2010 Daytona 500 Hits a Giant Pothole

The new year for NASCAR started with such high expectations. Danica Patrick had joined the circuit and her debut had been a success. The ratings for the first ARCA race were up over eighty percent thanks to her. The first Nationwide race seemed to go over just as well. Big names, Danica again and Dale Jr. involved in a tremendous late race crash. It was all shaping up so well and to make it even better NASCAR was going to allow bump drafting and had eased the limits of the restrictor plates to allow the cars to go even faster. Things were looking great, and then came the pothole.

While delays can frustrate even the diehard fans they are brutal for fringe or casual fans. However, even most of these people can understand a delay caused by weather or a horrific accident. What most people can't understand though is how NASCAR's biggest race of the year, their Super Bowl, can get delayed for over two hours and twenty minutes because of a pothole. What is really funny is that most of us deal with these stinking potholes every day but when it comes to watching a race it is sort of the last thing one expects to see. I would think that NASCAR and especially the track owners would be rather embarrassed about having a pothole hold up the race, but it happened. What really seems to get people is how long the delay took. I am not pretending to know how long it takes to fix a pothole but I have seen city workers go through a pack of smokes and fill in five or six of those bad boys in less than twenty minutes. The fact that it happened is bad, the fact that it delayed things for over two hours is sad. What may or may not have been a good race or an exciting finish turned out to be dreadfully too long and exactly what NASCAR didn't need. Those diehard fans will come back for the most part, at least the ones that can financially continue to do so, but NASCAR does run the risk of turning off the casual fans even more. This debacle simply lends support to the detractors of racing. In a time when NASCAR really could use some positive promoting they hit a giant pothole. Thank goodness for Danica and here is hoping that she races up to the big show as quickly as possible. Let's hope there aren't any potholes in her future, NASCAR doesn't need that.