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Kyle Busch took advantage of Chase Elliott’s aggressive gesture at Ryan Blaney on the final corner of Tuesday night’s Busch Clash show to score the checkered flag.
Busch was far third on the final lap as Elliott chased Blaney for the lead. Elliott moved closer to Blaney on the stretch chicane in the back and was able to step over the final stretch chicane.
He made that move and stood alongside Blaney as the two sailed in the left-right corner combination. But there wasn’t enough room for the two of them to get through the last corner and Blaney turned against the wall.
That opened it up for Busch, who passed a slow Elliott to take the checkered flag.
Tuesday night’s race was Clash’s first race on the Daytona road course. The pre-season race has been a NASCAR staple since 1979, but has always been contested on the traditional Daytona Oval until 2021.
But NASCAR has moved the race to the road course with its original pre-pandemic plans intact. While those plans have changed, NASCAR has decided to keep the Clash on the road and move it to Tuesday night before the Daytona 500.
The drivers who raced Tuesday night have a huge advantage
Tuesday night’s race was scheduled for the road course before the pandemic forced NASCAR to move the Watkins Glen race to the Daytona road course in 2020. And NASCAR is once again holding a Cup Series race on the Daytona road course in 2020. less than two weeks instead of a race at Auto Club Speedway in California due to pandemic restrictions.
The drivers who raced on Tuesday night now have a big jump in the preparations for this race on February 21. NASCAR changed its road course rules for 2021 and added more horsepower and reduced downforce from cars. This means the cars have a faster top speed and less cornering grip on the Daytona road course than a year ago.
Those who raced on Tuesday evening had the chance to find out where their new braking and acceleration points are on the road course. Without practice or qualifying before the points race in 12 days, the drivers who were not in the Clash do not have this valuable information before the green flag.
The fair thing to do would be to add a pre-race practice session for drivers and teams that didn’t race on Tuesday. But NASCAR may not be willing to do it. Teams are not bringing spare cars to races without testing and qualifying before the 2021 season to save money.
What’s new in Daytona
It’s time to get down to business for the Daytona 500. On Wednesday evening, pole qualifies for the Daytona 500. The first two starting places for the race and the starting lines for the Duel qualifying races will be decided. The qualifying races for the duel will take place on Thursday evening before Sunday’s Daytona 500. Forty-four cars are entered for 40 places in Sunday’s race. Thirty-six cars are guaranteed places in the race, which means eight cars are racing for four places during Wednesday and Thursday.
Shock results
1. Kyle Busch
2. Chase Elliott
3. Joey Logano
4. Tyler Reddick
5. William Byron
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Alex Bowman
8. Erik Jones
9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10. Matt DiBenedetto
11. Austin Dillon
12. Aric Almirola
13. Ryan Blaney
14. Ryan Newman
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Chris Buescher
17. Brad Keselowski
18. Ty Dillon
19. Kurt Busch
20. Cole Custer
21. Martin Truex Jr.
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