Everything Is Turned Upside-Down! | NASCAR Daytona Race Review & Analysis

Harrison Burton who was recently fired just got the Wood Brothers their 100th win and upsets the playoff grid [Music] entirely how's it going y'all my name is Eric welcome to out of the Groove On The Go coming to you from Daytona International Speedway where we just witnessed a firsttime winner a playoff upset Madness on the playoff cut line two flips well maybe one and a half but let's not stress over the details Denny Hamlin practically committed arson I'm just kidding but seriously this race was nuts I guess we'll just start with overtime shoot four races in a row now have ended with at least one overtime attempt let me set the stage for you on the inside leading Kyle Bush going through the roughest stretch of his career the two-time champion future Hall of Famer desperate for a win desperate to make the playoffs to his outside is the young feisty Harrison Burton who has not had any success in the Nascar Cup Series and actually this summer learned he would not return to the 21 next year he's lost his ride pushing Kyle Bush is his former teammate Christopher Bell with Joe Gibbs Racing power a three-time winner this year pushing Harrison Burton is the somehow even less experienced Parker redl 21-year-old Wisconsin driver making just his second Cup Series start he's an Xfinity regular not even in the playoff picture an Xfinity Bush and Bell versus Burton and rlap who do you expect to win that battle Bush and Bell right wrong on the final lap the inside Lane became a bit discombobulated and Parker RL gave Harrison Burton the push of all pushes Harrison Burton then did the workout at turn four blocking Kyle Bush actually got bumped got sent below the double yellow line no penalty for that Harrison Burton gets the Wood Brothers their 100th Nascar Cup Series victory at long last when was their last one I guess probably I guess it was blay 2017 did Menard get a points paying win for them I don't think so 100 wins for the Wood Brothers we'll talk about what this means for Harrison Burton's future what this means for the playoff picture in a moment but just focusing on that final restart Kyle Bush needed this win bad man it has been a miserable season RCR has shown some more speed the past two weeks but you never know when you'll get this opportunity again Bush was I would say somewhat surprisingly gracious in his defeat when speaking to reporters on Pit Road glad to not get torn up and and beat up um more than I have already this year so good day for the cheddar team everybody on this uh Chevrolet Camaro they did a great job Rand and the guys brought a fast car so hated that I wasn't able to get the job done but um is what it is I mean you're wide open you're just doing everything you can you're relying on everything happening behind you and uh unfortunately the 20 something happened off of two where he got squired up and wasn't to my rear bumper and then he was below the yellow line and I I don't know what was going on but um completely killed the bottom Lane and the outside just rolled and you know once uh once we got to turn four there just wasn't enough energy with enough cars from behind me I was relying on my own draft to try to pass the 21 and that happened so slow that Ray Charles could block that so um besides wrecking him nothing to do Austin Dylan showed up with maybe the best car at Richmond Kyle Bush had a top five car last weekend at Michigan almost one here tonight don't rule out the8 car at Darlington one more chance to potentially win his way into the NASCAR playoffs I also talked to Parker RL who you would think 21-year-old kid hasn't had much Xfinity success yet only making his second Cup Series start you would think running top five making the move on the final lap to get the 21 car out front racing against Kyle bus Bell Cup Series championship contenders you'd think that Parker rlap would be a little more rattled maybe a little more animated but no he was very matter of fact on Pit Road afterwards I don't know I just wish I could have I got I got Harrison cleared on the back stretch and I was just hoping that I had a big enough run that it would clear me and I could maybe pull down in front of the eight had give myself a shot so I knew as soon as I uh didn't get clear in the three that I was going to make it a little bit hard on myself uh I just needed them to keep pushing a little bit hard I think it was a 54 bumper and uh i' have been clear and gave myself a better shot but um I'm overall happy with it just definitely more and lastly I talked to Christopher Bell who was tasked with pushing Kyle Bush they did a great job the first lap but coming out of turn two on the final lap it seemed the inside Lane got a little dicey I asked Christopher Bell about how these restarts played out all night long the whole green white Checker the bottom row was never in unison on their pushes and you know I there were there were times coming from behind me where I'm getting sideways and getting you know shoved left shoved right and then every time I got attached to the eight I was never Square on him and I was making him out of control so you know it's all about getting successful pushes and the bottom row just didn't do that uh that last screen check still crazy to me that you had Bell and Bush Gibbs RCR get beat by Harrison Burton and Parker rettl the Wood Brothers and beard Motorsports like that's if that's not NASCAR I don't know what is that that's one of the things