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I Don't Always Love a Parade

© Dennis Michelsen

The Firecracker 400 (Sorry Pepsi but some traditions should remain) marks the halfway point of this magical mystery tour called NASCAR 2000. This has been a season of very high highs and very low lows. It is somewhat fitting that the halfway point occurs at a track that has featured some of NASCAR's most memorable moments. Unfortunately this race will not be one of those memorable moments that we will be talking about in the future.

Pole night on Thursday was a total display of Yates power. Dale Jarrett had dominated Speedweeks back in February and once again Yates Racing was way ahead of the competition sweeping the front row. Bill Elliott had a strong effort grabbing the third spot at one of his favorite tracks while rookie Dave Blaney's fourth place run was a wonderful surprise for his struggling team. Despite rule changes that helped the Bow Tie Brigade earlier this year at Taladega, Chevy struggled with only one driver qualifying in the top ten. Such restrictor plate aces as Dale the Elder and Jeff Gordon qualified eighteenth and thirty-fourth respectively.

The first two thirds of this years Firecracker 400 (Sponsored by Pepsi) went right along with the long standing traditions handed down over the years. Unfortunately it was not the tradition of exciting door to door racing that is synonymous with Daytona. It actually resembled a Fourth of July Parade, albeit a full 180mph faster than the one down Main Street today! A lead pack led by Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott tried but failed to pull away from the pack that continued to slice and dice it behind them with three and sometimes four wide racing the rule. Up front the leaders seemed to be playing follow the leader on cruise control as DJ led the first fifty-one laps, which is a Daytona record.

The first caution flag of the evening was a timely one for debris on the race track. Perhaps it was Mike Helton's coffee cup falling from his hand off the balcony of the Corporate Suite as he dozed off that then drifted down on the track. After the much needed pit stop adjustments, Rusty Wallace proved that when you are leading the league in pit road speeding tickets you can be singled out of a pack. He was sent to the back of the pack as the green flag flew again to restart the parade... umm race. While this restrictor plate induced nose to tail racing is exciting it is more the fear of a big crash rather than scintillating racing that produces that effect and keeps fans on the edge of their seats.

Race fans spent most of the night fearing the BIG ONE