NASCAR at Daytona was fiery, Kyle Busch invents a word, Leigh Diffey is the best, and more

Ho-hum, another Daytona race in the books, right?

Nothing to see here, folks, just another rooftop slide, a fire, a first-time winner with dad on the call, and an opportunity missed (thankfully) for NASCAR referees to toss a cow patty in the punch bowl.

We also got a pair of winners whose future employment opportunities would make a chimney sweep flinch, and a new network play-by-play guy who thoroughly delighted all viewers, except for those he didn’t.

And what now, time to relax? Nope, we go to Darlington, with its narrow racing lanes, touchy-feely walls and, oh yeah, the whole season on the line for a bunch of desperate race-car drivers.

Let’s get up to speed …

First Gear: From Daytona Victory Lane to unemployment line

GREAT AMERICAN READ Celebrate a fast-paced history of the Daytona 500 with new book; foreword by Richard Petty

Ryan Truex and Harrison Burton won at Daytona and, given Daytona’s status within the sport, both were hoisted and carried out of town on a wave of … what’s that? Yep, uncertainty.

After nearly three full seasons of lackluster performances, Burton was given about three month’s notice by the Wood Brothers that Josh Berry will be replacing him next season in the No. 21 Ford. Not sure a win at Daytona in August, when some 90% of the serious contenders had been towed away, will help pad Burton’s future employment applications, but it can’t hurt.

How thin was the field at the end? That was Parker Ratzlaff (in a Chevy, oops) pushing Harrison’s Ford (hey, Harrison Ford!) past Kyle Busch’s Chevy (big oops for Parker). Yes, THE Parker Ratzlaff, who was making his second career Cup Series start at age 21 and maybe his last depending on how peeved the Chevy bosses are with him.

Then again, hold the total surprise here. Parker was driving for Beard Motorsports, a now-and-again team with a history of over-performing at Daytona.

As for the previous night, let’s start with some trivia: What’s been seen more, Bigfoot or a Truex in Victory Lane at the two biggest superspeedways? Trick question, of course … folks have actually SEEN Bigfoot. Bumper stickers don’t lie, do they?

Yes, Martin’s little brother got another win in his part-time role with Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s three wins in his last 10 Xfinity starts — two at Dover, then Daytona. But no, he still doesn’t have full-time driving duties, or even a part-time deal beyond this season. Great head of hair, though.

Second Gear: Another busy week ahead at NASCAR R&D

Before Daytona gets too small in the mirror, let’s revisit some other issues, starting with a racer’s biggest fear: fire.

A freak accident in the pits literally ignited this situation. Denny Hamlin was trying to maneuver past Daniel Suarez, whose pit box was in front of Hamlin’s. A backfire from Hamlin’s exhaust apparently found some fuel or oil on the ground and rebounded to the rear of Suarez’s car to end Suarez’s night in a blaze of worry.

That’s worth a look-see at NASCAR R&D, but so is the second rooftop slide in a week. Everyone was in back-patting mode when Michael McDowell’s car began to get airborne but grounded itself in a big Lap 152 crash. The new rear-window rail worked!

Hold the phone. Seven laps later, Josh Berry got tagged, went sideways and, yep, over and onto his roof to begin a slide that ended in scary manner — a nose-first smack of the inside SAFER barrier, reminding us why they learned to put the soft-wall technology everywhere.

As for the R&D’s cousins in NASCAR officiating, they had their buzz-killing opportunity when Burton clearly went below the double yellow line (all four wheels!) in the shadow of the checkers. The Boys in the Booth studied the replay as NBC’s Jeff Burton was being peeled off the ceiling, but they ruled that Jeff’s boy Harrison went way low due to a bump from behind by Kyle Busch, who invented a new word. No kidding. See below.

Third Gear: A divergence of NASCAR oratory at Daytona as Kyle Busch gets creative

Kyle was watching a replay of the last lap during his post-race TV interview. He saw the lane of cars on the outside, led by Burton and Ratzlaff (another Ratzlaff mention!), go past his low lane on the backstretch off Turn 2.

“We got off of 2 and somehow the bottom lane got misconjobulated,’ said Kyle, whom we assume was aiming for discombobulated.

We’ll file that one away with flustrated (a Sterling Marlin and Richard Childress favorite) and bumfuzzled (courtesy of Bobby Bowden).

Speaking of speaking, how good is Leigh Diffey? We’ve long recognized the Aussie’s voice on sports-car, F1 and IndyCar coverage, and my goodness, his recent work on Olympic track-and-field would make you tune in even if you disliked track and/or field.

Saturday was his first night replacing Rick Allen, who will stick with Xfinity Series work the rest of the year.

The knowledge, excitement and obvious joy oozing from Diffey was quite a departure, and not just from Allen, who’s also very good, but from just about every play-by-play broadcaster from any U.S. sport. Verne Lundquist calling SEC football and Doc Emrick calling any hockey game were amazing, and this guy is right up there.

Also, it’s even fun to say his name: Leigh Diffey!

Of course, there will be naysayers, mostly viewers who want an American voice calling an American sport. Let’s assume they’re outnumbered.

Fourth Gear: The Darlington math is tough as Bubba becomes ‘Bubble Wallace’

You may already know this, and if you don’t, you’ll be inundated with it the rest of this week heading into the final race of the regular season.

With Burton’s Daytona win, 13 drivers (not counting Austin Dillon) have made the playoff field with a win this year. As of now, five racers are mathematically within range of snagging the three remaining playoff spots through their point standings. If a previous non-winner wins Darlington (best option: Kyle Busch), that leaves just two spots for non-winners.

Through 25 races, here are the five who can “point” their way in: Martin Truex Jr. (58 points above the breakoff bubble), Ty Gibbs (+39), Chris Buescher (+21), Bubba Wallace (-21), Ross Chastain (-27). It’ll take some wild fluctuations for Bubba or Ross to bounce through to the playoffs. Or, of course, they can just win.

By the way, beginning in 2023, NASCAR deleted the rule saying a full-time driver must be in the top 30 of the point standings at regular-season’s end to make the playoffs. That’s good news for Burton, who’s 34th through 25 races.

Under previous rules, his win wouldn’t have made a dent in the bubble. But, now, our bubble is all misconjobulated, to borrow a term.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR bubble, Daytona trouble, Harrison Ford? Love for Leigh Diffey