we do love about NASCAR Anything Can Happen seemingly anytime Cody wear scored a top five finish tonight pretty cool seeing him celebrate with his team team owner on Pit Road after the race but like what I mean even two weeks ago Richmond who's saw Austin Dylan coming like this summer has been so wacky completely unpredictable in my opinion but back to Harrison Burton this is such a feel-good win for the industry obviously the Burton family are are very well-liked by many within the sport Jeff Burton celebrating in the NBC Booth was pretty cool of course you saw Harrison's mom everyone celebrating as pit box I was actually standing right by the pit box when they cross the line the pit crew subber like this the Wood Brothers the history behind it there's there's so much to love about this win who doesn't love a firsttime winner there's something about that number 21 and Daytona International Speedway that just creates magic truly a beautiful beautiful moment this is why we watch sports for that raw human emotion Harrison said he was tearing up crying during the cooldown lap this means so much to him so much to that family it's hard not to be happy for him and I am I'm I guess I'm like teeing this up as if to say I'm not happy for him I guess if I am to be critical and this has nothing to do with Harrison Burton I been consistent on this for years I'm not a huge fan of the winin your in part of this playoff format like I don't know where he is now but coming into this race Harrison Burton was 34th in points had done absolutely nothing all season why can't we just celebrate this win for what it is a beautiful moment an emotional moment A celebratory moment for so many in the sport Wood Brothers get number 100 Dex Imaging gets all that good publicity all the Victory Lane photos do the Hat Dance why can't that be the moment why does this moment now have to impact the next 11 weeks of the Season why does this moment now significantly impact who's going to make it to the championship for at Phoenix because let's be honest Harrison Burton won tonight legitimate winner pther Rook he's in the playoffs but is Harrison Burton a playoff driver are the Wood Brothers a playoff team no they've been outside the top 30 in points all year they've been outside the top 30 in points for the better part of three years they are going to knock out a Chris busher or a Ross Chastain and while neither of those drivers have been particularly great this year they both could realistically figure it out and at least make it to the round of eight they've both been there before Harrison Burton is almost certainly not getting to the round of eight I know Atlanta's in that first round maybe he sneaks through the round of 16 but even that's a stretch so that's all I'm saying this isn't anti-h Harrison Burton I said the same thing when Austin Dylan won and we thought he was in the playoffs two weeks ago I don't love the winin year end format maybe we bring back the top 30 in points rule maybe that's just a quick fix for next season that I think that restores some of the legitimacy that wins like this I think cost the current playoff format that's just my take again I hate to sound down on Harrison Burton nothing against Harrison Burton this has been my opinion of the playoff format for years and I hate that after such a dramatic exciting Victory we have to look at the bigger picture that's what's a little frustrating at times why can't we just celebrate this moment for what it is um but we do have to look towards the future and speaking of the future Harrison Burton needs a new ride for next season he joked in Victory Lane after words that hey I wish I'd won before I got fired maybe I wouldn't have lost my ride uh he said it with a laugh of course a chuckle um does this win Vault Harrison Burton into more conversations I haven't heard anything this weekend about where Harrison Burton could land obviously the Burton family are very well respected very well connected Harrison brings some sponsorship from dex's Imaging I think odds are good he will land somewhere even before tonight but does this win maybe help him get a better seat I don't know it certainly looks good to have Cup Series win winner on your resume but again we do have to be realistic about what this race was it's a super speedway race where about 30 plus cars had damage Harrison Burton is a solid driver he proved he can win in exfinity when he's in good equipment but I'm not sure he's going to turn this win into a top opportunity with a top team in any of NASCAR's top three series I mean I guess trucks are exfinity you bring some funding that's always possible but I don't know personally I don't think this win is going to make a huge difference it's not going to hurt there's no way it could hurt but I don't think this is the Difference Maker I don't think there's any owner out there that now says oh Harrison proven winner give him what he wants I don't think that's the case I don't think that's realistic uh damn I hate to end this on two kind of negative topics I am super happy for Harrison Burton he's a good dude love that he won this race but the big picture ramifications are uh you know worth talking about anyway moving on from Harrison Burton where should we go next I guess let's take a look at the top finishers right here mention Cody wear scoring a top five that's pretty exciting Ty Gibbs quiet night top five for him as well bubble Wallace comes home sixth quite the recovery I think he was caught up in at