Sunday’s Daytona noticed probably the most vehicles concerned in crashes in that occasion for the reason that 2019 race and ended a Daytona Speedweeks that noticed practically 100 autos within the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Collection concerned in accidents.
This yr’s Daytona 500 had 35 of the 41 vehicles within the race concerned in an accident based mostly on the NASCAR race report and knowledge from Racing Insights.
That’s probably the most variety of vehicles in a crash within the Daytona 500 since 37 have been concerned in incidents within the 2019 race.
William Byron was operating seventh on the backstretch on the ultimate lap when the leaders wrecked Sunday. He escaped the chaos and went on to win the race for the second consecutive yr.
Denny Hamlin led on the backstretch of the ultimate lap earlier than contact triggered him to crash, ending his bid for a fourth Daytona 500 victory.
“It’s such a (expletive) crapshoot now,” Hamlin stated on his podcast “Actions Detrimental” of what racing at superspeedways has grow to be “I hate that what is meant to be our most prestigious race, a showcase of heroes, is luck. It’s luck. I don’t care how else you need to say it.
“It’s luck. It’s luck as a result of … you simply must keep away from the wrecks. … I’ve grown actually, actually agitated with how we’ve gotten right here.”
Ryan Preece was amongst those that crashed in Sunday’s Daytona 500. His automobile went airborne. It marked the second time previously two years his automobile has gotten up within the air at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
That Preece walked away from such an accident confirmed the concentrate on security NASCAR has had for years, however Preece doesn’t need to proceed to be in accidents the place his automobile will get off the bottom.
“I don’t know what the proper factor to say proper now could be,” Preece stated after exiting the infield care middle Sunday, “however I feel the factor I need to say as a father, as a racer, is we hold beating on a door hoping for a unique consequence.
“I feel we all know there’s an issue at superspeedways. I don’t need to be the instance of when it lastly will get any individual. I don’t need it to be me. I’ve bought a 2-year-old daughter. … One thing must be achieved as a result of vehicles lifting off the bottom like that. That felt, truthfully, worse than Daytona in (August) ’23.”
NASCAR officers inspected the security parts of the automobile on the observe and have been scheduled to go to RFK Racing on Tuesday to look additional on the automobile, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice chairman of competitors, stated Tuesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Since 2017, each Daytona 500 has had a minimum of 25 vehicles concerned in crashes. In that point the typical variety of vehicles in crashes per Daytona 500 is 31.
But it surely’s not simply the Daytona 500 that has seen a variety of vehicles wreck.
There have been 13 vehicles concerned in crashes within the two qualifying races Thursday night time, that means 48 Cup vehicles have been concerned in accidents this previous week.
That’s half the overall of 96 autos in accidents final week in Cup, Xfinity and Vans. There have been 30 vehicles concerned in crashes within the Xfinity race and 18 autos concerned within the Truck race.
The 96 autos in crashes this final week in NASCAR’s prime three collection was thee shy final yr’s whole.
From 2015-21, there have been a mean of 95.3 autos in accidents throughout Daytona Speedweeks in Cup, Xfinity and Vans. These numbers included the Conflict, the exhibition race that moved from Daytona after the 2021 season.
The variety of vehicles in crashes throughout Daytona Speedweeks noticed a short decline after the Conflict left. The primary two years (2022 and ’23) with out the Conflict, the typical variety of autos in a crash throughout Speedweeks was 69.5.
The previous two years has seen the typical variety of autos in a crash throughout Speedweeks climb to 97.5.
