Daytona By A Nose

By: Connor Lenahan

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: For tonight’s story we turn to NASCAR. I am not even going to pretend that I follow the sport even remotely well. I could maybe rattle off 15 drivers names by virtue of watching ESPN, but that’s about it. NASCAR isn’t my thing. Nor is it the thing of nearly anyone I know. So why are we here exactly?

Well, the Daytona 500 was yesterday, and that’s more or less the Super Bowl of NASCAR. I can respect this, for I get pumped for big events no matter what they are. But yesterday’s race happened to have a genuinely fantastic finish to it. That is, it was the single closest finish in the history of the Daytona 500.

I might not pay attention to NASCAR, but that’s cool nonetheless. The final couple of turns are especially interesting just for the sake of story. The leader, Matt Kenseth, gets knocked out of first by Denny Hamiln, the #11 car. Then it’s Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. almost literally tied for the lead until they need to go to a mega-slow-mo replay.

Again, that’s pretty awesome.

It might not be my cup of tea, but moments are moments. This was a special one.