least a couple of the big crashes to come home six salvages what points he can but as we'll see in a moment Harrison Burton's win disrupts everything rlof ends up seventh eighth for Brad keslowski who was spinning across the grass as they took the Checker top 10 for Chris busher who I believe also earned 10 stage points tonight so all things considered great points tonight for for the driver who came into this race 15th on the playoff grid even with Harrison Burton winning Chris Bucher is still holding on to the 16th and final playoff spot thanks to such a strong points night the defending Coke Zero sugar 400 winner couldn't back up his 2023 win tonight but still comes out I think in a very good spot let's take a look at the points real quick yes Harrison Burton will now contend for a Nascar Cup Series championship both bubble Wallace and Ross Chastain Ross was caught up in a couple of crashes are now out and they're 21 well Bubba at least is 21 points behind Chris busher Chris busher got to feel pretty good that he's in and with Darlington coming up we probably won't see a new winner although I did you know just you know vouch for Kyle bus 21 points is a decent Gap that's going to be tough for Bubba or Ross Chastain 27 back to make up not impossible but now you know there's a bit of a cushion there Tai Gibbs didn't do anything in the stages tonight but with a top five finish he's plus 39 now Martin TRS Jr is in as well so the playoff picture now becomes pretty clear heading into next weekend's Southern 500 I guess next we should talk about some of the big crashes late in this race Michael mcdal in the outside Lane gets a bad bump draft from Austin syndric does sort of a half flip over the pack a lot of good cars destroyed in this crash I think Joey Lano probably had the best car tonight he won stage two but boy when he was out front didn't matter who was behind him he was typical Joey loano able to control those Lanes this crash also took out Justin Haley unfortunately who for the first half of stage three was driving the race of his life a few risky blocks in there but he made it work led a bunch of laps didn't save much fuel though had had to wait longer on Pit Road and I think that's part of why he was back in The Hornet's Nest and got caught up in the McDow crash McDow was fast too of course both he and Todd Gillan swept the front row in qualifying front row Motorsports had a ton of speed I felt like the 34 and 38 worked pretty well together throughout much of the evening but just wasn't meant to be Michael McDow may not have completely flipped but it didn't take long for Josh Barry to say hold my beer uh two laps to go Josh Barry upside down skidding across the freshly paved back straightway into the inside wall hard scary scary crash he was left hanging upside down for a couple minutes while the safety Crews had to slowly tip him back over Barry got out was okay thankfully that's two years in a row in this race a steuart Hos car has flipped down the backstretch late scary scary and kind of a point of emphasis two flips in One race after we just saw two flips at Michigan one in the xinity race one in the Cup race NASCAR this weekend added an additional sort of fin a shark fin they called on the rear window primarily to prevent a car from lifting when it gets spun sideways didn't work I'm no aerodynamic engineer didn't do Jack squat two cars flipping tonight into completely different Fashions I think the Barry flip is the most concerning cuz you know last week when lejoy flipped we could maybe partially blame the strong headwind the wind gusts I don't know if you can see it out here look at my hair there's no wind very little wind today no big gusts so back to the drawing board I guess add another shark fin I don't know maybe NASCAR will finally decide to rip the underbody the underwing off these cars at least at Super Speedways maybe maybe they'll consider something before Atlanta and then Talladega in the fall I guess we'll have to wait and see they made the decision to add the shark fin really quick so who knows maybe this is an area where they can work fast NASCAR does have a very strong safety record and they built this car to withstand these what they call catastrophic wrecks Cory lejoy was just fine after last week's wreck Josh Barry appeared to be just fine after this wreck tonight thankfully so NASCAR does deserve a lot of credit but clearly whatever Arrow changes they made for this race did not have the desired effect so again back to the drawing board that's all I can really say I'm no I'm no genius here I did talk to someone this weekend who is a aerodynamic engine and to be fair they did tell me that the shark fin probably wasn't going to work so dang maybe NASCAR should hire that guy I think he gave me his card I'll have to pass it along to people I know so many other places I could go man now they're starting to turn out lights here on Pit Road do I still look okay I'm sorry if I've been like flickering this whole time yeah anyway uh there was a big wreck early lap 60 guys saving fuel in stage two Cory lejoy got a lot of heat after he and Noah Gregson got together set off a big big crash took out a lot of cars in the back half of the field including Heavy Hitters like Denny Hamlin Chase Elliot you look at the replay you they're stacked up behind Chast stain but lejoy had some room behind him to I think give Gregson space to catch himself Larson was close and had been pushing Denny Hamlin in my replies put the blame on the