Raw Speed

At times it can be hard to believe, but penalties can be for the better. Thursday night’s second Budweiser Duel race started off with a bang for 2012 Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski. Shooting through the sky above the Florida coastline was a rocketship, but somehow the rocketship made it on the Daytona International Speedway course disguised as a No.2 car. By the second lap, ‘White Litening’ assumed the race lead, and maintained it up until the penultimate first pit stop (chart included below).

Knowing the end result of that race, I would take the pit road penalty over the chance of being involved in that crash.

Keselowski entered pit road rather conservatively – he didn’t risk speeding on entrance, and actually lost quite a few positions. The Team Penske Miller Lite crew did an excellent job servicing the car. However, exiting pit road: That’s another story. BK simply floored it, and got busted. It must have been heartbreaking for Crew Chief Paul Wolfe to see the Sprint Cup official climb the pit box and deliver the unfortunate news.

But maybe it was for the better?

The melee that we call the final lap of the race was simply violent. For the second consecutive day, a Sprint Cup racecar had flipped over in a huge multi-car crash.

If it wasn’t for the pit road penalty, could White Litening have been in the wreck? I would say so. The crash involved racecars from inside the Top 10. Considering the performance of the 2, it could have been him.

Knowing the end result of that race, I would take the pit road penalty over the chance of being involved in that crash. It’s easy to fix a damaged racecar, but if the driver gets hurt, it could be the end of their career.