Daytona Postrace Recap: All aboard the Baynedwagon!

Oh. My. God.
If you’ve been following along in the race thread, well, you know how I’m feeling about this race right now. In fact, as I’m sure others will say, it’s hard to type because I’m shaking right now. A feeling I haven’t had since Happy won in 2007. The Wood Brothers’ 21. In victory lane. At Daytona. In 2011. With a rookie who’s only turned 20 last night! How can you NOT love that? Well, maybe if you had no soul or something... But this is how you make a star. So happy for the Woods and Trevor.
One of the most unlikely wins I’ve ever had the honor of seeing. Even though he makes me feel horribly old (I’m 22, and he’s 20 and already more awesome than I’ll ever be), I could not be happier for T-Bayne and this accomplishment. I’m not the only one either. Look at our race thread here! I can’t find a negative word about this win at all. In fact, I’ve seen a lot of folks say he’s their new favorite! Can’t say I blame em either. I know I’ll end up with a Daytona winner shirt as well. I guess we’re all Baynedwagon jumpers there, eh?
The biggest question is what the plans are now. We all know Trevor’s only supposed to do part time in Cup, and has Nationwide checked on his point card. Does this change anything? Clearly the notoriety of being the youngest Daytona winner ever can net Trevor some sponsors that would last the season, but I wonder if it’s the best idea to thrust him into the top level full time so soon. Is he talented? Clearly! But experience is key. Look at drivers like Reed Sorenson, highly touted from a young age, but thrust into the spotlight too soon and eaten alive. I might rather see Bayne run his current schedule, instead, to prevent that happening to him.
As an ironic note, the car that pushed the 21 to victory, Bobby Labonte’s 47, used to have an alliance with the Wood Brothers, and is currently in an alliance with Bayne’s former team, Michael Waltrip Racing. Funny how things work out, eh? I bet Mikey’s kicking himself now for letting this kid go, too. Well, when he’s not haunting my dreams with his stripper dance...
As for the rest of the race, the spread-out 2-by-2 nature of it annoyed me, as usual. The metric ton of cautions and attrition did nothing for me as well. Having so many cautions really hurt my interest at times as well. They need to fix this by Talladega, or else that could be a horrible trainwreck. Also, thank the stars for the SAFER barriers, because there were a couple horrifyingly hard hits in this race that could’ve been so much worse, for car and driver, without them.
Not happy with the Childress crew today either. It looks like The Harvick Cycle is back in full effect, with Kevin blowing up, which just doesn’t happen. Soul crushing for this Harvick fan. I know it’s only one race, but I just have a really bad feeling that this’ll be 2002 or 2004 for Kevin all over again.
And you have to feel AWFUL for David Ragan. I fail to see what he did wrong, so if any of you can explain to me what happened there, please do. I feel like NASCAR really screwed him over there.
One final thing: I know a lot of folks praise Fox, but I just can’t. Goofy cartoon sound effects and bad voiceovers make it look like they treat the sport as a joke, Darrell and McReynolds never cease to annoy me, and really? You don’t interview the man who finished 3rd? Really guys? Credit where it’s due, though. I love the thermal imaging gimmick, and the slow-mo, stupid as they are for marketing that as a “new” thing, DID give some amazing detail shots.
All in all, an okay race, made amazing by the finish. Again, congrats to Leonard, Glen, and Trevor on one of the greatest wins in recent memory.