Cool Things I Saw, Did, and Learned at the 2020 NASCAR Daytona 500
I have driven the famous 2.5-mile tri-oval at the Daytona International Speedway and I have experienced speeds of about 190 mph in a race car mere inches from the wall on its high banks. Full disclosure: Both happened on the same weekend but not at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, both were sensational. […]
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I have driven the famous 2.5-mile tri-oval at the Daytona International Speedway and I have experienced speeds of about 190 mph in a race car mere inches from the wall on its high banks. Full disclosure: Both happened on the same weekend but not at the same time.
Don’t get me wrong, both were sensational. My first time at the Daytona 500 was full of perks.
I rode in a Toyota Supra with NASCAR rookie driver Christopher Bell at the wheel and felt the incredible g-forces during three hot laps. The track gets very narrow and the banking seems mountainous at the speeds these pros handle.
I drove a 2020 Toyota Tundra around the oval, one of 38 lucky chauffeurs behind the wheel of a pickup with flags waving and a driver standing in the bed for his introductory lap before the start of the race. My celebrity passenger: Michael Annett, who drove Chevy #1 in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. He won the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona in 2019 and placed ninth for the season. Unfortunately he got loose and took down multiple cars with him in the season opener this year.
It was a nervous lap, and perhaps the most stressed I’ve ever been driving 20 mph. It starts with the windows down, headlights and hazards on, and the tailgate unlocked so the driver can hop in. The tailgate is closed, and I accelerate smoothly. He has a handle to hang onto, but you don’t want him to fall over or—worse—fall off. Keep your speed steady as he waves to fans. I guess the concentration showed on my face. “Smile!” a fan yelled as I drove by. I did. In fact I grinned the rest of the way. It was a moment and that fan gave me license to relax and enjoy it.
Surprisingly, I was more relaxed flying around the course with Bell at insane speeds. I was protected by a fire-retardant suit and the mandated HANS head and neck restraint that keeps your head from displacing too far in the event of an impact. It also makes climbing into the car far from graceful. Inside, you’re harnessed in tight. Then the car banks and the g-forces push you further into the seat. You feel pinned as if a giant hand is pressing on your chest. But I took deep breaths and tried to take it all in.
The track becomes smaller, the 31-degree banks steeper, the walls higher, the engine louder as the sound bounces off the wall and makes your ears pop.
All too quickly, it was over and I was trying to figure out how to extricate myself from the car. My helmet felt larger than the window opening. Then I exhaled. Then I laughed. Uproariously. For an unnaturally long period of time.
The Daytona 500 marked the start of the 2020 NASCAR season with the sport’s biggest race. After just a few hot laps, I have a whole new appreciation for the skill of the drivers who are bumper to bumper and three wide, battling g-forces, and maintaining focus for 500 laps.
I spent my time at the race with Toyota, which jumped into NASCAR in 2007 and runs Camrys in the Cup Series, Supras in the Xfinity series, and Tundras in the truck series. I learned a lot.
TRD Is a Busy Place
About 250 people work for TRD, Toyota’s North America racing engineering arm which supports Toyota and Lexus race cars. They install and test engines, finessing pushrod V-8s to their maximum potential. There are about 100 engines in the pool, with 50 in active competition and 50 testing at any given time. The “big motors” that used to get about 900 horsepower have been restricted to 750 hp for use on the smaller tracks. The “little motors” are restricted to 550 hp for the superspeedways such as Daytona. All have equal equipment in a game of inches. Cars have two throttle settings on ovals: wide open and idle.
Next-Gen NASCAR Stock Car Not a Priority—Yet
The current NASCAR Cup Series uses the sixth-generation car that has been around since 2013. The industry will switch to the next-gen car for the 2021 season and pretty much everything but the driver’s seat mold will be new. The drivers, crew chiefs, and TRD engineers we talked to knew surprisingly little about the new car, largely because they are so focused on the current cars they need to win the 2020 season. But all are curious and expect to immerse themselves in the details before the current season ends in November.
Denny Hamlin, who won the Daytona 500 on Monday (a rain delay pushed the race back a day) in a Toyota, said he has only seen the new car in pictures. He plans to go to the NASCAR R&D center in North Carolina next month to look at it. He hopes to get into one and test it out this summer.
Returning Champion’s Perspective
For Hamlin, coming in as defending champion was “really cool,” said a guy who seemed pretty chill heading into the race weekend. He first won in 2016 but the 2019 win was more emotional as it came on the heels of the loss of J.D. Gibbs, son of team owner Joe Gibbs.
After the qualifying duels, Hamlin said he felt the cars were fast but he knew Toyota would have to make smart moves in the final race. The strategy was for the team to hang back early in the race and then make moves. Toyota is credited with introducing the strategy of an alliance working together on the track and it was on full display as the Ford, Chevy, and Toyota teams tried to stay together, bumping and blocking, before it becomes more of an individual race in the final laps.
In the end, Hamlin took the checkered flag again as spectators looked on in horror at the final-lap crash that injured Ryan Newman. Newman has since been released from the hospital in a testament to the safety of today’s cars. The crash has been described as the worst since the one that took the life of Dale Earnhardt almost 20 years ago, also on the final lap at the Daytona 500.
The Hour Before Racetime
In the hour before driver introductions, Hamlin uses his time on the bus to eat. After the driver’s meeting he stretches, gets suited up, and generally tries to relax. He goes over notes from the crew chief and his own reminders so that they are fresh in his mind.
Luck vs. Skill
Crashes are part of the sport, and every race includes at least one “big one” that takes out a chunk of the field. “Some people make it through more than others,” says Hamlin. There are about 45 guys who are just better than the rest of the pack in superspeedway racing. He credits good instincts with helping keep him from getting boxed in.
The challenge is to do 500 laps and not lose focus for a second, he says. It is not easy with someone constantly talking to you (the spotter is in your ear, acting like a rearview—and forward and side view—mirror, telling you which lines are forming and pushing forward, setting the speed. Relying on information from the spotter allows the driver to concentrate on what is in front of him. “Mentally, it is one of the most strenuous races we have,” he said of Daytona.
Good drivers still win despite changes to race format, rules, or cars, said Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for Christopher Bell, the rookie Toyota driver. Ratcliff feels NASCAR is the most difficult form of racing and it takes a great driver to win. “You can put someone else in Kyle Busch’s car and they won’t win,” he says. He sees the field as 40 good drivers and 10 that are exceptional. He sees Daytona as 60 percent talent and 40 percent luck. “Good drivers always seem to be in the right spot and right line.” The winner of Daytona will usually take the flag by skill but some will win with help from lady luck.
Hijinks in the Pits
In Ford v Ferrari, there is a scene where Carroll Shelby steals the fancy stopwatches from the Ferrari pit. We asked crew chief Ratcliff if those kind of things happen in real life—we got a big smile in return because of course they do. Like the time he put a strategically positioned and completely without purpose piece of tape on a car grille for no reason other than to see if others would do the same. He did not say if anyone did.
Is Internet Racing Bona Fide?
Hamlin has a team in the 2020 eNASCAR iRacing Championship Series. “No question they have talent,” he says. “I feel confident putting them in a real race car.” A lot of kids can’t afford to own a real car and fix it when it wrecks. It is hard to make it, and natural talent is not enough. Nor is NASCAR a sport that can be practiced in the backyard. iRacing lets you do that, says Hamlin. And it gets people excited about NASCAR, which will help grow the sport and fuel passion in young people to keep it going.
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