We arrived
at Daytona International Speedway just in time for the US national anthem. When we looked for our seats, there was confusion
because they weren’t at the location shown on the speedway’s website. I checked and re-checked but we were assigned
to the front row instead of higher up in the stand. The good part is there was nothing but
a fence and walkway separating us from the track. The bad part is there was nothing but a fence
and walkway separating us from the track.
That wall of wind I mentioned in my
previous post was intensified and pushed me over a few times. Despite that inconvenience, we settled in to
enjoy the race.
Unlike
Friday night’s Subway
Jalapeño
250, where the lead had been held by sixteen different drivers out of
forty-three total. The Coke
Zero 400 was a more conventional NASCAR race where only nine had the honour
of leading the pack. Most of the action
took place as drivers carefully manoeuvred in the middle. However, it was nowhere near the level of action
on Friday night. That is of course,
until about halfway through the race when all hell started to break loose. It started out with individual mechanical
problems and then quickly escalated into multiple car bust-ups. There was even a collision in pit lane, which
was right in front of us so we saw all the drama. I decided to try supporting a particular
driver and chose Clint Bowyer because he’s quite a character but the poor guy crashed
out.
 |
| In honour of Trackside's Danny Hammerdropper, "Go Dale!" |
Directly
in our line of view was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s pit area. He woke
up the crowd by giving a push to his long-time pal Tony Stewart. It was then we realised that amidst all the
smoke from wiped-out stock cars, the man called Smoke had systematically clawed
his way from the forty-second position all the way into the top three. It was an amazing feat and I happily admit
that he deserves every accolade. After a
stunning move at Turn 4, he snatched the lead from the Biffle/Kenseth
partnership and tore towards the finish line.
As he raced towards his eighteenth victory at the DIS, the rest of the field fell
into chaos with one final multiple-car crash and it was a doozy. I missed the accident that took Jimmie
Johnson out of the competition because there was a grilled chicken sandwich
that needed my attention at the concession area. However, the last lap mayhem happened pretty
close by and we quickly found ourselves covered in a light layer of dusty
asphalt.
 |
| Smoke's victory lap |
