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19 Feb 2021
One of the biggest motorsports events took place this past Sunday on February 14th, with the Daytona 500 kicking off the 2021 NASCAR season. The race is big every year, but this one was even more highly anticipated after being advertised as the largest attended sporting event since the pandemic hit last March. The socially distanced crowd did not leave disappointed. There was some exciting final lap drama, and underdog Michael McDowell took home his first cup series and Daytona 500 win.
Last year, the season was halted in March due to the pandemic, then resumed without fans in attendance in May. By July, fans were allowed in limited capacities, which continued until the season ended with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship on November 8th at the Phoenix Raceway in front of 25,000 fans. At the time, that race was one of the biggest sporting events since the pandemic hit, but the 2021 Daytona 500 surpassed that mark with an attendance hitting 30,000 of the raceway’s 101,500 capacity.
The race certainly began with plenty of action. In lap 14 there was a 16-car pile-up after Christopher Bell’s Toyota contacted Aric Almirola’s Ford. Both were towards the front of the pack when Bell made contact, spinning out Almirola and causing a massive wreck. After that incident, the weather took a turn with rain and lightning delaying the race for 5 hours and 40 minutes. When the weather delay concluded, there were 24 cars left in the field, with Denny Hamlin holding onto first place and chasing a record third straight Daytona 500 win.
Eventually Hamlin lost the lead after having to pit late in the race, and Joey Logano was the new frontrunner ahead of his Penske racing teammate, Brad Keselowski. However, heading into turn three, Logano and Keselowski made contact, wrecking several drivers behind, and carving the way for Michael McDowell to take the late lead. A caution flag was issued, and because McDowell had a car-length lead over the second-place car, he was crowned the 2021 Daytona 500 winner, and the 8th driver in the history of NASCAR to have his first career win at the Daytona 500.
The next NASCAR Cup series race will also take place in Florida, but this time at the Daytona Road Course for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253. On February 28th, the schedule brings the series to Miami Speedway at Homestead, and the following week the series will finally venture out of Florida to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, on March 7th. Each race listed so far will allow a limited number of fans to attend under the recommended guidelines, so let’s hope the trend continues throughout the duration of the 2021 season.