The Daytona 500 needs to end under the lights
Bob Pockrass
Bob Pockrass began covering NASCAR in 1992, primarily covering short-track racing and events. He has worked for Street & Smith's Motorsports Group since 2003.
A lot of people were probably thankful that the Daytona 500 had a 1:19 p.m. Eastern green flag.
I’m not one of them.
Why? Simple. The Daytona 500 should finish under the lights. Watching the cars race and crash under the lights made the event more of a spectacle. And obviously some cars got better and others got worse when it went from day to night.
Maybe it’s being there that makes it so dramatic, and it doesn’t translate as well on television.
The race doesn’t need to start much later to be a night-time finish. A 3 p.m. start would work well.
Certainly there are other factors to take into consideration – travel time and fans at home who traditionally watched races starting around 1 p.m.
But the Daytona 500 is special. And a little extra time for more buildup, more fan tours of the garage area and more activities in and around the track wouldn’t be a bad thing.
This is probably crazy talk to most people. And maybe they think I sniffed too much bondo between Turns 1 and 2. But even clear-headed, I’m telling you, a nighttime finish to the Daytona 500 is the way to go.
