*DISCLAIMER: The article Trump Pumps up the Daytona 500 was meant to be done in an experimental Gonzo Hunter S. Thompson style of Journalism. The rains came, delays fed with last year’s replays, and this author became once again dismayed. 

Finally, we are getting ready to take the green flag for the 2025 Daytona 500. To be completely honest, my heart just wasn’t in the 2024 season. My favorite driver, Kevin Harvick had retired. My father died from pancreatic cancer in January. Stewart-Haas Racing announced they would be no more, and there was a lot of drama happening at my day job.  I was already involved in the Independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign and that took up a lot of my time. Kennedy dropped out and endorsed Trump, and today Trump pumps up the Daytona 500.

Beyond all of those reasons for a lack of focus on my part, there were still all the reasons you hear from old school hardcore fans every year. The disconnect between NASCAR executives and fans was on par with the disconnection experienced between everyday citizens and their government. I am hoping that President Trump leading the pace laps for the Daytona 500 will help set off a season in which we make NASCAR great again.

Then The Rain…

I suffered from a quick pause in my focus as I began communicating with coworkers from my everyday job via text. It wasn’t too long before a caution flag began to wave. As I looked up from both my laptop and phone screens, I saw gray clouds. We made it only 11 laps in before a rain delay. At this very moment, I am questioning my decision to have only taken a two to three hours nap between getting home from work and getting up to pre-race.

Delay

After a couple hours of last year’s Daytona 500, it is now 5:40 PM. Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick are taking shots at each other in the booth, while Mike Joy officiates. Pit road is open next lap. William Byron leads the most of them down pit road. The sky is looking gray. It would be really great if we could get this race finished tonight. I was thoroughly ready to get this season going.

While the rain delay has done very little for decreasing my anxiety levels, I am excited at the chance to see a night Daytona 500 finish. My all time favorite Daytona 500 finish was when Kevin Harvick barely beat Mark Martin to the finish line. The boys in the booth are doing their best to reassure the television audience that most of the weather is south of the track.

Mike Joy has just let us know that the jet dryers are off the track, but they’re taking an extra lap under yellow, due to a couple of rain drops on the pace car windshield. Will we get any green flag laps before another delay? NASCAR has deployed weather “observers” miles from the track to warn of impending rain, according to Mike Joy. Fox is now providing us the side-by-side commercial break so we don’t miss any of these exciting caution laps.

Not a Good Start to the Season

This may be a whole new season of NASCAR, but the cars are back on the pit road for a whole new rain cell. The goal now is to “not lose” the track. Daytona International Speedway is a rather large track, so I would hope they wouldn’t lose it. The cars are being covered again, as the red flag waves again. We are on lap 21 of 200. This isn’t looking good.

Return to Green Flag Conditions

The green flag is finally waving. These first 23 laps have taken nearly 5 hours to complete. Time is clearly relative. Let’s see what these racers can get done. They are trying to get three lanes going now. It’s wild to see three wide racing all the way around the track at Daytona for me. I guess people enjoy this kind of three lane 180 mph parade style racing. For me, it just looks frustrating. There are some moments of excitement, but it is more of an “oh crap that was close” type of excitement. The rest of the time it just looks like a really fast traffic jam.

I have to say it was really cool to have the President show up to the Daytona 500. That’s definitely something many old school NASCAR fans were happy to see. Being a little superstitious, I believe that Trump having shown up will ultimately bring great luck to RFK Racing, as RFK Jr helped Trump win his election. Yes, it’s Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, but the initials are the same. If there is any sort of spooky cosmic karma at work in the universe, I think we could see any one of the three RFK cars win the race. Not just due to my theory of shared initials, but RFK Racing has been really good at these superspeedways in the Next Gen Cup cars.

End of Stage 1 Snoozefest Brings Berry Bad Luck

Poor Josh Berry, he just can’t catch a break since becoming a full time Cup driver. Looks like that bad luck is going to continue with him at Wood Brothers Racing. Well Stage 1 is finally over, and I’m sorry, none of that was exciting. To be perfectly honest, in my opinion, watching the track drying efforts was more exciting than stage 1.

I hope President Trump is watching this and thinking, “Holy Crap, we’ve got to do something to make NASCAR great again.” The way this race has gone so far, you’d think the previous President had shown up for pre-race activities. I am sure there will be some excitement later on in the race, but I’m seriously considering going to bed.

As soon as I type that, we get the start of stage 2. Joey Logano doesn’t get going well and stacks up everyone in that lane behind him and we get a wreck. Thank goodness we have all these in car cameras so that we can watch all these replays of the lap 71 pile up. Sorry, but I still think watching the track dry was more exciting than tearing up race cars.

What Makes a Good Race?

Sadly, it has only taken a little more than one stage of racing for me to ask the dreaded question, “What makes a Good Race?” This is the Daytona 500. The President of the United States of America showed up. The fans loved that. There’s nothing more American than NASCAR. It was born out of the prohibition era. Prohibition led to the development of a very profitable black market to supply the demand for alcohol. The government wanted to stop people from drinking so the people developed their own means to get around that regulation.

There’s an analogy there somewhere. NASCAR executives want to enforce parity so they put in place stricter rules. Well, just as there was a demand for alcohol during prohibition, there is a demand for speed during this Next Gen era. I want to see cars dominate races. I want to see drivers lose laps getting caught by a caution during green flag pit stops and then still being able to get multiple laps back! We desperately need MORE HORSEPOWER and less downforce. Get rid of the tapered spacers, restrictor plates, and anything else that accordions up the field. NASCAR is about competition NOT parity.

I’m sure there will be a lot of excitement at the end of this race, when teams get more aggressive with their drafting. I love the Daytona 500 and stock car racing. I just don’t love what I am watching. It is the result of the executives going against the very nature of the sport’s soul. The Next Gen Era should henceforth be called the Prohibition Era of NASCAR Cup Series racing. The goal is an authoritarian enforced parity via excessive penalties and micro-management. Every crew chief of every team needs to start focusing on breaking up this parity by loosely interpreting the rules. We must as old school racers and fans, demand a repeal of the Prohibition (aka Next Gen) era of NASCAR.

Honestly, I’m beginning to feel a demand for sleep. The rain delay certainly didn’t help things, but I was hoping for a miracle I guess. Does anyone want to ask Elon Musk if he’d be interested in buying NASCAR?

Go RFK Racing!