Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 7:37 p.m.
I’m looking forward to viewing the double-file restarts at Daytona this weekend. Restarts at Daytona have frequently resembled the look of a long, lumbering freight train that struggles to reach a decent speed. And since the horsepower-robbing restrictor plates add to the lumbering look of the first lap after a restart, the side-by-side restarts have the potential to inject some competition and additional strategy into those early laps.
The new restart rule allows the leader to choose the inside or outside lane on the restarts. It will be interesting to see which lane the leaders pick throughout the race. Usually a driver will pick a groove based on how he thinks that groove will help him get around the track. But at Daytona, where drafting is everything, we may see the leaders picking their starting position based on who their drafting partner will be. Hopefully that car in a leader’s rear-view mirror on a restart won’t be Kyle Busch.
I’ve been on vacation for the last week and, unfortunately, I missed the New Hampshire race. But I have it on TiVo and I’ll watch it this week. As a result, I’m reluctant to comment on the events of a race I didn’t get to see, but one thing did come to mind as I was reading about Joey Logano’s win this morning. How many professional sports can claim to have a 19-year-old and a 50-year-old athlete competing and winning events? There will always be young drivers coming into the sport, but I hope we continue to see older drivers, as long as they can remain competitive, continue to compete in Cup racing. After all, I’m getting older and I need to have someone from my generation to root for.
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