Weekend Wrap-Up: Daytona

Weekend Wrap-Up: Daytona

What went down: NASCAR's biggest race of the year was hyped up like crazy, just as it is every year, but more so this go around. The 57th running of "The Great American Race" featured the storyline that this would be surefire Hall-of-Famer Jeff Gordon's final ride in the race, and he started on the pole position no less. It also featured the absence of a Busch brother in the field for the first time since 2000. Elder brother Kurt Busch was suspended the Friday before the race by NASCAR for his involvement in a domestic abuse case with his former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. Younger brother Kyle, on the other hand, was involved in a violent crash during Saturday's XFinity Series race that resulted in Busch fracturing his left foot and suffering a compound fracture of his right leg. Regan Smith and Matt Crafton subbed for Kurt and Kyle.

Once the race got underway, Jeff Gordon dominated the first half of the race, leading over 80 of the first 100 laps. The only notable incident during the first 100 laps was that of Tony Stewart sliding up the track and hitting Ryan Blaney with Matt Kenseth also involved. All three would be relegated to low finishes, but with Blaney's ultimate demise being an engine failure later on.

The latter half of the race featured some absolute precision driving by the entire field, everyone was three-wide for about 30 laps and not a single person wrecked. It was incredible to say the least. Joey Logano had put himself in prime position after his teammate, Brad Keselowski, lost an engine late in the race and was able to hold the field at bay when Gordon was wrecked on the final lap.

What it means for Logano: He just scored the biggest win of his career, locked himself into the Chase, and has now essentially met the hype that surrounded him since he was a teenager.

This, astoundingly, was Logano's seventh Daytona 500 at just the age of 24. Through his first five seasons, Logano struggled mightily to live up to the high expectations that surrounded him from the time he started racing in NASCAR's top series at age 18. But ever since his move to Team Penske, Logano has flourished and winning the biggest race of the year cements his place as being a solid contender for race wins virtually everywhere.

What it means for everyone else: It may be the biggest race of the year, but take the finishing results with a grain of salt. 

For one, it's the first race of the season, absolutely nothing is set in stone at this point, aside from Logano being an essential lock for the Chase now. Also, the Daytona 500 is still a restrictor plate race, otherwise known as a crapshoot. There is no way of telling who will truly be title contenders until the series gets a month or two into the season. Results at Daytona and Talladega do not indicate who is a forced to be reckoned with and who is not, just keep that in mind.

What’s next: The series heads to the 1.54 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, hoping to avoid some raining weather that's in the forecast. This will be the first time seeing how NASCAR's new changes to the cars will work in 2015.