The 2015 DAYTONA 500: A Review With A Boring Finish

Well, the 2015 Daytona 500 has come and gone. Speedweeks has come and gone. Testing, the Duels and qualifying and the race itself has finally started the 2015 NASCAR TV season.

Up until the 500 itself, the race coverage was over on FoxSports 1. IT was interesting over there. We'd watch about 30 minutes of event then swap to their sports desk where these two guys would reiterate what had just happened and tell us what will be coming up.

That sports desk thing needs work. It felt awkward, like they felt like they were out of their element covering events in NASCAR. My favorite flub was after Kurt Busch got suspended from NASCAR, it was between 9 and 10 at night, when these two guys told us about Kurt, and how they would give us live updates throughout the night on the situation. I was thinking to myself that if there are live updates at 1 AM, well... OK?

All the races except the cup race were on FoxSports 1, and as many have said in various sources, having most of the coverage taking place on a cable channel many folks don't receive if they can't afford it, is an unfortunate development.

But then TV is about marketing and the advertising, and advertisers want viewers with money, so in the long run, they don't care about the free or basic cable packages. At least the 500 was on FOX itself.

Throughout the weekend we learned various aspects about new rules that are in place for the drivers. One of them is that there are no officials standing on pit road watching teams change right side lugnuts.


Among the things we learned that a car cannot go through no more than three car spaces when pulling out of their pit stall... even if no one is out there with you.

It's all computer driven now, so there will be no favoritism for who does and does not get penalties in certain situations.

And the finish did not surprise me.

We had a late yellow flag and as the pack was coming to the final lap, Joey Logano was leading the pack when a caution came out.

Now we all know two things:

In this latest car configuration, we know that who ever is in the lead with 3 to 5 laps to go has been winning restrictor-plate races.

We also know that how a fan feels about a TV race event is how much energy the last few laps pan out.

So when we had Joey Logano out in front, sure it was exciting to hope that one of the cars behind him can pul off a pass, but then the anticipation was killed when a caution came out as the last lap started developing.

But the proverbial "Big One" never really took place. That's a TV ratings fail because they bank on capturing the excitement of a wreck to tell the general TV fans something to get excited about for their next NASCAR event.

But for long-time fans who appreciate the skills and talent needed to run these cars at restrictor-plate races, it was a fun "chess match" to watch.

All in all, the NASCAR season is back in full swing.  We've had indefinite suspensions, broken legs and first-time winners of the 500.

And for the anti-fans of Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch or Brad Keselowski, I bet you weren't upset.

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