Despite a lackluster Daytona 500 (saved by a great feel-good win by Michael McDowell), there’s a lot to like about the 2021 NASCAR Cup Season. While it’s too early to tell if the entire season will live up to the the marketing scheme of “the Best Season Ever,” there’s been at least something NASCAR can hang it’s hat on in ever race.
Michael McDowell got his first win of a 14-year Cup career in the best way possible: winning the Daytona 500.
Christopher Bell got what is expected to be the first win of many in the Cup Series, winning on the Daytona road course.
While the win at Homestead wasn’t William Byron’s first win in the Cup Series, it was for crew chief Rudy Fugle, after a lengthy career with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series and as the crew chief for Michael Annett and Germain Racing in the Xfinity Series.
Three races into the 2021 season. Three different winners with a combined 1 previous win in the Cup Series.
Some analysts are declaring that this trend is proof that there is more parity now in NASCAR’s than in years past. And while I would like to see smaller budget teams be able to run competitively with the larger teams, I’m not ready to expect to be tuning in to see the likes of Timmy Hill and Joey Gase racing against Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin in a battle for the race lead. Well, at least not until the return of the iRacing Pro Invitational Series.
While three unexpected (and two first-time drivers in Victory Lane) is great, I don’t believe this shows that NASCAR has achieved parity.
Yes, Michael McDowell did win the Daytona 500 for Front Row Motorsports, marking just the 3rd race in nearly 1100 Cup races. However, the other two wins went to big-budget teams. Christopher Bell races for Joe Gibbs Racing and William Byron drives for Hendrick Motorsports.
Having said that, there has been a glint of hope that the gap between the big money teams and the smaller market teams may be shrinking at least a tad. While the Daytona 500 and Daytona road course are always considered “wild cards” where the smaller teams can still compete. (While McDowell’s win at Daytona was a bit of a surprise, his finish at the front was not.)
The Dixie Vodka 400, however, took place at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a mile-and-a-half track which separates the haves and the have-nots. While, as stated earlier, William Byron won for Hendrick Motorsports, there were a couple of other surprises in the results.
While there were probably many who expected Michael McDowell to be a one-hit wonder after Daytona, he has begun his season with three top ten finishes, and is fourth in the points.
Chris Buescher who, ironically, got his first career win while with Front Row Motorsports at Pocono in 2016, led a career-high 57 laps and the first stage. Beuscher drives the #17 for Roush Fenway, once a powerhouse team but one that has fallen on hard times over the last number of years. However, at Homestead, Buescher was up front early before falling back to finish 19th. His Roush Fenway teammate, Ryan Newman, finished seventh.
In just his second full season in Cup, Tyler Reddick, driving for Richard Childress Racing, came on strong in the latter part of the race. (I think if the race had lasted another five to ten laps, Reddick snags his first win.) As it was, Reddick tied his best Cup result, matching the results of last year’s race in Texas when he was runner-up to RCR teammate Austin Dillon.
While many in NASCAR may follow Ricky Bobby’s adage of “If you’re not first, you’re last” the fact that even on a mile-and-a-half we saw teams and drivers up front that we normally don’t see there, that’s a win for those teams, those drivers, for their fans and, quite honestly, NASCAR as a whole.
Let’s hope it keeps up as we go to Las Vegas.
johnmilner.ca 