The first unofficial race of the season proved to be one to watch. As Kyle Busch edged Tony Stewart by less than .1 seconds (.013 seconds) because of the classic ‘slingshot’ pass on the last stretch of the last lap. This photo-finish was one that people will be expecting for the Daytona 500 next Sunday as Speed week definitely started in the most exciting way.
Some highlights of the race included a lot of pack racing because the two-car tandems that were so popular last year could not be as affective as teams could not pick up on each other’s radio signals and communicate with each other. This resulted in a lot more close racing and therefore a lot more action for the fans. There were some major wrecks caused inadvertently because of this and NASCAR is reassessing if they did make the right decision. Some notable drivers were taken out early in the race from a large wreck that involved over half of the field of 25 drivers and spoke about how the new style of racing has caused these kinds of wrecks. Other drivers thought that pack racing is the way to go and is how races should be raced on the super-speedway tracks like Daytona and Talledega.
By Jimmy Luehrs