Takeaways from the Daytona 500.

Wow... for those of you that watched the Daytona 500, you had to be entertained. The 60th running of the Great American Race came right down to the wire. Anyone of the handful of cars remaining had a legitimate shot to win it. The finish of the race will be one that will be talked about for years and will go down as one of the greatest in the history of the race. With that being said, here are some takeaways.

What a Moment

What are the odds that the number three car would return to victory lane in the Daytona 500 20 years to the day after Dale Earnhardt won his only Daytona 500? If this was any other sport, idiots might claim that it was rigged. Clearly, it was not (or at least I don't think it was). I'm not a fan of Austin Dillon (more on him later), but I could not help but appreciate the moment of him winning, or his celebration tribute to Dale. Sr. Dillon's Daytona 500 win is something worthy of a movie. With that being said.

He did not win, he survived.

Obviously, Austin Dillon actually won the race, but let's be honest he did so with a lot of luck. The race turned into a demolition derby and Dillon happened to be at the right place at the right time. Which is part of the race, Trevor Bayne did the same in 2011 as did Kurt Busch last year, a win is a win and you cannot take the away from him, but let's be patient before we go overboard with our thoughts on Austin Dillon. If you think that this win will lead to a championship season, then I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Rather be lucky than good, because he's really not all that good

Back to what I said about Austin Dillon earlier. Austin Dillon has won two races in his Monster Energy Cup career and in both of them, he happened to be in the right place at the right time. He won the Coca-Cola 600 last year because Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel and this year he won the Daytona 500 because there were barely any cars left and Aric Almirola crashed. Last year, I listed Austin Dillon as the fourth most overrated driver, since then Dale. Jr and Danica Patrick have retired, so Dillon moved up on this list. Some people will say, "But, Trevor he won the Daytona 500", which I'm aware of but I have to see more from him before I change my stance on him. 

Some people put Dillon on the same level as Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, and he's not even close. Elliott had more top fives than Dillon does in his career. Kyle Larson had more second-place finishes last year than Dillon has top-fives in his career and Dillon inherited a better ride than Larson.

With that being said, let's be honest Austin Dillon is where he is because of who he is. His grandfather is car owner Richard Childress so he will have a ride as long as his grandpa is footing the bill.

Oh, so close!

I was pulling for Aric Almirola so hard and was bummed that he crashed. As Almirola took the white flag, I could not help but feel happy for Almirola. He strikes me as truly one of the good guys and winning this race would be major for his career. With that being said, the accident at the end of the race was totally a racing deal. Almirola had to mirror drive to win the race, he did that and got turned. Dillon did what he had to win the race. Did he do it intentionally? No, it was racing. 

Let me cap this section off by saying that despite all this, Aric Almirola handled it extremely professional. He was clearly disappointed (as he should have been), he could have called out Austin Dillon (like a certain driver who drives an M&M's sponsored car would have done), but he did not, instead, he looked ahead to next week and the rest of this season. We can learn something from that.

This kid is for real

Ten years from now, we will look at Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney in the same way we view Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick. These kids are for real, but you probably already knew that. Elliott might be the most cursed driver in NASCAR, but I think once he wins one, the floodgates will open and he will start reeling them off. Larson is not a great restrictor plate driver and has bad luck at Daytona, but he is strong just about everywhere else.

Ryan Blaney absolutely DOMINATED the Daytona 500. Blaney led 118 laps and was a victim of the late race craziness. Blaney clearly had the best car all race long. I'm sure he wishes he had the last few laps back, but I think Blaney will see at least a handful of wins this year. He's in a much better ride this year and that could pay dividends.

BOLD Prediction: Larson, Elliott, Blaney and Alex Bowman will combine for at least eight wins this year.

I don't wanna hear it

There will be people that will complain about the race being a crashfest, and complain that the sport is dying because the sports' top stars have walked away. Those people are misguided. The race was a crashfest, but I enjoyed it because it made the race unpredictable. The beauty of the Daytona 500 is that just about anybody has an opportunity to win the race, which is why we have to be careful into how much we praise the winner for winning the race.

As for the people who complain or have complained about the recent departure of star drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt. Jr., STOP IT! This is the cycle. In the early 1990's NASCAR lost Richard Petty, Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison, this led to the meteoric rise of Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt passed in 2001, but then NASCAR was resurged by young-guns like Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch.

Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones and William Byron are the future of the Monster Energy Cup Series and I'm alright with that; not to mention up and comers in the Xfinity and Truck Series like Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, and John Hunter Nemechek. The future of the sport will be fine.