The 2018 NASCAR season kicks off this weekend with the most prestigious race of the year – the Daytona 500. It seems strange to begin each season with the biggest event of the Monster Energy Cup (NASCAR’s highest level of racing), but there’s no better way to get rabid fans hyped up for the new year.
One of the longest and most dangerous tracks on the NASCAR circuit, Daytona is one of only two tracks where restrictor plate devices are required in each car to limit top-end speed for a safer race. With less powerful motors, drivers are forced to draft off of other cars to limit air resistance and will typically form two or three single files lines as they go around the track at over 200 miles per hour. In the race’s early stages, there can be 40 cars all within one or two seconds of each other.
If this sounds dangerous, that’s because it is. With so many cars in such close proximity to each other, one driver’s mistake can lead to a massive wreck involving half the field. While most drivers will tell you the restrictor plate races are the ones they fear most, this is also what makes these races so thrilling for fans to watch. In my opinion, they make for the most unique viewing experiences. If you’re going to give NASCAR a chance, I’d start with a race at Daytona or Talladega, the only two restrictor plate tracks in the Monster Energy Cup.
I’d like to give a few predictions and my own projected odds for the Daytona 500 this Sunday. If you’re a NASCAR fan, you’ll notice that these aren’t exactly revolutionary thoughts… In fact, most are things so predictable that I’d be disappointed if they didn’t happen. The incredible predictability is perhaps the funniest aspect of NASCAR and ironically keeps me entertained every week.
Prediction #1: As the race begins, Darrell Waltrip will yell some variation of, “Boogity boogity boogity, let’s go racing, drivers!” Projected odds: -1500. This will happen.
Prediction #2: Less than 25 of the original 40 drivers will finish the race due to crashes or excessive car damage. It’s even possible that 15 of them get eliminated in one big wreck. Projected odds: -400.
Prediction #3: Denny Hamlin will get a speeding penalty on pit road. For some reason, he just can’t seem to figure out how fast he should be going as he enters the pits. Being that the stock cars in the Monster Energy Cup don’t have speedometers, this seems like an understandable error, but other drivers rarely have the same problem. Projected odds: +150.
Prediction #4: AJ Allmendinger won’t finish the race, then will blame somebody else for causing it to happen. Options include another driver, his own pit crew, or maybe his car. Projected odds: -150.
Prediction #5: There will be one red flag caution where the entire race stops completely. Projected odds: -125.
Prediction #6: David Ragan will dink and doink his way around the track towards the back of the field in his below-average #38 car, avoiding crashes throughout the race, and end up finishing 12th just because he was able to make it to the end. Projected odds: -750. This is the kind of bet where you’d think there’s no way that exact scenario would actually happen, but then it does.
I’d encourage everyone who doesn’t already watch NASCAR to check this race out. Who knows… Maybe you won’t completely hate it. Tune in at 2:00 PM on FOX for a wild one!
