Veteran reporter Bob Pockrass reflects on his journey ahead of Daytona return
Most people remember their first NASCAR race. I remember mine. I was sitting in the movie theater as a senior in college watching "Days of Thunder" — my first real exposure to NASCAR.
At the time, I didn't know my career would revolve around the sport. I was an Indiana kid who knew the Indianapolis 500 — I had covered races as a stringer for a couple different outlets — and I watched the movie starring Tom Cruise assuming the beating and banging could be attributed to creative license. I figured that had to be an exaggeration.
And then when all the competitors congratulated the winner (sorry if I spoiled it for those who haven't seen the movie), I thought no freaking way. From what I knew of racers, they were ticked off when they lost.
But of the couple of hundred résumés and clip packages I mailed (no e-mail at the time) during my senior year at Indiana University, one ended up attracting the interest of some editors at The News-Journal in Daytona Beach. I started at the paper just before the start of the high school sports season in 1991.
I soon found my way to Volusia County Speedway (now Volusia Speedway Park) to write about the local stars and, of course, wanted to contribute to our Daytona coverage as much as I could. Daytona amazed me because there were no stands on the inside — my reference point for all big tracks was Indianapolis, which of course has stands on the outside and inside of the front stretch.
The first Daytona 500 story I did centered on Bill Elliott not playing nice with his new teammates — some storylines as far as when teammates should help teammates haven't changed at Daytona in more than 30 years.
Daytona will always be special to me considering I lived in DeLand (about 20 miles west) and covered the area's sports for a dozen years. I covered a lot of Vince Carter and everything from World Cup soccer to Little League baseball to high school weightlifting and rodeo.
I guess some of those memories will come back when I run the Daytona 2 Beach Half Marathon on Sunday. That should be a challenge, but I hope it makes for a good video to preview the Daytona 500.
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Take a walk down the grid at the 64th running of the Daytona 500.
Outside of the racetrack, things don't always move fast in Daytona. It's part of being a beach town. And I'm only kind of guessing as I haven't lived there since 2003, which is when I headed to Charlotte for a job at NASCAR Scene magazine.
While I was in Daytona, I saw the massive expansion of the speedway's grandstands and saw the sport as it grew into the flavor of the month of corporate America. Earnhardt and Gordon led the charge, and it was an amazing day when Dale won the 1998 Daytona 500, a devastating day when he died in the 2001 Daytona 500 (I had never seen reporters cry in the media center before) and a spiritual night when Dale Earnhardt Jr. months later won the July race at Daytona.
Since the final couple of months of the 2003 season, my work life has focused primarily on NASCAR. From NASCAR Scene to SceneDaily.com to The Sporting News to ESPN to FOX (and a year contributing to USA Today).
Twitter came around in 2009 and fit my personality well. I love giving info, staying on top of things and engaging with people. NASCAR is a hard sport to understand. The more clarity I can provide to help readers make decisions about what races to watch and what drivers are about, the better.
There have been uncomfortable days. I like to joke that I have my own version of the "Indiana double" — Tony Stewart has chewed out my left butt cheek and Bobby Knight has chewed out my right cheek.
There have been some unpredictable days. Jeff Gordon added to the playoffs. Carl Edwards' retirement. Ryan Newman's miraculous survival. The Hail Melon.
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There were five wrecks in last year's Daytona 500, including Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and more. See them all here.
As I have done for nearly the past 20 years, I hope to document all the unpredictability in the coming months. You can follow along here on the FOX Sports website, the FOX Sports App and our social channels, whether on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and I will even try some TikTok. You can subscribe to our twice-weekly newsletter (thank you to those who already subscribe) if you prefer to get your news that way.
It should be a fun ride, and I'm itching to run to Daytona to tell the stories, which start every year at the iconic Florida venue. OK, the past two years it has started in Los Angeles with the Clash at another iconic venue (I don't think going to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a race will ever get old). But the season starts "for real" in Daytona. With the biggest race of the year.
Usually when it's 10 days away from the biggest event in a sport, predicting a winner isn't a daunting task. But sitting here today, trying to predict the Daytona 500 without seeing the duels or a test or a practice at Daytona, no one seems to stand out and only a few seem to be significant long shots.
When driving through the tunnel in Daytona, you're not going to know what you get. I didn't know when I drove through it for the 1992 Daytona 500. And I still won't know it as I enter the track next week.
I take that back. You know the racing will be intense. And you know the winner earns a significant spot in NASCAR history.
Let the green flag drop on 2023.
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After an overtime restart, rookie Austin Cindric won the 2022 Daytona 500. It was only his second time racing at Daytona.
What To Watch For
When single-car qualifying Wednesday sets the lineup for the Daytona 500 qualifying races ("the duels") on Thursday, pay attention to which drivers who need help to get in the race have teammates in their duel.
Typically, the "open" drivers needing to make the field might have to rely on a manufacturer alliance for teammates.
But some of the top drivers have at least two teammates who have guaranteed spots, and if they have some help in their duel, it could go a long way.
Jimmie Johnson could have Legacy Motor Club teammates Erik Jones and Noah Gragson; Travis Pastrana could have 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace; Zane Smith could have Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland; and Chandler Smith could have Kaulig Racing teammates AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley.
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After two years in IndyCar, did a Cup car seem slow for Jimmie Johnson?
Thinking Out Loud
Coming out of the Clash, some wondered if NASCAR should have been more aggressive in punishing aggressiveness, possibly sending a driver who caused a caution to go to the rear of the field or parking a driver if involved in a certain number of incidents.
That sounds good in theory, but with 27 cars on the track, it is only natural they are going to run into each other. And often it was hard to tell who truly was at fault when a driver spun as the result of an accordion effect.
The judgment calls would just overwhelm NASCAR and result in accusations of inconsistency. Plus, if a driver felt wronged, it was pretty obvious the driver in most instances had an opportunity to pay it back.
There are times when NASCAR needs to do more officiating. This wasn’t one of them.
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The Clash brought the action as the Cup Series opened the season with a bang. The race featured 16 cautions compared to five in last year's race.
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They Said It
"He's super motivated, and we're all behind him. We knew we could do this, and we just needed to hit it right." —Martin Truex Jr. crew chief James Small on his driver and team after Truex's win at the Clash.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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