The official post Daytona 500 reaction thread

[Joe Fan]

Well, what did everyone think about this race? I was pretty happy with the end result even though it was rather uneventful compared to last few 500's.

DJ is a great restrictor-plate driver and a great poker player. He sure outsmarted the Roush cars by not falling for that everybody go high with Mark Martin to gang up on Benson in the Pontiac while Jeff Burton went low to get up beside DJ so Mark Martin could move back over in front of Burton to leave DJ hung out to dry. Ha Ha Ha!! DJ outsmarted both of them and Jack Roush too by protecting his position! He knew he had to keep one eye open in any deal with two Roush cars.

By winning his 3rd Daytona 500, Dale Jarrett joined a select group of drivers who have won more than two Daytona 500's. The other three are Richard Petty with 7, Cale Yarborough with 4 and Bobby Allison with 3.



[This message has been edited by Joe Fan (edited 21 February 2000).]

[marcus]

I got up at 4am to watch the race live and enjoyed it..allthough I thought the busch race was more exciting the 500 was still a great event..allthough I was hoping the guy (Benson i think) in the white car which is by far the best looking car I have ever seen was going to win ..but on that late restart he got swamped and hung out to dry big time...I understand Dale snr was not impressed with dale jnr's driving at one stage when they almost made contact...whos being sent to his room without supper then...but it was a great race and Buddy Baker can breathe again knowing his race record is safe for another year...still to many guys being hit in the pits though....I managed to crawl back into bed at 8am and catch a few hours slepp knowing I had just watched the "Daytona 500" live for the first time ever and thouroughly enjoyed it

[Joe Fan]

Even though I am a huge Dale Jarret fan, I would have been happy for Johnny Benson to get his first Winton Cup win with a Daytona 500 victory. Johnny Benson is a good guy and I got a chance to meet him personally his rookie year. He is more deserving of the ride he has had the last few years as he proved himself in a lesser ride at Bahari racing. But he just didn't have the car or the tires to win the race. He still was impressive though because that was one of the best performances that car (formerly the 10-10-345 sponsored #45 car from last year) has had.

[KC]

Lycos and its marketting rep certainly looked smart after yesterday. A good 20% of the race with their car riding on the front after just signing with Benson the night before.

Jarrett is definitely one of the best and showed class when he wished Geoff Bodine a speedy recovery before the race and then apologized to Martin for hanging him out after they had worked togehter for most of the race.

Dale Sr. was aggravated because Dale Jr. had to follow the drafting pack and hung out his dad. Later they had contact after another car swerved in front of them.

[Redneck]

I was a little disappointed.

Not with the final outcome, but with how the whole race evolved. I think the new suspension rule may have gone a little to far. I hope things will liven up more at Rockingham.

[Joe Fan]

Marcus, unfortunately that great looking white car #10 of Johnny Benson will likely change in a few weeks. Benson didn't have a sponsor for the season until a few days ago when Lycos.com signed on so it is common for teams without sponsors to run white paint schemes that adapt well to last minute "billboard applications." If history holds, the car will be a midnight blue or black like it was for Matt Kenseth's Busch Grand National car a few years ago when it was sponsored by Lycos.com.

[Crash Test]

In all honesty i fell asleep at 5am......d'oh!! but i did quickly wake up... I thought the BGN race from the day before was pretty good though..

[John B]

It seems like in many years, a Benson-type contender emerges at Daytona. I was reminded of a recent race when the Bud Moore car picked up computer sponsership just before the race and came close to winning (Dallenbach driving?) John Andretti did this in the Kmart car in 1996, Joe Ruttman in 1994(?), Micheal Waltrip in 1992 and when circumstances were right, Derrikke Cope won in 1990.