The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series opened up its 2022 campaign with an uncharacteristically tame race at Daytona International Speedway in terms of cautions. Well, tame at least until the Big One hit on lap 99, triggering the yellow flag that flew seconds before Zane Smith took the white flag and his first victory at the superspeedway.
Instead, a red flag, lasting for just over 15 minutes to clean up the on-track carnage, after the wreck that officially collected 17 trucks, including dominant driver John Hunter Nemechek, set up an overtime finish. But that overtime lasted just a little over a single lap before another incident involving Jason White and Kris Wright forced NASCAR to throw the yellow and end the race under caution.
One of the things that stood out after the checkered flag flew were the comments that followed.
“What a terrible race. That was REALLY bad.”
“The entire race was just garbage.”
“What a woeful race. TV coverage was miserable, the whole thing felt like an exercise.”
“I hope this was all a dream and I wake up and the real truck race was better.”
“It was probably the worst truck race at Daytona I’ve seen in a decade.”
“Weak.”
I’m sorry, what? Apparently, I didn’t watch the same race as these commenters. What I saw was a lot of great racing, side-by-side battles, some impressive saves, and sadly, a little bit of the carnage that superspeedway racing is known so well for.
Our whole body just tensed up right now pic.twitter.com/tptItqUESM
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 19, 2022
Keep your foot in it! pic.twitter.com/koeRq4Y3v8
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 19, 2022
Comments, like those above, raise the question of whether a race at Daytona needs to be a wreckfest for people to find it entertaining? After all, there were plenty of reasons to enjoy the race, even without a bunch of crumpled trucks.
We saw the beginning of Ty Majeski’s return to the sport full-time. Sure, he made a handful of starts last season but he seemingly got the short end of the sponsorship stick in 2020 and saw his full-time situation evaporate. This time around, though, he’s driving for a team that’s got a proven history in the series and one we know wouldn’t commit to a schedule it can’t make happen for the 27-year-old.
Then there was Parker Kligerman, who started at the back of the field after missing driver introductions. We got to watch him work his superspeedway magic all the way to a fifth-place finish. But what you can’t see in the results is that Kligerman’s push for race winner Smith was a large part of what put the driver of the No. 38 Ford in victory lane in the first place.
“I know I’m in such a rare position in this sport right now to have the chance to do this,” Kligerman told Jayski after the race. “You can’t take the smile off my face when I get to walk through that tunnel and know I’m driving and not working in another capacity. Going well or not, I’m having fun.”
And, oh, by the way, Smith just won his first race with Front Row Motorsports after ending the 2021 season with his second straight runner-up finish in the championship battle. Heck, we essentially watched Smith win this race twice, the first being when it wasn’t clear whether the caution flew before the white flag when the Big One hit.
With all of that said, there was a little bit of the feeling that drivers were afraid to wreck and start their season in a hole, and who can blame them? We’ve seen some terrifying wrecks at Daytona and digging out of the hole made by a DNF and a poor finish just makes for an uphill battle all season.
But it shouldn’t take a wreckfest for a race to be entertaining.
