Why the Shameful Carnage at NASCAR’s Daytona Truck Race Was a Big Disgrace to the Sport?

Earlier, the NASCAR Truck race somehow managed to wrap up, and every car looked worse for the wear. It was like watching a demolition derby, with multi-car wrecks everywhere. Nick Sanchez emerged victorious, but one really had to wonder, at what cost? The biggest incident has to be Taylor Gray’s wild flip on the final lap of the race. Arguably, the quality of racing was abysmal, but what makes it worse is that this was not a onetime occurrence.

It even got to a point where the Cup Series drivers noticed and commented on how bad the situation was. It is also worth mentioning that there were similar chaotic scenes in the ARCA Series. Of course, ARCA is one of the junior-most categories, so such carnage was expected.

Could this have been prevented in the NASCAR Truck Series?

An attempt was made to try and prevent all of this from happening. As per reports, Truck Series’ managing director Seth Kramlich served a stern warning to every driver ahead of the weekend. Unfortunately, it looked like his words fell on deaf ears. Ty Dillon, a former Cup driver, described the race as “chaos” and he acknowledged that many opponents hadn’t been in this position before. According to him, no one drafts during practice and rookies are not able to learn properly.

Knowing his experience, he decided to pull a Denny Hamlin and get out of danger. Sure enough, the big one happened, but Dillon didn’t escape unscathed. By his own admission, Daytona has not been a happy hunting ground, so it was disappointing to be knocked out early. According to Ty Dillon, many of the Truck drivers were racing without a concrete plan in mind. At least Nick Sanchez got lucky enough to escape the final accident to win the race.

Bear in mind that this truck race was 100 laps, and somehow managed to have a record-setting 12 cautions. Almost half of the race was spent under caution. The first wreck took place after just five laps had passed. Most of the wrecks were triggered on the exit of the corners, as the trucks looked very loose. What was a little disappointing was that seasoned drivers like Corey LaJoie were extremely aggressive. Poor Taylor Gray got the worst of the final accident.

READ MORE: NASCAR Inability to Control Truck Series Drivers Could Have Cost Taylor Gray His Life After Shameful Daytona Carnage

This was not the first time fans witnessed something like this in the Truck Series

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Last year, the Truck Series finale witnessed similar scenes. It got so bad that even the Cup Series drivers criticized the quality of racing. Martin Truex Jr said, “I was not impressed. That is not professional auto racing. It’s a joke, they need to fix it. I think it’s an act. I think he’s [Carson Hocevar] just acting out to try and make people feel sorry for him.” Similarly, Denny Hamlin said, “We’re never going to get there. I don’t think NASCAR is ever going to make that change. My opinion of it is it’s not even a short-term gain anymore. Sure it gets some people on social media talking, but we’re not getting more viewers because of this chaos we’ve created.”

Former Truck Series team owner Kyle Busch even noted that there was a distinct lack of respect. According to the 2-time Cup Series champion, most of the drivers run over each other and tear up their cars. Owing to that, he was so glad that he was no longer a team owner but knew that he would continue to suffer as a driver.

WATCH THIS STORY: Hailie Deegan’s Bold Leap From Trucks to Xfinity Series