The twenty-seven year old Austin Dillon won the 2018 Daytona 500, the first race of the 2018 Monster Energy Cup Series in his #3 Richard Childress Chevy. Daytona is the Crown Jewel of NASCAR racing and one of the world’s greatest motor sports events. The North Carolina native has had success in the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series, and this is only his second win in the Cup series in 160 starts. Dillon also played in the 2002 Little League World Series. Starting from 14th spot, Dillon made a cutoff maneuver to claim the victory on the last lap.
Overshadowing everything else was much to the annoyance of NASCAR fans, was Danica Patrick in her last Energy Cup Start. Joining her was her main squeeze Aaron Rogers. Oh BTW, Peyton Manning drove the pace car. Danica didn’t disappoint. She crashed on lap 101 to finish 35th. That’s 191 starts without a top 10 finish. Maybe she will have better luck at Indy.
African-American driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace finished a strong second. Wallace is 24 years old and is the first African American driver since Wendell Scott in 1971 to have full time Cup ride. Daytona was just his 5th Energy Cup start. snicewanger@yahoo.com
Indiana Gets a Silver
Fort Wayne’s own Nick Goepper claimed a silver medal in the Slopestyle event at the Pyeonchang Games last week. He won a bronze in 2014. Goepper has had to overcome some emotional problems to keep in competition.
After a quick start in Snowboarding, the U.S. team has only been able to win 10 medals total. Norway leads with 29 medals and Germany is second with 23. The U.S. team’s medal count is way down from 2014.