Daytona 500: How NASCAR’s Biggest Race Became More Strategy Than Speed

When Bill France Sr., the founder of NASCAR, was designing the layout of Daytona International Speedway in the late 1950s with Charles Moneypenny, it is quite possible that he envisioned a massive, fast track on which drivers would run at screaming speeds while completing each lap. This would amaze spectators with mile-per-hour numbers that were unheard of in the world of stock car racing.

When we fast forward to the year 2026, the most important race in France is almost seven decades old. Uninitiated individuals continue to be astounded by the speeds. Are you going to race side by side at a speed of 200 miles per hour? This is absurd. Despite the fact that the speeds for the first 500 in 1959 were somewhat slower, coming in at approximately 150 (the average speed for pole position was 140), they were nevertheless extremely close to the limit for that time period.

In the end, France would construct an even faster track in Talladega, Alabama. It is possible that France could be forgiven for believing that his Daytona showcase speedway would always be about the fastest of the fast, and that the driver who was willing to run every lap to its absolute edge would emerge victorious.

However, racing at Daytona has developed in a manner that is sometimes peculiar, and the winner is not always the one who is the fastest, despite the fact that the styles of cars have changed throughout the course of the seasons.

“I feel like it’s a little harder to show your skills as a speedway racer with this car than it used to be, and that’s just the way this car is,” said Ryan Blaney. “It makes it a little more difficult to show your skills.”

After the drivers had recovered from their initial shock at the vast new terrain they were being expected to race through, the story shifted its focus to the draft. This occurred in the very early days of the sport. In the current period of high-speed stock car racing, the ever-shrewd Junior Johnson and others made the discovery that locking two vehicles together, front bumper to back bumper, made both cars quicker. This discovery marked the beginning of the modern era of stock car racing.

Following that, the infamous slingshot pass was executed. Due to the quirks of the draft, there was a period of time when the driver who was in first place was the last place they wanted to be on the final lap. This was due to the fact that the driver who was in second place might use the whip-around effect that was caused by the slipstream to rush past and grab the lead. It was during the summer race at Daytona in 1974 when this effect was thoroughly highlighted. At that time, the leader, David Pearson, slowed down and fell to the inside of the track entering the final lap. This essentially forced Richard Petty, who was in second position, to pass him. The slingshot was then completed flawlessly by Pearson, which allowed him to win the race. Petty referred to the maneuver as being treacherous. According to Pearson, he was merely making the one and only maneuver that would allow him to win the race.

When speeds began to exceed the boundaries at Daytona and Talladega, the National Association for Stock Car Automobiles (NASCAR) experimented with a variety of strategies, such as engine restrictor plates and body changes, in an effort to prevent cars from taking flight and to reassure insurance companies that were concerned about automobiles visiting grandstands.

Whenever there was a change, teams responded. The unusual form of “team” racing that occurred at Daytona was known as tandem drafting, and it occurred for brief periods of time. In this form of racing, two cars ran linked together for lap after lap. There was also the phenomenon of bump drafting, which occurred when drivers took advantage of the tight racing on the backstretch to give the car in front of them an additional lift by bumping it. This strategy was later disapproved of by NASCAR, particularly when it was used in turns and resulted in accidents, and its application was restricted as a result.

In the most recent iteration of Daytona racing, the concept of gathering in enormous packs while still running at some fraction of full throttle has been implemented. This allows for the conservation of fuel and the potential reduction of the amount of time spent on pit road for the loading of new fuel. The sense that the “real” racing occurs only near the end of 500 miles has been established as a result of this experience, and the statistical evidence tends to support the concept that this occurred.

With ten laps remaining, William Byron, who had won the 500 the previous year, was currently in 15th place.

In the nine most recent 500-mile races, the winner has only led the final lap in three of those races.

As the race clock ticks closer and closer to its conclusion, there is a growing expectation that the pack racing will result in collisions. In 17 of the 21 500s that have taken place in the past, the last stretch of green flag has been two laps or less. Over the course of the last 21 races, the final green run has been longer than six laps in only two of those races. There have been six of the last eight 500s that have gone into overtime due to accidents.

“Last year, I thought for sure that we were going to win it, just where we were and who we were racing, and I was positioning ourselves, and then you just crash,” said Denny Hamlin, who has won the Indianapolis 500 three times. At this point in time, that is only the Daytona 500. Crashing is a significant probability that could occur. Although I don’t believe I’ve finished well in the NextGen era here, I have done well in terms of running. Unfortunate events have occurred to me. I’m still trying to find out how to finish these races without becoming involved in any kind of accident, no matter how simple or complex it may be.

To put it simply, the end of the road is a forest.

Joey Logano, who won the 500 Mile Race in 2015, remarked, “The storm is brewing.” You become aware of it, and you begin to comprehend where you are and what is possible and what is not possible. To tell you the truth, the worst scenario is when you are in the fourth row back, kind of locked in on the bottom maybe, and you realize that I’m probably not going to win from where I’m at, and I’m probably going to crash. You are beginning to understand that.

“You are smack dab in the heart of the area where the collision is going to take place. You’re going to find it right there. There’s a chance that you’ll win. Possibly not, and the further back you are, the greater the likelihood that you will be involved in that collision; this is the reason why everything that came before that you are attempting to position yourself in a way that will allow you to have options.