By Jarred Walker – In Motion Staff Writer
The 2020 NASCAR season is nearly upon us and the nine-month long tour should be packed full of action, excitement and thrills from start to finish.
Speedweeks begins at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 7 and will speed by ending on Feb. 16 after the 62nd annual Daytona 500. Most sports have their biggest event take place at the end of the season, but NASCAR is different. The season always starts with their version of the Super Bowl, the 500. Nicknamed “The Great American Race,” this event is the most grueling and hard to win with some of the best drivers in the sport’s history having come out on top. The 200-lap, 500-mile fiasco is sure to bring the usual bouts of pandemonium and blood-pumping action to start the season with a bang.
Defending and two-time 500 champion Denny Hamlin looks to earn another ring and have his winning car displayed once again inside the DIS Ticket and Tours Building outside of the track for an entire year. Others looking to de-crown Hamlin include: 2015 winner Joey Logano, 2007 winner Kevin Harvick and defending 2019 series champion Kyle Busch, looking for his first ever win at this prestigious race.
The 10 days of Speedweeks is not all about the 500, though. There are various other races that take place such as the Busch Clash, the Duels and the Truck Series race. All four major NASCAR series compete.
Some other notable differences heading into the new Cup Series season include the extremely altered schedule, the farewell tour for seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson and the highly anticipated rookie battle between Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer.
This season will feature a night race at Martinsville Speedway in May, double-header weekend at Pocono Raceway in June and the series championship race at Phoenix Raceway in November. Reddick, Bell and Custer have been dominating the second-tier Xfinity Series the last two years. All three have officially been promoted to the premier Cup Series apart of Richard Childress Racing, Leavine Family Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, respectively.
Johnson, on the other hand, has been in the Cup Series for 18 years and is widely known as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all-time having won 83 races and seven championships which is tied for the most all-time with NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. This will be the final time Johnson has the chance to take sole possession of the record.
Local sportswriter Dalton Hopkins has been fascinated with the sport and all forms of auto racing since he was three-years-old, explaining, “I grew up watching racing with my father who worked for the speedway and my mother who worked for NASCAR. It’s always been my home sport and I’ve always been following it. That hasn’t changed at all and it never will.”
His passion for the sport became so pronounced after high school that he decided to pursue a career related to it after being urged by his mom. “I started volunteering at the DIS media center for three or four years before they gave me an internship. Along with all of this, I graduated at Embry Riddle, applied at newspapers and currently have a correspondent position at Hometown News writing a lot of racing pieces.”
He went on to explain why going to a race is such a memorable and fantastic experience that everyone should go through.
“It’s the whole reason why I think people should get into the sport. Watching it on TV just does not do it justice. It is an experience on its own level. When you go to a race, it activates all five senses. It seriously gives you goosebumps.”
For more information regarding Speedweeks and how to buy tickets, be sure to visit daytonainternationalspeedway.com.