2015 Pit Road Week 1: Daytona

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 1 Daytona 500

By Richard Tix

After a first few weeks of NASCAR headlines Sunday finally brought fans the Daytona 500. Qualifying, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Busch news and story lines swarmed the NASCAR world and it seemed like everyone was talking about everything but the 500.

All that changed when finally the season officially started on Sunday. Early on Jimmie Johnson held the lead until Gordon passed him around lap 14. The first caution came out when Landon Cassill's motor let go on lap 19. The whole field came in to pit and Gordon won the race off pit road.

Gordon continued to lead as the field finally settled in and for the most part found there way into single line racing with a bit of two wide through the field.  The second caution of the day came out when Tony Stewart got tight and then sideways in a wreck that involved Matt Kenseth and Ryan Blaney (not much damage). 

Once again Gordon led the field off of pit road and to the green on lap 45. This time Joey Logano took a quick lead on the way back to the start finish line and held that lead until Gordon came running back around lap 53. In the meantime Smoke headed to the garage about lap 50 which ended his day (he made it back out, but just to log some laps). This time around NASCAR finally had its first rounds of green flag pits stops (starting about lap 77).

After a full round of pit stops Gordon continued to be the leader of the pack. During the round of pits Ryan Truex Jr, Jimmie Johnson, and Carl Edwards were all hit with pitting penalties but ll teamed up to try and draft to avoid being caught by the front leaders.

The three drivers were about a front stretch from being caught when NASCAR threw a debris caution on lap 92. On the restart Gordon again won the race to the front but Joey Logano soon took the lead with 88 laps to go (restart was on lap 110). Dale Earnhardt Jr then quickly took the lead from JoLo the very next lap and led until JoLo came back to take the lead with about 54 to go.

The second green flags stops came with about 49 laps to go and after cycling through Joey remained out front. After fighting his way back to the front JJ finally took the lead back on lap 158 and held the lead until a caution came with 40 to go when Brad Keselowski's engine blew.

With 35 left to go JJ led the field back to green and the three wide racing started to pick up. Mixed in the next few laps Carl Edwards, JJ, and Jr all mixed in fighting for the lead. Finally with 25 to go Ryan Blaney's engine blew (alliance with Penske) and the yellow flew. With 20 to go the green flew again and JJ on the high side of JoLo took the lead. 

The pace picked up again in the pack as drivers knew it was time to go. Most of the field was three wide through the pack. JoLo was on the high side of the track getting huge pushes from Clint Bowyer. Denny Hamlin through himself into the mix and was fighting JJ for the lead on lap 13 when Clint helped finally push JoLo past JJ and Denny and into the lead. 

With three to go and Joey still leading Justin Allgaier's engine blew and NASCAR called another caution. NASCAR threw the red so the track could be cleared and when they resumed we had a GWC for the story books. The last 50 laps ended up being nothing but exciting with the racing somehow staying three wide with no real "big one." 

Joey Logano chose the high side giving Denny Hamlin the low side on the restart. Joey eventually got the lead and was safely out front. Jr made a push but it didn't look like it would be enough when NASCAR threw the final caution of the day on the last lap when the field fell apart when Gordon and A. Dillon got into each other. That sealed Joey Logano as the 2015 Daytona 500 winner for the first time in his career.

In my opinion the 2015 Daytona was a great start to the 2015 year. Some fans complained of boring single file racing during the middle of the race, but what do you expect? Why would anyone jeopardize there chance of winning so early in the race? Racing is not always about excitement for 100% of the race. Its all about strategy, staying clean, and by the last 30 laps putting yourself in a great spot for a win.

During the last laps you want the highest probability of winning as possible, and if you race three wide all day you put your odds of being in a wreck that much higher. The funny thing is, when a driver runs over there head (runs two and three wide at times they shouldn't) those same fans complain when a mistake is made. So, fans you can not have it both ways. NASCAR will always have some laps that are about strategy and staying clean, rather than excitement. But when it comes down to it, those last laps were truly as entertaining as any fan can expect. So please, sit back and enjoys some racing...

So, let's move on from the review and the Daytona rant and get into 2015's first regular season Power Rankings!

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 1 (Preseason)

1. Joey Logano (LW-3)- What a big win by Joey Logano. On a day when his Team Penske teammate went out with a blown engine (and alliance member Ryan Blaney) JoLo brought his car to VL. 
2. Kevin Harvick LW-1)- He was lurking all day towards the front and you were just waiting for him to make a move. He tried making a few late but just didn't have the perfect position to do it and hold the spot. Was still a quality effort by the 2014 Champ finishing 2nd.
3. Jimmie Johnson (LW-3)- He lead early and late while fighting through falling back through the field and penalties. In the end JJ looked strong while finishing 5th.
4. Denny Hamlin (LW-7)- Denny Hamlin was a player down the stretch but came up short. After a week of being in the spotlight with Danica his fourth place finish was a quality ending that may be over looked going into next week.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-8)- Jr had one of the strongest cars all weekend and early on he showed just that by clawing to the front. He lead some laps but in the end was just a bit too far out to make a legit push at the win. He ended up finishing 3rd.
6. Jeff Gordon (LW-4)- Rough finish for Gordon on Sunday, but he showed early and often that 2014 wasn't a fluke comeback to his glory years. He might still have it in him for number five.
7. Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)- The preseason rankings at this point don't realyl mean much. After starting towards the back Sunday Clint (on his third car) made his way up front and was a true player with 15 to go. He was a huge help to JoLo and finished 7th himself.
8. Martin Truex Jr (LW-NR)- Strong all weekend, thats pretty much all you have to say for Truex. He ran into some bad luck along the way, but that team still has to be happy about an 8th place finish. 
9. Kasey Kahne (LW-NR)- Kahne was the least talked about Hendrick driver of the day but quietly finished the day in 9th. It was a good start to the season after a tough 2014 season.
10. Brad Keselowski (LW-5)- BK seemed like he was going to be one of the top cars in the closing laps early on, but then his engine gave out and he had to sit and watch from the side. I still think both Penske cars will once again be strong in 2015 and that statement only gains confidence in a JoLo win.
11. Casey Mears (LW-NR)- Mears has to get a shot at the top 12 after almost missing the Daytona 500 because of bad luck and then finishing 6th. It might be short lived, and I don't expect him to have a top 12 kind of season, but lets give him some spotlight on a great Daytona 500 finish.
12. Kyle Busch (LW-10)- This spot has to go to Kyle Busch for the week. Get well Rowdy. Some may not be his biggest fan, but the sport is better when he is out there. It was a rough hit at Daytona and it helped address issues NASCAR still needs to be looking at week after week, track after track. NASCAR needs to start being more proactive on helping reduce the chance of these big hits. Thankfully he is ok and we cant wait until he steps back into a car.

Just Missed: Greg Biffle

Week one in the NASCAR season is over. NASCAR heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this season for stop two. Last season Kasey Kahne used race #25 to get him into the Chase late in the season. This season ATL will be used for a driver to get an early advantage towards the Chase. Check back in for TV schedules, the Entry List, and he race preview! Thanks for checking out NASCAR Behind the wall and let me know who you think will win at ATL for a chance to make the review and get on the Fan Vote Leaderboard.