seven car put the blame on Cory lejoy most fans on Twitter did as well I think he does deserve most of the blame for that but others pointed out Kyle lson was involved in a few near misses tonight he was sort of in the mix during the lejoy Gregson crash he also dored Austin syri at one point down the back straightway sent him almost into the grass lson also spun John Hunter neek out from the lead with about 20 laps to go so Larson's nose it wasn't uh wasn't perfectly straight he was getting guys loose routinely this evening I think that is fair to point out but yeah lot of crashes lot of Carnage it's Daytona in August what do you expect I expect nothing less I feel like I'm forgetting some big big things I apologize if I am doing these shows in person it's much more spur of the moment my notes are a lot thinner than when at home with my computer just riding and riding and riding there a lot more distractions out here in the real world but I guess let's put this race on The Groovy gauge I thought 90% of this race was fantastic it really was even the fuel mileage racing there were so many lead changes guys coming and going they didn't slow the pace down by 5 Seconds like they were doing last year there were some fuel mileage racing but guys were still going for it like I said in stage three Justin Haley was making bold blocks making moves making things exciting two and three wide all night long dozens of leaders dozens of lead changes this was great pack Racing for much of the night again about 90% of the action tonight was phenomenal stona racing we just saw too many big wrecks some big wrecks and big spectacles are expected and you know fans I think buy tickets to see some of that that's that's just the honest truth I think we can admit that we can say that but several big crashes taking out some contenders early on you know and then at the end there's like I don't know four or five cars maybe left without big dents and tape all over him like just you wreck a lot of cars a lot of good good cars you hate to see that you wanted to see guys like legano and McDow and keslowski and you know Kyle Busch was in the mix yeah even Harrison Burton or Justin Haley you wanted to see the guys who really put on the show all night long do it at the finish and unfortunately like 90% of those guys were you know in the garage on recers or damaged limping at home so I don't know overall it was a good race I think I'm going to go 80% if not not for the playoff implications I would say this was an awesome winner a tremendous story I do feel good for Harrison it just bothers me that this now will impact the final 10 races of the year in such a huge way 80% for me but man this is a tough one I feel like scores are going to be kind of all over the place probably mostly high if you don't like super speedway racing you probably didn't like this but if you like super speedway racing which a lot of fans do you probably enjoyed the show tonight let me know what score you would give tonight's Coke Zero sugar 400 down in the comments below oh my goodness I almost forgot about Daniel Suarez Catching Fire early in this race I didn't see a great view of the replay but I guess on Pit Road Hamlin sort of drove through Suarez's box slightly and like I don't know backfire from his car ignited fuel in Suarez's pit box lit the 99 on fire dude was cooked absolutely massive happened right in front of me it blew right by you could feel the heat Suarez got out of the car quickly man tough break for Daniel we also saw on the same note Shane Van gburg and blow a motor and partially Catch Fire I think he ran over some sort of debris he didn't report any issues beforehand seemed very sudden and on the same lap SVG blew up we saw Eric Jones and Martin trck Jr limping with flat tires so I think there was something out there that NASCAR didn't see and several drivers hit and broke some important stuff but yeah I forgot to mention those two things did happen tonight I also ran into Sasquatch Bigfoot here on Pit Road in fact he was in the 21 pit box maybe he was their secret to success was he like a was he wearing the fire suit was he the the the gas man getting him uh in and out quickly getting that track position we discovered it now we know why all it took was Bigfoot to get the Wood Brothers their hun thr what am I even talking about there was a giant pickle on Pit Road Before the Race what what is happening in Daytona Beach feel like I should ask these guys do you think they know think they know what's going on here in Daytona Beach all I know is that people are starting to pack up so I got to head out of here thanks for watching this video y'all leave a like if you enjoyed subscribe for more NASCAR content every single day I'm usually at home sometimes I get to come out to the racetrack and that's thanks to you find folks on patreon who help support the show keep it growing I greatly appreciate everything y'all do for the channel I also appreciate everyone who came out and said hi this weekend if you came to our live Power Hour show yesterday I really appreciate it that was a lot of fun Brennan and I both really enjoyed it or if you saw me at the track today and said howdy that was fun as well really great to meet so many of y'all in person oh my goodness that's a sick ride right there I know right I know uh yeah thank you all so much for uh helping make my uh dream a reality so great to meet so many of y'all I'll see you later this week have a wonderful rest of your weekend folks take care