“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload my picks for the best races of 2015.
Welcome back to this special edition of The White Zone. Today, I’m unveiling picks five and six on my countdown of the best races of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
As a reminder, this list is not a collaborative effort among the Speedway Media staff. This is entirely my opinion. This list is more likely to stir up contention than my list of the most disappointing races of 2015 because we all have different standards for each race. So if you believe that one race should be in a different spot, leave your thoughts below.
Yesterday, I listed the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in the number eight spot and the Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway at the number seven spot. Today’s picks are two races I personally attended as a spectator.
Without further ado, let’s get this countdown back under green.
#6 57th running of the Daytona 500
Leading us to green at the number six spot is the 57th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Before I get into the race itself, I want to talk about the experience. When people say there’s nothing like the Daytona 500, they’re not lying. After a 60 minute ride on a bus from a Marriott in Sanford, Fla. and through the Florida palm trees, you’ll find this long stretch of grandstands pop out of the ground. That’s when you know you’ve made it to the “World Center of Racing.”
I’ve heard that Daytona is awe-inspiring, but that’s an understatement. Seeing this magnificent facility in person sent chills down my spine. I can’t put into words the sheer larger than life size of the track when you stand in the grass on the front stretch, look up and see the grandstands and the tower.
When I stood inside the Gatorade victory lane prior to the race, I just imagined all the greats that have pulled their car into that spot, celebrated winning one of the biggest races in all of motorsports – and yes, I know they didn’t always use that one spot in front of the media center – and thought “man, I wish I could stand in this spot in celebration of victory.”
The last thing I’ll say about the experience is that being in the stands, you really sense the grand atmosphere that surrounds the biggest race in NASCAR. If you haven’t been to the Daytona 500, GO! If you don’t take that opportunity, you’re going to regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Now let’s talk about the race itself.
Compared to Daytona 500’s of the past, this edition of the race was rather mellow. Granted, you’re bound to have a slight falloff when the race the year before was one I think was arguably one of the best Daytona 500’s ever. Around halfway through, the race seemed to drag on a little.
What made me include this race on my list was those last 30 laps. Sitting in the stands and watching so many rows of cars running three-wide was awesome. It was truly restrictor plate racing at its finest.
Unfortunately, there was the anticlimactic last lap wreck and ending the race under caution. I’ve always been against the caution flag flying on the final lap. When the leader takes the white flag, it should finish under green. In the end, Joseph Thomas Logano scored the victory in the biggest race in NASCAR.
It was a great race in the context of the 2015 season. I’ll probably remember this event for the rest of my life simply because it was my first trip to Daytona, but I don’t know if we as NASCAR fans will look back on this race and say it was one of the greats. If I had seen more of what I saw in those last 30 laps, this would have been higher. With everything that happened in the race, I believe it deserves the sixth place spot on my list.
#5 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Taking us to the crossed flags mark of the countdown is the Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up 2 Cancer at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn.
I don’t care what any of you say, I’ll always love Bristol. It’ll always be my favorite track. In fact, I’ll argue until the end of time that the racing at Bristol now is better than it was in the past. But that’s an argument for another day.
I remember driving up to Thunder Valley on race day and the skies opened up. As a native of East Tennessee, I can tell you that rain showers are the norm in early spring. Thankfully the mountains break up and weaken the storms.
Even then, some showers make it through and soak the track. I can testify that I got soaked from head to toe and I’m still drying off those clothes all these months later (sarcasm).
Thankfully, the rain didn’t delay the start of the event for too long as we got going shortly after 2:00 p.m. It only took five minutes for Bristol to happen.
Just roughly 20 laps into the race, Brad Keselowski got loose exiting Turn 4, hit the wall, trapped teammate Logano, slid down the track and hit the inside wall. Two minutes later, the rain came back and soaked the track. For the next five hours, we all sat in limbo waiting for the race to get back underway again.
Finally, the race got back underway shortly after 7:00 p.m. It played out as a typical Bristol race. There were wrecks, battling for the lead and more wrecks.
There was a multi-car wreck in Turn 4 on lap 278 that collected drivers like Kurt Busch and teammate Danica Patrick.
Then on lap 310, David Ragan, who was driving in place of the injured Kyle Busch, made contact with Jeb Burton in Turn 1. Kevin Harvick was unable to avoid him and t-boned the side of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
In the closing laps of the race, there was another multi-car wreck. It required extensive cleanup and took the race past the scheduled 500 lap distance. It was red flagged on lap 505 when the rain returned for the third time. I was sitting in the Darrell Waltrip grandstands in Turn 4 when the skies opened up again. I was sitting there saying to myself, “just call this already NASCAR!”
Now while I’m normally not for races being called because of rain, I would have let this one slide. The race had gone past the advertised distance and there was no guarantee that anyone up front would make it any more laps with their fuel load.
But NASCAR decided to wait out the storm and the field began rolling off pit road after just 20 minutes. In the end, Matt Kenseth scored the victory in overtime and snapped a 51-race winless drought.
This is the first race on this list that will probably stand out years from now. I think five years from now, we’ll be reminded of this race and say “oh yeah, I remember this Bristol race.” Any time after that is still too soon to tell. I’ll be interested to see how well this race ages. What I mean by that is if I re-watch it years from now, will it still be as good as I remembered?
In the context of the 2015 season, it would’ve been higher if not for the four races ahead. At the end of the day, the Food City 500 In Support of Steve Bynes and Stand Up 2 Cancer at Bristol Motor Speedway was great enough to land in fifth place on my list.
Do you agree with the list? If not, what order should the races be in? We’re in the closing stages of the countdown. I’ll be back tomorrow to give you picks four, three and two.
