been happening in the region earlier in the year, even before the creation of the 500, but it is still the centerpiece that created speed weeks as we know it today. All other forms and levels of the sport owe a debt to the growth and development of the Daytona 500.

The race at the famed super speedway in Daytona Beach is a preview for the rest of the 2018 NASCAR season. It introduces us to new stars and creates legends and stories that will forever be etched into the minds of the racing community. Even when it’s a bad race or has questionable results, it is still memorable. 

Who could forget Derrike Cope’s Daytona 500 win in 1990 as a result of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s flat tire? Who could forget Juan Pablo Montoya wrecking into an air dryer truck resulting in an on-track inferno and causing a lengthy delay in 2012? What about Mark Martin being robbed of his 2007 Daytona 500 win due to a botched call? 

Even when it’s bad, it’s good.

A lot can be said about the 2018 Daytona 500, which took place this past Sunday. I do not believe that it should be known as a “bad” race. It was very competitive and in no way was Austin Dillion’s win a result of a bad call. He was competitive all day long and deserved the win. He did everything correctly within the rules and regulation of the race. He also benefited from the race being a beautiful mess.

RT TO CONGRATULATE AUSTIN DILLON ON HIS DAYTONA 500 WIN! https://t.co/VmaGgYA312

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 18, 2018

I think the first thing a lot of people picked up on in this year’s race was how much things have changed in NASCAR in such a short amount of time. Go watch the Daytona 500 from five years ago and then watch the 2018 race again. If you had been in a coma during that time span you’d be wondering who on Earth all these drivers are. The field was packed with new names and faces. 

In the past, the passing between one generation of racers to the next has been a gradual event that takes place over a decade or more. Due to drivers retiring earlier and a great crop of youthful racers, this has been put into overdrive, resulting in a field of fresh young stars. 

Due to the inexperience and eagerness that comes with having a field of younger drivers, the race was destined to have its moments of wrecks resulting from overzealous racers letting it all hang out. It also led to the inevitable two-lap shootout for the Daytona 500 victory — not to mention a majority of the top contenders from the day watching the end of the race with busted-up cars in the infield. 

There were even some heated words and some funny rebuttal thanks to young Bubba Wallace’s post-race interview regarding Denny Hamlin’s reaction to their battle for second place in the final laps.

So if the 500 was a preview of things to come from NASCAR’s premier series, it should be an interesting season full of comical flubs by young drivers who are hungry for the win — and that’s a good thing. 

We are coming off a group of drivers who were there for the most profitable growth period in NASCAR’s history. The years from 1994 to 2010, when a lot of the last generation of drivers were in their prime or starting their career, were a boom period for NASCAR and saw one of the fastest rises in any sport’s history. Many of them have made tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in racing, and even winning had become routine to them. It’s good to see racers that care again.

This year’s Daytona 500 might have been a beautiful mess, but, for the first time in many years, it got me interested and excited to watch NASCAR races once more. People want to root for the first-time winner. People want to see an underdog prevail. It is fun to see somebody win and appreciate it, and in 2018 we might be seeing a lot of that.