The 2024 NASCAR Cup season opener, the Daytona 500, made fans wait till Monday due to poor weather in the area. Besides the late-race big-one and a lap-six incident, the race was pretty clean for an event at Daytona International Speedway. There was a disappointing side to why the race was so clean.
All teams employed a fuel-saving strategy at the start of the race, and they did it by running slowly in double file for a long time. No driver attempted to escape the pack and run in the third lane. This invited a lot of criticism from the racing community as it was against the sprint of the sport and deprived fans of overtaking actions.
Two was their NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch, while discussing the same, pointed out that what happened was a problem and a disgrace. He is disappointed in himself for following other teams and slowing down while being a racer. Many would be hoping that the Daytona incident would be a one-off as a reparation of the same is really and for the sport.
I believe it’s a problem. The start of the race last weekend for the Daytona 500 – we’re all sitting around there running half-throttle; not passing and just riding in a line. I felt disgraceful, myself, being a race car driver – wanting to go fast, lead laps and win the Daytona 500, and that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of the race because everybody was doing it. Kyle Busch said, as reported by Motorsports.com.
Kyle Busch explained why he joined the rest of the grid in the fuel-saving run
While Busch has all the right to criticize the fuel-saving run, he was also part of the problem. He could’ve easily gotten out of the run, raced to the front, and potently split the racers running together, but instead, he chose to remain with the group.
This was because he didn’t want to mess up his race on lap 1 itself, as it was the most optimal strategy for the first stage. But for fans who attended the race on a weekday, this was truly disappointing.
I felt bad for the fans. This is not good for them. It’s not what I want to be doing. But when you kind of get in that situation, I don’t know what you do. The third lane could have developed. It was so early in the race; nobody wanted to develop a third lane. It’s a 500-mile race; we don’t want to blow everything up in the first stage, right? Busch said.
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