DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – They’re the signature spectacles in every racing sequence, the Indianapolis 500 and all its pageantry with greater than a century of custom and milk ingesting in open wheel racing, and the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s season opener run below the Florida solar on the unofficial residence of the “ birthplace of pace.”
Indy and Daytona.
Simply say the town names to even informal sports activities followers they usually’ll absolutely know every of them as two of the largest dates — for positive, two of the largest events — in American racing.
They’re united by 4 wheels, 500 miles on a 2 1/2-mile observe, and raucous crowds of 100,000-plus followers that spill into Indy’s Snake Pit and Daytona’s Tent Metropolis.
And, effectively, not a lot else.
“They’re two utterly totally different ideas of racing and I believe individuals don’t actually perceive the variations,” mentioned Juan Pablo Montoya, a two-time Indy 500 champion with seven begins within the Daytona 500.
Montoya is likely one of the handful of elite drivers to try racing in each the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. This 12 months’s Daytona 500 subject is dotted with drivers who’ve tried each, together with seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson and even a Daytona 500 rookie in four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves.
Whereas a longshot, the Brazilian star is trying to match A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti as the one drivers to win the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500.
Castroneves may have some assist in the draft — the tough mixture of downforce and drag — from three different teammates at Trackhouse Racing.
“I believe the principle distinction is, they’re each distinctive to outlive,” Montoya mentioned. “The issue with NASCAR that makes it actually troublesome is that you simply not solely rely upon your self to win the race, you rely in your teammates pushing you, your folks. Having the teammates near you on the proper time makes a much bigger distinction than the rest.”
This is what a few of this 12 months’s drivers who steeled their nerves over 500 miles in each races must say in regards to the challenges of them each — and the way Castroneves may fare in Sunday’s race.
Jimmie Johnson
“The race itself and the methods the automobiles behave within the draft are so totally different. I’m very curious to see what Helio thinks as he will get extra expertise on the observe. In IndyCar, the tow is simply mind-blowing how a lot it helps automobiles decide up pace. A tow within the inventory automobile is minimal. All of the power comes from behind the push. Actually simply totally different dynamics.”
Johnson is a two-time Daytona 500 winner and the 2022 rookie of the 12 months on the Indianapolis 500.
Kyle Larson
On the gang:
“Each atmospheres are actually good, for positive. I don’t know. They’re nonetheless, like, very totally different. Like, it’s onerous to reply that as a result of they’re each the height of the game. They simply have their variations.
“The infield at Indy has the Snake Pit, however the infield right here has all of the campers, and that’s actually cool. Driver intros form of comparable. The gang feels nearer to you at Indy, at the least the grandstand crowd. The frontstretch at Indy is swarmed with individuals. However pit street can be much like that right here. Nevertheless it’s extra race followers. I don’t know. I really feel like possibly Indy simply has like a bit bit extra of the sort of historical past really feel to it than the five hundred, Daytona 500. Aside from that, I imply, they’re each nice. The atmospheres at each of them have been nice.”
On the automobiles:
“I believe the difficult half doubtlessly is simply in all probability the weaker brakes. You don’t decelerate nearly as good as you’d in IndyCar for like a green-flag pit cycle. Maximizing time for the green-flag ins-and-outs, that’s the place it’s going to be in all probability a problem. Too, at Indy, it’s so slender, y’all simply comply with one another. Right here it’s such as you’re attempting to cross individuals, braking and stuff. That’s in all probability the place he’ll get a bit bit possibly overwhelmed at instances. However he’ll get the hold of it. It’s not an enormous deal. He’ll be wonderful.”
Larson is NASCAR’s 2021 Cup Sequence champion, competed within the Indy 500 final 12 months and can return this Might.
AJ Allmendinger
On the automobiles:
“The place do you begin, I assume? I believe with regards to the Daytona 500, simply that pack racing, proper? You’re continually side-by-side. The Indy 500, the 12 months I ran it, the way in which the aero was, you make massive runs and stuff, however you’re not side-by-side continually. I believe that to me is the larger distinction of the way in which you race these races. It’s important to be pinpoint correct in both automobile. The implications are actually excessive in each automobiles in case you make a mistake. I believe the stress of not having to be side-by-side on the Indy 500 continually is a bit bit simpler. However you’re additionally working 50 miles-per-hour faster.”
On the gang:
“All of us love motorsports. There’s a handful of races you’ll be able to say to someone that’s not a motorsports individual they usually know precisely what it’s. These two races, you could possibly argue the 4 greatest races on the earth, you could possibly put up Monaco, you could possibly put up Le Mans, possibly. The power of this race as you construct as much as it and as you stroll out they usually announce you, at the least for me, it’s the identical emotion for positive.”
Allmendinger completed third within the 2009 and 2017 Daytona 500s, and was seventh within the 2013 Indy 500 and main till he was pressured to pit as a result of his seatbelt grew to become undone.
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