Dropping the Hammer: Top 10 Signs NASCAR Is Back, Baby

Hello, NASCAR Nation!

Depending on when you’re reading this, good morning, good afternoon or good evening.

After a three-and-a-half-month hiatus, both our favorite sport and this column are back in business.

Did you miss us?

We missed most of ya’ll.

Except you. You know who you are and what you did.

Anyway, counting the pleasant experience that was the Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium and Sunday’s (Feb. 16) Daytona 500, the 2025 NASCAR Cup season is officially two races old.

But is NASCAR officially “back?”

We assure you, it most certainly is.

While this is a top-10 list, think of it as more of a checklist.

A NASCAR season hasn’t officially begun until all of these items have taken place.

Weirdly, some have already happened more than once. Some will happen again, maybe even as soon as this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

So here are the top 10 signs — both good and bad — that NASCAR is back, baby.

10. The Weather Gaslighting has Begun

FOX Sports and trying to downplay or ignore bad weather that will put a damper on the race we’re all watching.

Name a more iconic duo.

I get FOX Sports is desperate not to lose any audience for the biggest NASCAR race of the season, but it’s getting ridiculous.

After the initial multi-hour rain delay that put a cloud over the Daytona 500, the field was back on track and getting ready to go back to green.

But, everyone with eyes could see what was on the horizon to the west of the track.

But don’t believe your eyes!

At least that’s the message FOX wants Mike Joy to relay to us.

Dear FOX, don’t treat your audience like we’re idiots. Treat us with respect and *maybe* we’ll respect your product a little more.

9. The Daytona 500 Was Delayed By Rain

FOX Sports has been airing the Daytona 500 for almost 25 years.

Yet, the network still refuses to accept how the weather works in Central Florida in the afternoon, again, in a bid to get as many viewers as possible.

It wasn’t always like this.

8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Catches Flak

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a really good superspeedway driver.

He has the wins to prove it. But, he also tends to find himself part of controversial incidents in those races.

Sunday was no exception, though I think Joey Logano was also at fault with the melee they helped trigger on the backstretch.

7. *That* Save

We have an early candidate of NASCAR’s save of the year and it came from *check notes* rookie Riley Herbst?

Anyone who says they weren’t throwing up their hands when Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota went sliding in the tri-oval on the last lap of the 500 is a liar.

We all thought it was going to cause a caution.

But Herbst pulled off the kind of save that should lead to 23XI Racing producing some sort of merch to commemorate it.

6. Ryan Preece’s Wild Ride, Part II

The Next Gen car keeps finding ways to get airborne and have horrific crashes and Ryan Preece unfortunately keeps having to be in one when it happens.

Specifically at Daytona.

“I’m lucky to walk away, but we’re getting really close to somebody not being able to,” Preece said after his No. 60 Ford rose it the air like it was a levitating DeLorean before landing, flipping upside down and ramming into the turn 3 wall.

I write this 24 years after Dale Earnhardt died in the 2001 Daytona 500.

A reminder that his crash wasn’t a spectacle no one had seen the likes of before.

It was a routine crash nose first into the outside wall.

It was another routine wreck that ended Kurt Busch’s career.

5. “On a computer!”

You know what I’m talking about.

William Byron has two Daytona 500 wins now.

Maybe we can downplay the digital origins of his career just a little bit.

4. Drivers in Commercials

Have the marketing directors of NASCAR sponsors read my columns and finally heeded my plea to feature the drivers they back in actual TV commercials?

I doubt it.

But thank the racing gods, the first two race weekends did include some new ads that featured Cup Series drivers.

Ross Chastain for Busch Beer!

Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher in a second Consumer Cellular ad!

“Isn’t that a visor?”

“Shut up, Chris.”

Please, sir, may I have some more?

3. A Heartwarming Earnhardt-Related Moment

(I didn’t intend for this to be No. 3, but I’ll roll with it)

On Sunday, JR Motorsports became the first team in more than a decade to earn a top-10 finish in its Cup Series debut.

After having a relatively quiet night, the last-lap crash helped Justin Allgaier and his No. 40 Chevy crack the top 10 at the last minute.

A team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to be in the Cup Series.

Hopefully, this isn’t the last time we’ll see it.

2. An Overtime Finish

Does it seem like a long time since the “Great American Race” had a “pure” finish after 200 laps and 500 miles?

You’d be right.

If Cup Series drivers can go the final 40 laps of a race at the revamped Atlanta Motor Speedway without wreck, they can surely do it at Daytona.

Right?

1. Flirtin’ with Disaster

At least once a year, without fail, someone in a NASCAR production truck gives us a gift.

When a broadcast goes to commercial they cue up what I consider the unofficial NASCAR anthem.

“Flirtin’ With Disaster” by Molly Hatchet.

If you know, you know.

Well, we got that moment during the Daytona 500.

Thank you, unknown FOX Sports production staffer, I salute you.

NASCAR is officially back, baby.