NASCAR QNA: Daytona 500 finishes under yellow; Ryan Blaney gets roughed up

Are we happy or not with the Daytona 500 finish?

We have no problem with William Byron winning, though it did feel odd for a blue-chip driver to win the sport’s Super Bowl after three straight years of underdog winners.

But the official position here at QNA is no race should finish under caution. If this had been the NFL, the replay official would’ve seen that the final wreck was triggered before the leader hit the stripe to begin Lap 200.

But it’s not the NFL, and Lord knows, with a race delayed more than 24 hours, and another 300-miler to go afterward, everyone was ready to throw the checkers and hit the road.

"After further review, the ruling on the field stands!"

SPEED FREAKS What did the Daytona 500 tell us, if anything?

Poor Ryan Blaney; was this any way to treat the champ?

Man, no one floated into Daytona on a bigger high than Ryan Blaney, the recently crowned 2023 champ and a guy who knows his way around the 2.5-mile tri-oval.

But he wrecked very hard into the wall in the Thursday Duel, then crashed out again in the 500. The Thursday crash, by the way, measured at 55 Gs, Blaney said. It was hard, but less than the 70-G crash at Daytona last August.

By comparison, astronauts feel about 4 or 5 Gs during re-entry. Of course, it lasts longer, but let’s assume we’d take a pass on either one.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR QNA: Daytona 500 ends at slow speed; Ryan Blaney roughed up