2017 NASCAR Week 1: Daytona

Daytona 500

Daytona International Superspeedway

By Richard Tix

The day has finally come. No, not Daytona Day -- because as much as I love the publicity for NASCAR, its the Daytona 500 and is the one race in the year that doesn't need a cheesy name attached to it to get peoples attention.

It's finally the Daytona 500 and the start of the 2017 season. Fans have waited 98 days this offseason to see, smell, and hear cars back on the track -- just don't let Denny Hamlin know you were counting down...

A ton has happened in that short amount of time where NASCAR left Homestead and arrived in Daytona, which is weird because they're in the same state.

Monster Energy jumped on board to be NASCAR's title sponsor which to most was exciting news. Monster brings new life and new energy to the sport still trying to find it's way through the old school fan's and new fan's it so desperately desires. 

Along with the possibility of Monster girls, they also brought in a new points system for 2017. Ok, it wasn't just Monster, but rather a mix of them, NASCAR (management, drivers, and teams), and TV partners. The social media meltdown most of us assumed would happen was actually pretty mellow as many fan's took the points idea and ran with it.

Tony Stewart, Brian Scott, and Carl Edwards....Yes, Carl Edwards... They all up and left the sport after the 2016 season. We knew about Smoke (announcing before the year) and Scott was surprising, but not as shocking as Twitter-less Carl taking the year off. It left fans with a ton of question's to start the season about why?

However, one door closing just gave another driver a door to open wide open. That driver is Daniel Suarez who will take over the No. 19 and compete head to head to head with fellow Toyota (JGR development driver) driver Erik Jones and RCR driver Ty Dillon. 

Young guns always bring optimism to the sport as does a fresh slate. So, as the haulers rolled into Daytona and fresh rubber gets laid down on the high banks, everyone has a bright new outlook on the season ahead. 

So, as the sun rises over a dark track on Sunday morning while the haziness starts to pass, fan flags start to rise and the seats start to fill, cars will roll off pit road while the crowd intensifies and everyone will have a grand new plan on how the 2017 season will go -- oh and it wouldn't hurt if Hans Zimmer was playing in your head, hello Days of Thunder. 

So, lets drop the hammer on 2017 and kick it off with a bang. I thank all of you who check Behind the Wall out weekly for continuing to do so. I do this because I love the sport and its a fun hobby, but it means so much more than that because I get to interact with so many other fan's because of it. So, I look forward to continuing that in 2017!

As in years past, every preview will have an intro to the week. Sometimes it is a opinion on a topic of the week that gets stuck in my head, sometimes it's just an intro on the track, and sometimes it's both. As always, I will do a short write up on the "Good, Middle, and Bad" drivers at each track. 

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Denny Hamlin- Well, it's not a huge shock to see the 2016 Daytona 500 champ on this list, but the question is can he go back to back in 500 wins? Before his 17th place finish in the Firecracker his 500 win marked five straight top ten's and three straight top fives.
• Joey Logano- You can not go wrong with either Penske driver at Daytona as both navigate the crowd very well. JoLo last won the 2015 Daytona 500 and since has finishes of 22nd, 6th, and 4th.
• Austin Dillon- Don't overlook Austin when thinking about Daytona. He is one of the most consistent drivers here in the last six races (seven career starts). He has a top five and five top ten's in those siz races and it wouldn't shock me if he competed for a win.

The Middle

• Dale Earnhardt Jr- If we just rolled all of 2016 into a ball and threw out the numbers, Junior would be in the group above. However, He was 100% healthy (to our knowledge) to start last season, He got caught up in a wreck with "Amelia" in the 500 and finished 36th. But, we all know he know's how to navigate DIS so he has just as good of chance as any to win the 2017 Daytona 500.

The Bad

• Danica Patrick- I hate talking about the "Bad" drivers at tracks especially superspeedways like Daytona. But, Danica's track record here isn't amazing past two very quality 8th place finishes. The biggest isue is she has an average running position of 20th or more in six of her nine attempts. Meaning? Well, the middle of the pack at Daytona is the worst spot to be in which leads to tough results.
• Paul Menard- Eight straight races at Daytona without a top 15 and the last time he did it was 14th. Menard has shown in the past he can run up front, but he hasn't done that much lately leading to some poor finishes.
• Kasey Kahne- The last eight for Kahen haven't been pretty either. He does have a top ten and two top 15's in that time, but that's where the feel good runs out. He has five finishes of 30th or worse in those eight which include a handful of crashes.