NASCAR’s brightest yet most disappointing day

This year’s Daytona 500 hasn’t officially happened yet. Yet it has still moved the needle in a way NASCAR had not seen, while at the same time, the storms and suspense left a cloud of disappointment over the sport’s brightest day.

Being on social media in the year 2020, you’re effectively guaranteed to come across a political argument or some kind of political discussion, even if only every so often.

From time to time, I’ll see a comment about “no matter what your political beliefs are, this is awesome”, or something roughly along those lines.

And, in many cases, I’d agree with that, irrespective of who is the person being highlighted; stuff is either awesome or it isn’t. It doesn’t really matter who is the one promoting it.

But I also understand that unfortunately, to many people it does matter, and those people would only make said claims when it’s their party or preferred politician who they want you to think is awesome; if the shoe were on the other foot, they would be nowhere near as supportive and may, in fact, be quite condescending toward the given individual.

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So when comments about President Donald Trump’s Daytona 500 appearance circulated, it initially felt like same old, same old; the ecstatic fans, the condescending haters, and the people trying to play the middle ground while subliminally trying to promote their own beliefs at an inappropriate time and place.

But in this particular instance, maybe there actually were some who were right there in the middle ground.

Why?

Because this truly was about so much more than politics. Not to use the cliché I just shot down 15 seconds ago, but this truly was awesome, no matter what your political beliefs are.

But this was big for NASCAR above all else, not a politician nor a certain party affiliation. Even if you can bring yourself to take nothing else positive away from yesterday’s events, let this be an indication to the people who believe NASCAR is on the decline of just how significant this race and this sport still are to a whole lot of people.

This wasn’t some “celebrity” who 95% of the fanbase and drivers had never heard of or some local singer who was nominated for some award eight years ago partaking in all kinds of pre-race activities to get the season underway.

This was the President of the United States attending the biggest NASCAR race of the year, the first time it has happened in 16 years when George W. Bush became the first to attend back in 2004. This was the President of the United States giving the command to fire engines on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, something no president had ever done before.

This was the President of the United States going for a lap around the “World Center of Racing”, another first, before getting on the radio to wish all 40 of the field’s fierce competitors the best, just moments before they took to the high banks of the track to compete in the race of their lives. Yes, that was another first.

Sports — especially NASCAR, given its roots — simply aren’t going to find anybody bigger or better or more significant than the President of the United States to kick off a new season.

And it wasn’t like he was just out there shaking hands in victory lane just to make an appearance, similar to what we’ve seen in the past with Vladimir Putin following the Russian Grand Prix and Bill Clinton following the United States Grand Prix.

From the dramatic flyover and landing of Air Force One to when “The Beast” pulled back into the pits from its lap around the track, President Trump’s participation in the event was all-out and truly unprecedented.

It marked a bright day for NASCAR that had previously never existed. It moved the needle and took the sport to a level in the public eye where, in the modern era, nobody else could.

It also added a nice touch to NASCAR’s traditionally extensive honoring of America in the pre-race ceremony; it was really almost like it was the main event.

What else can you even compare it to?

News agencies, both politically affiliated and non-politically affiliated, that you would never imagine having any interest in NASCAR were covering this. People who you would never expect to be discussing NASCAR, much less watching it and posting about it, were keeping a close eye on this race and sharing it with their friends and family.

Let this be a lesson to everybody on a completely non-political level: NASCAR is still here, folks, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

It got the crowd fired up. It got the drivers fired up, even more so than they ordinarily would have been for the biggest race of the year. It got Jeff Gordon so fired up in the Fox broadcast booth that he joked about wanting to un-retire and be back in that field of 40.

Had Darrell Waltrip still been in the booth, I’d probably have been able to say the same thing about him. Turns out, he was more into it than anybody else, even having retired from the booth.

But that positivity and energy also made it a rather dark and disappointing day for NASCAR.

It did basically end up being the main event, as the real main event didn’t happen, leaving more than 100,000 fans and millions of viewers who were all ready to roll feeling unfulfilled.

Only 20 of the 200 scheduled laps ended up being completed on what was supposed to be a day to crown a Daytona 500 champion. Rain caused the race to be postponed until later today. By my calculations, President Trump currently ranks third on the NASCAR “laps led” list for 2020, trailing only (actual driver) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and (honorary pace car driver) Sheamus.

And yes, that’s also a first — but that’s an unfortunate first, given the circumstances.

All that hype, anticipation and build-up was unfortunately washed away by rainstorms that kept the race in limbo for about four hours before it was ultimately postponed after just 10% of the scheduled circuits around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked superspeedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida had been run.

It was truly one of the sport’s brightest days, while at the same time, it quickly turned disappointing and left the same fans and drivers who had just been so fired up in a state of deflation when the race became the first Daytona 500 to be moved to a Monday since the 2012 edition, which was the first in the race’s then-54-year history to be moved.

Yes, we still have a race to run, and 180 laps of a 200-lap race is no short sprint. From a racing perspective, the best is yet to come. And yes, some of the hype and momentum from yesterday’s pre-race festivities will remain.

But that same energy and vibe that were in the air yesterday won’t even come close to being replicated this afternoon, and it is quite a shame that the “Great American Race” couldn’t have been contested in that environment given just how great it was for the sport.

Today, hopefully, a Daytona 500 champion will be crowned, and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season will officially get underway. Fox is set to broadcast the resumption of the race live from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon.