Daytona winner "curse"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Walrus_3
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Walrus_3

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The Daytona poll thread prompted me to ask you good people for your opinions of the phenomena of winning the 500 and then doing poorly the remainder of the season. What do you suppose causes this? Can anyone remember someone winning the 500 and the championship in the same year?
 
I dunno how good a people I am, but....

Sure, that's happened a lot. The notion of a curse didn't arise until the advent of restrictor plates, when anyone and everyone suddenly had a chance to win if only they can avoid the massive mistake. That's how Derrick Cope and even Ward Burton found their wins. Prior to the evil and cursed restrictor plates, Daytona was one of the best barometers available to see who was gonna be good that year. Now, it's like Survivor...don't be too good, but don't be too bad either.
 
pettyfan4life,

You're right, Gordon in 1997 won the 500 and brought home the championship.

TN-Ward-Fan,

Believe it, you're good folk.
 
Like TNWF, I chalk it up to the fact that having the restrictor plates make the field too even too have a good barometer of who the best driver is. For four races a year, all you have to do is stay in the lead draft and miss the Big One to have a shot at the win. For the remaining 32 races, it's a little more difficult than that.
 
I hate that curse!!!:kaioken: :kaioken::kaioken::kaioken::satisfied
 
I wonder if it's a curse at all with or without restrictor plates. What makes any track a barometer of just how good any team or driver will do during a given season? It's the points race of the season and winner of the the Daytona 500 is the leader in the points for at least one week.........how good or bad they are is determined by how well they do in the remaining races throughout the year. The old NFL cliché "On any given Sunday" comes to mind.:)

It's the first and the most famous race of the NASCAR season.........marketed as the "Super Bowl" of NASCAR Winston Cup racing. But, in reality, it's just one race to determine who's going to win the Championship. Same number of points given for each position as any other race.
 
Could it have anything to do with the winning car being taken to the daytona museum? If it is a winning car is should be good for the second Daytona race and maybe talladega as well as some other possible tracks.
 
Dinoforthe3,
You make a good point that I hadn't even considered, but that would only be a good excuse for 3 other plate races. I guess maybe the explanation that makes the most sense to me is restrictor plate races involve more luck than the others, making it more plausable that someone just able to stay in the lead pack could break loose on the last lap and win.
 
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