A few thoughts on the Daytona 500

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 | 8:55 a.m.

Blocking with the Car of Tomorrow at Daytona doesn’t work as well as it did with the old car. If you watched the Nationwide Series race you saw plenty of effective blocking with cars similar to the old Cup cars. But in Sunday’s Cup race the blocking wasn’t as effective. Just ask Casey Mears.

What a difference a team can make: Toyotas from the Joe Gibbs camp finished third and fourth. The No. 18 car dominated a good portion of the race. The Toyotas from Michael Waltrip Racing finished 16th, 18th and 29th.

Is it the media or is it the driver? Fans often complain that it’s unfair for reporters to stick their microphones in the faces of drivers as soon as they exit their cars at the end of a race. No wonder the drivers can get testy, these fans say. But the reporters are just doing their jobs as journalists. What would be the point of having an emotionless interview with a driver 30 minutes after the race has ended? An immediate reaction is a lot more interesting. Besides, certain drivers seem to be able to handle the trackside interviews quite well. Take Dale Junior, for instance. At the end of Sunday’s race he was poised and complementary to the winner. Tony Stewart, on the other hand, was his usual juvenile self. He spoke in a sarcastic, curt tone and then walked out of camera range before the interview was over. Too bad Home Depot only sells home improvement merchandise. Tony could benefit from the purchase of a little class.

The unexpected is refreshing: All week all we heard from the media was speculation about Dale Junior or about how fast the Toyotas from the Joe Gibbs camp would be. Well, you know how that turned out. Unpredictability is exciting. I don’t have any idea how NASCAR could build a sense of the unexpected into every race, but it sure wouldn’t hurt the television ratings.

Robby Gordon: He finished eighth in his first outing in Dodge. I’d love to see his single-car team beat the big teams just once this season.