By John Schutt –
NASCAR Monster Energy Series, Advance Auto Parts Clash, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 10.
The Nascar season started Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Daytona Speedway (Fla.) with surprise-winner, Jimmie Johnson, who looked as if he caused the major wreck on the last lap. Following Johnson were Kyle Busch in second, Joe Logano in third, Ryan Blaney in fourth, and Alex Bowman in fifth.
With a couple of rain delays, Paul Menard was in the lead and was the car to beat. Johnson tried to pass Menard, but Menard’s car dropped down, or was brought down by a side draft. The resulting contact caused Menard’s car to spin and the rest of the field ended up in a car crash, except five or six cars, including Johnson’s which was first to the finish line. The race was called off premature prior to the completion for rain past the halfway point of the 75-lap race.
Johnson had not won anything for the last 59 races. This year he is starting out with a new crew chief after being with Illinois-native Chad Knaus for 17 years. Knaus moved to the William Byron Team which won poll position for the Daytona 500 Sunday, Feb. 17 .