Welcome to the 2011 NASCAR season where rules changes, repaving and a rookie resulted in a thrilling season-opening Daytona 500 and a bevy of storylines as the series moves to Phoenix.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is just one race into the season and NASCAR has a new star: meet Trevor Bayne. Exiting the final turn of the Daytona 500, Bayne abandoned his dance partner, former champion Bobby Labonte, and dove to the inside line to block a hard-charging Carl Edwards. After pushing cars to the front of the pack in the new two-by-two tandem drafting at Daytona throughout the day, a result of the repaved asphalt, Bayne held his line in front of Edwards to win the Great American Race in just his second-career Sprint Cup race.
Perhaps lost in emotions of the moment or just never expecting to win in his first Daytona entry, Bayne’s youth was on display as the joyous driver missed the turn to Victory Lane. Laughing at the celebratory mistake, Len and Eddie Wood, the Woods Brothers Racing team owners, enjoyed their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win since 2001.
And with a series of rules changes announced just weeks prior to the Daytona 500, it could only be expected the new regulations would impact the post-race storylines. With drivers now required to declare which single NASCAR series they intend to compete for a championship in – Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Trucks – all three Daytona race winners received no points for their win, having signed up to compete for championships in a different series. With Bayne competing for a NASCAR Nationwide Series championship where he will race a full season for Roush Fenway Racing, Edwards will head into this weekend’s race at Phoenix as the Sprint Cup Series points leader.
And while Bayne’s win understandable overshadowed the Nationwide and Truck Series stories, Michael Waltrip’s win in Friday’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 provided an emotional ending 10 years to the day of Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s death in Daytona. A decade earlier, Waltrip was running first in the Daytona 500 driving for Earnhardt’s team, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in second and, as of the entry to Turn 3 on the final lap, Earnhardt, Sr. running third. But moments later, an accident sent Earnhardt’s No. 3 car veering into the wall and the impact ended the NASCAR legend’s life as Waltrip won the race. In Victory Lane after winning the truck race in 2011, Waltrip struggled to explain the emotional impact of winning 10 year’s later to the day, but the significance was evident in his tears.
And with Tony Stewart’s photo finish win in the Nationwide Series race and Danica Patrick’s highest-ever placing in a NASCAR race, 14th, the entire Daytona weekend provided an array of storylines and interest for hardcore and casual fans alike.
Now, with a surge in television ratings for the Daytona 500 and intriguing storylines abound to start 2011, NASCAR heads to Phoenix to build on a tremendous first week of racing.
At the local track: Chase Elliott, son of 16-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver and Dawsonville-native Bill Elliott, has signed a developmental contract with Hendrick Motorsports … Atlanta Motor Speedway will host a free Open House on Saturday, March 12 featuring Legends racing from 11:00 a.m. through 3:
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