Daytona 500 is a big NASCAR race that takes place in Daytona Beach, Florida every year. The event has been taking place since 1959 and it is held on the last day of Speedweeks in Daytona Beach, Florida every year.
All the drivers compete on Saturday and Sunday on the track. The team qualified for the race by winning the Sprint Unlimited event on Thursday, qualifying on time, qualifying on pole, or using a provisional or past champion’s provisional.
Now, you’re probably wondering what happened at the Daytona 500 in 2016. Well, let’s just say that it was a thrilling race. Read more to find out!
Race Recap
The race started out with a crash on the first lap. Drivers were going fast and hard to get to the finish line. This crash was very violent and many cars were broken. All the drivers managed to get out of their cars and climb onto safety vehicles.
The track had a long delay before they could start racing again because all the drivers needed time to be checked by medical staff and all the cars needed to be fixed.
The race continued with 43 laps left, but another crash happened because of a collision with the cars being driven so closely together.
On lap 145, Clint Bowyer spun out and started to tumble down the track. This caused problems for many other drivers, especially Danica Patrick who ended up crashing into the wall where Bowyer had previously crashed into.
The race continued with only nine laps left. Denny Hamlin was leading the race, but a blown tire caused him to lose the lead and spin out into the wall.
Who won Daytona 500 2016?
In the end, it was Joey Logano who became the 2016 Daytona 500 winner with a final lap time of 3 minutes, 35 seconds and an average speed of 177 mph.
Because this was such a close race, many fans were disappointed by the ending so NASCAR made a rule change to have double-file restarts in the final two laps of all races.
They continued racing and Tony Stewart came out in 2nd place with Martin Truex Jr. in 3rd place, Joey Logano in 1st place, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 4th place, Matt Kenseth in 12th place, Denny Hamlin in 27th place, and Brad Keselowski in 18th place.
What’s Next for NASCAR and its Drivers
There will be a lot of changes for NASCAR and its drivers in the next few years. There will be an update to the points system, which could create some discrepancies.
The bottom line is that there’s no doubt that this change will help save engines because they won’t have to work as hard, but it may also cause some complications with the points standings if drivers are unable to finish races.
However, if you don’t think that NASCAR needs any updates at all, then watch out for the new stricter policies for bad behavior on the track.
The Chase Format
NASCAR is also changing up its chase format too. Instead of having four rounds of eliminations, they are decreasing it to three rounds of eliminations.
You might think that this means drivers will be less likely to make mistakes during the chase, but there’s no way to know for sure since NASCAR is keeping its new policies under wraps until its test runs at some point in 2016.
Conclusion
NASCAR is an exciting sport that’s hard to miss. This year, it was a thrilling race with many crashes and close calls alike. All in all, Daytona 500 2016 was a crazy race and we can’t wait for even more!
It’ll be interesting to see how the new policies will change up NASCAR in coming years!
