DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Riley Herbst has now raced in three Daytona 500s and finished all three of them. But after the latest experience, he sarcastically suggested it should be the Daytona 162.5 instead.
“They should just make the race 65 laps,” he said. “We’re all just twiddling our thumbs for 450 miles, and then the crew chief says, ‘OK, you can race now.’ That’s it. And then you wreck.”
Herbst may only be 25, but he’s quickly acquired a veteran’s disdain for how superspeedway races often unfold. Can you blame him?
The state of superspeedway racing was the big topic of the week at Daytona, but there were plenty of other discussions as well. They included:
• Daytona 500’s future date
• Clash change?
• OEP dodged a bullet
• Kyle Busch’s status
• Pitbull bows out
But first, let’s talk about how we got here with modern-day Cup Series superspeedway racing — which has developed a pattern in recent years.
It goes like this: At the start of each stage of the race, a three-wide pack quickly forms as drivers run half-throttle to try and save fuel. Because tire wear is irrelevant, crew chiefs and engineers have figured out that if they can spend less time on pit road taking fuel, it will improve their track position for the finish.
And track position is now much more important with the Next Gen car than the previous model, because the cars cannot pull out of line and make a pass without help.
So for much of the race, drivers are told to have their foot on the pedal at an exact percentage — dictated by the team — and can see the number on their digital dashboard.
After saving enough fuel, crew chiefs radio the good news and urge them to race hard. Then the field does exactly that, except they often crash (especially closer to the checkered flag) because passing requires shoving a car forward and defending position requires blocking a car with a run, and the Next Gen cars aren’t good with either of those.
“These cars don’t push and receive pushes very easily,” back-to-back Daytona 500 winner William Byron said. “It looks like it’s in control, but the car has a lot of drag. So when you come off the corner, it’s easy to get to somebody’s bumper. But the cars don’t get pushed easily. You have your hands full the whole straightaway.”
Those postrace comments were nearly identical to what Joey Logano said four days earlier when predicting a clean, green-flag finish at the Daytona 500 “ain’t gonna happen — not with this car.”
Logano had used the same words to describe how the Next Gen car reacted in the draft, and called it “a recipe for disaster.”
As if eager to illustrate his point, Logano tried to make a move on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with 15 laps to go on Sunday night. The combination of a late block and off-centered push triggered another Big One.
Of course.
Welp, we knew this was coming. #NASCAR #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/QA03BiHCjB
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2025
Meanwhile, Christopher Bell pretty much called his wreck, too. He was racing for the lead with five laps to go and was suddenly turned by Cole Custer — triggering another melee of twisted metal.
Four days earlier, Bell had predicted the chances were “extremely low” there would be a clean finish to the race.
“Everybody is willing to do whatever it takes and risk it all for this race,” he said. “The guy in second is going to get a run on the leader and the leader is going to block for all he’s worth because it is the Daytona 500.”
At the same time, it’s worth wondering whether the significance of the 500 gets diminished a bit in this style of racing. There’s an undeniable element of luck involved thanks to all the crashes (only six of the 40 cars were not involved in at least one incident).
And Byron won the race by the Parting of the Wrecked Seas; he was in seventh place on the last lap and the six cars ahead of him all suddenly crashed. Repeated outcomes like that make it more difficult to embrace the greatness that should accompany this race.
What can be done about it? Probably nothing. NASCAR has little incentive to try and address the fuel-mileage game because it looks spectacular on TV. Casual fans have no clue the fuel-savings mode causes the three-wide pack, nor would they care. And there are plenty of casuals who tune in for the Daytona 500 and other superspeedway races.
At least there’s hope for this week’s race at hybrid superspeedway Atlanta. At the smaller track, defending race winner Daniel Suárez said the runs happen so fast that it’s like watching a video on 1.5 speed compared to normal speed.
“Everything happens so quickly that sometimes you cannot react,” he said. “We don’t have time to do all these crazy blocks (at Atlanta), and that’s why we don’t wreck.”
Daytona 500’s future date
The Daytona 500 has been held on President’s Day weekend for 52 of its 67 runnings, including from 1968 to 2011 and from 2018 to present.
But the NFL is threatening that traditional Daytona date in a major way.
With NFL commissioner Roger Goodell eyeing an expansion to an 18-game regular season, the Super Bowl could be held on the Sunday of President’s Day Weekend within a few years.
NASCAR senior vice president Ben Kennedy, who heads schedule-related matters, said Saturday he’s “keeping tabs on it, for sure” when asked by The Athletic.
“Having a lot of conversations with our partners. Had a couple conversations with the NFL as well,” he said. “Long-term, it is something we’re mindful of because we don’t want to go up against the Super Bowl.”
Kennedy said there would be two primary options — the weekend before or the weekend after. But he said NASCAR is leaning toward the latter, because coming out of the Super Bowl and going straight into Daytona is something that has worked for both NASCAR and TV partner Fox Sports.
