Article 49SYJ It was a wreck-filled start of the year for NASCAR at the Daytona 500

It was a wreck-filled start of the year for NASCAR at the Daytona 500

by
Jonathan M. Gitlin
from Ars Technica - All content on (#49SYJ)
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Although we make every effort to cover our own travel costs, in this case NASCAR flew us to Orlando and provided two nights in a hotel.

The Daytona 500 is NASCAR's season-opener, and also the series' biggest race. Held at the track just a little way from the beach in Florida where the series got its start, it's a 200-lap, 500-mile test of endurance for car, driver, and team. (And depending when they started partying, for the fans.) I've been to quite a few endurance races at this point, and although there are some differences between a NASCAR race and your average long-distance sportscar event I figured the basics would still apply. Like driver preparation, for example.

"It's a tough challenge, especially because it's the first race of the year; it's easy not to be in the best shape coming off the holidays. Being a race car driver on an easy day, when it's not too hot, when the tires work, when everything is smooth-it's not over the top challenging. But there are very few easy days," explained Brad Keselowski, who races for Team Penske in the #2 car. "Daytona is a long race, usually in weather that's much warmer than anywhere else so you're not acclimated. And it's a restrictor plate race so the cars are grouped up, you can't just drive off into the distance. And there's a lot of anxiety because it's like the first day of school."

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