1. In Defense of Things Most Fans Currently Dislike About NASCAR, Part I
It’s perfectly understandable that drivers, team owners and at least some NASCAR fans don’t particularly enjoy the racing at drafting-style tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. Way too many cars end up mangled, the fastest/best drivers often don’t win, and it’s exceptionally dangerous to boot.
That last point particularly hits home for me, as the last race I covered in person was the August 2023 Daytona. I’m still not sure how Ryan Preece escaped serious injury that evening.
From an aesthetic standpoint, I can also comprehend why people don’t like tracks where it’s often impossible to pull out and pass someone in front of you without assistance — though difficulty passing is hardly limited to superspeedways in the Next Gen era.
Despite all of that, it’s hard to imagine anywhere but a drafting track produce the kind of finish that just unfolded during the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400. Three-wide for two laps, four-wide to the line, with cars dramatically rising and falling through the field. It was a breathtaking few minutes of racing that you could show to people who have never seen NASCAR and possibly get them to check out another race.
Maybe it wasn’t enough to balance the scales with all of the downsides to the sport’s drafting tracks. But it sure was exciting, and in that respect, worthy of Daytona’s iconic status in stock car racing.
2. In Defense of Things Most Fans Currently Dislike About NASCAR, Part II
Plenty has already been said and written about how Ryan Blaney “saved” Alex Bowman by winning the mad dash to the line at Daytona. Incredibly, the next four drivers behind the No. 12 all needed to win to make the NASCAR playoffs, and would have bumped Bowman out of the field had they done so.
Like most of my colleagues and what seems to be the vast majority of NASCAR fans, I’m not especially fond of the current system of deciding champions. Rewarding wins is great, but the playoffs as structured at the moment put too much emphasis on individual race wins at the expense of season-long excellence.
Setting that aside, the system we have is the one we’re stuck with for now, and with that in mind, the finish of Daytona was exactly the kind of thing NASCAR had in mind when it came up with the playoffs. The combination of high stakes and high drama during the overtime? The sport’s governing body couldn’t have written it up any better if it was working from a script.
Since the payoffs probably aren’t going away for at least a few more years, here’s one request: Keep the regular season finale at Daytona. It’s the best part of an imperfect setup.
3. Would Winning Have Changed Anything for Daniel Suarez?
While it was a bummer for all four of the drivers trying to beat Blaney for the win at Daytona, it was an especially big letdown for Daniel Suarez. Winless in the Cup Series since the second race of 2024, he came this close to a victory that would have given him a chance at a championship. A very, very small chance, granted, but still.
That would have been a feel-good victory for a driver whose future remains uncertain. But would it have altered that future at all? The guess here is that it wouldn’t have.
Suarez is already out at Trackhouse Racing, with the sport’s Next Big Thing, Connor Zilisch, taking his place in the No. 99. It’s possible there will still be some movement among teams like Kaulig Racing or Legacy Motor Club, but even if there were, it doesn’t mean the first call they make will be to Suarez.
What seems more likely is that he’ll land in the soon-to-be-named O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, which might not be the worst thing int he world since he could compete for wins more regularly there. An extra cup victory at the Cup level would have been nice and given him one more trophy, but that’s about it.
4. The Playoff Field is Set … Now What?
The most intriguing thing about the field of 16 for the Cup Series playoffs is how distinctly the line is drawn between the haves (the top six drivers from Kyle Larson down to Shane van Gisbergen) and the have-nots (everyone else). An argument can be made that seventh-place Chase Elliott is in a middling group of his own, but he’s still closer to the cut line than he is to the driver just above him.
What’s less interesting is trying to figure out which of the top group might be vulnerable to bowing out early: It’s obviously van Gisbergen, whose mediocrity on most ovals means he might not even be around to smack the field on at the Charlotte ROVAL in the Round of 12.
If we’re trying to see the glass as half-full for the Kiwi instead, we could probably start by pointing out that he enters the playoffs having just turned in two of his top three oval results of 2025. By his standards, he also has a bunch of experience at Darlington, having made a start there last summer and earlier in 2025.
Gateway will be new to him, however, and his Bristol start this spring was his worst result of the season. If there’s hope in advancement for the likes of Bowman, Austin Dillon and Josh Berry (because Tyler Reddick is probably OK … I think?), it’s going to come from van Gisbergen struggling.
5. The Other NASCAR Lawsuit is Also Rolling On
Most of the spotlight on NASCAR-related legal proceedings has correctly been trained on the battle pitting the governing body vs. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports over the status of the teams’ charters. Yet another case has been going on as well that affects the Cup Series, and it received a recent judicial ruling.
That would be the lawsuit filed by Legacy Motor Club against Rick Ware Racing, with the former accusing the latter of backing out of an agreement to sell one of its charters. The situation got more confusing when RWR sued Legacy in return, with information coming to light that the teams possibly got confused over which charter (because RWR has two, though it is leasing one at the moment to RFK Racing) was going to change hands.
As reported by Autoweek, a judge in North Carolina granted Legacy’s request for a preliminary injunction that prevents RWR from transferring or selling either of its charters until the original lawsuit is resolved. That’s definitely a short-term victory for Legacy, though the issue is far from over and worth keeping track of for anyone whose interest in Silly Season goes beyond the top teams.