The problem is moving the Daytona 500 even one week later has a material impact on NASCAR’s traditional calendar. NASCAR must squeeze in Fox’s portion of the season from President’s Day until Memorial Day weekend, when Amazon Prime takes over for the Coca-Cola 600. Then there are other dates like having the Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend, which NASCAR typically uses to open the playoffs.
Would NASCAR eliminate its one off week and run straight through with no breaks? Those are the things Kennedy and his team will have to consider once the NFL’s expansion dreams become a reality.
Clash change?
Kennedy was also asked about the future of the Clash, which ran at Bowman Gray Stadium for the first time earlier this month but is being considered for a move to Brazil.
During his comments praising Bowman Gray, this sentence jumped out: “A few small tweaks we’d like to make if we do bring the Clash back there at some point in the future.”
Maybe it’s a leap, but that doesn’t sound much like the current plan is to return to Bowman Gray for 2026.
“It’s an opportunity as we think long-term for us to think about, ‘Does that potentially go international? Does it rotate? Does it stay domestic?’” Kennedy said. “… It is an exhibition race. It is prior to the season. It is an opportunity for us to promote the season in new and novel, different ways. That’s what we’ve done over the past few years.”
The Clash (also known as the Bud Shootout and Sprint Unlimited at various points), was held on the Daytona oval from 1979 until 2020 and then on the Daytona road course in 2021. It then had a three-year stint on a purpose-built temporary track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to Winston-Salem, N.C., this year.
Trackhouse Racing took advantage of the Open Exemption Provisional to get Helio Castroneves into the field, but it didn’t spark the drama it might have. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
OEP dodged a bullet
NASCAR’s most controversial new rule turned out to be a non-factor this year.
When the Open Exemption Provisional was put into the new charter agreement, apparently only Trackhouse Racing saw it or knew about it. So team owner Justin Marks requested a provisional for four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who used it to get the new 41st position in the race.
That upset both seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. (who called it a “slap in the face”). They would have liked to use it themselves and figured they would be worthy contributors as opposed to a driver who had never made a NASCAR start before.
Thankfully for NASCAR, both Johnson and Truex promptly qualified on speed. The final two spots were taken by the next-best stories as well; Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team made its Cup Series debut and finished in the top 10, and Corey LaJoie gambled his children’s college fund on securing a ride in the 500 (then found a sponsor after putting up the money).
Had Johnson, Truex or the JRM team with Justin Allgaier missed the race while Castroneves, it could have been a public relations mess. Instead, it became a non-story.
Busch’s status
Kyle Busch is in a contract year with Richard Childress Racing and is anxious to see his No. 8 team get off to a fast start. It seems important to do so, especially since RCR made personnel changes in the offseason and must show Busch the team is worthy of his time at age 39 with his prime years dwindling.
“I would agree,” Busch said. “Hopefully with all of the new hires and new people in new places, we’re able to excel on that.”
RCR picked up the bulk of its new personnel from displaced employees from Stewart-Haas Racing, which shut down after last season, and Busch said he hoped to get their input on how to improve at tracks where SHR ran better than RCR.
“Yes, you want to come out of the box strong,” he said. “I always like to be a fast starter and a strong starter to get that basis set for points. … Getting back to that and being able to hold on to that is what we need to be able to do.”
And if not? Well, if it means Busch turns his eyes elsewhere, then that’s a pressing question. RCR hopes it won’t have to answer it.
Pitbull speaks at a press conference before this weekend’s Daytona 500. He also announced his departure as a partner of Trackhouse this weekend. (Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)
Pitbull takes a bow
Prior to performing the Daytona 500 pre-race concert — which had been rescheduled from last year’s rainout — Pitbull posted what seemed like some abrupt news on X.
“Over the past five years, we’ve made history by introducing NASCAR to a whole new audience and falling in love with NASCAR fans at the same time,” Pitbull wrote. “We have made the decision to terminate the partnership with Trackhouse Racing, effective immediately.”
Marks, the Trackhouse owner, had courted Pitbull in a Miami area restaurant and brought him into the fold as a team “partner” in 2021. Pitbull was interested in being part of the journey for Trackhouse driver Suárez, who was also along for the initial meeting, and Marks felt he could help the team bring in new eyeballs and sponsors.
The goal was to help build the Trackhouse brand — which Pitbull did. He even named an album “Trackhouse” in 2023 and had team imagery at every concert.
But when Trackhouse brought in minority investors in 2024, Pitbull was able to exit with a nice return on his time investment. The announcement may have had clumsy wording, but Marks indicated there was nothing malicious about the breakup.
GO DEEPER
Ryan Preece, after Daytona 500 crash, warns NASCAR getting close to tragedy
(Top photo of the last-lap wreck that decided Sunday’s Daytona 500: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
