One thing that makes the Daytona 500 special is the large number of celebrities who come to the race and are introduced during the Daytona 500 driver’s meeting.
This year, one of those who was publicly recognized to the drivers, team owners, crew chiefs and other sponsor VIP’s in the drivers’ meeting was five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon.
The defending IndyCar champion is very familiar with Daytona International Speedway and has competed in 16 Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA sports car races. But Sunday was the first time the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner attended the Daytona 500.
“It’s really cool to be here, and I’m seeing a lot of familiar faces I haven’t seen for a long time,” Dixon told Autoweek. “It feels like a big deal. My last Cup race was Bristol in 2006, so it’s been awhile."
Dixon came to this year’s Daytona 500 to honor his friend and 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, who drove in the final race of his career Sunday. McMurray has put away his racing helmet and will join Fox Sports as a NASCAR analyst.
Dixon was impressed with the size and scope of the NASCAR drivers meeting and some of the things used to inform the drivers before each race.
“This is their marquee event,” Dixon said. “It’s their Daytona 500. It’s definitely different. The video presentation of the drivers meeting is pretty interesting and maybe it’s a good way to do it because there are no arguments or anything like that.
“Mostly, the drivers meeting is for recognition of some of the people that are here and not so much talking about the race.”
Dixon watched the race from McMurray’s pit box.
Jamie McMurray rolls at Talladega in 2018
“To me, this was about Jamie McMurray and this being his last race — that’s why I came,” Dixon said. “He’s been a teammate and a great friend over the years, and I wanted to come and see him before his last race. For me, this is fun catching up and saying hello to a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while.”
When McMurray was part of a six-car crash in turn 2 on lap 50, it appeared his day was over, but the team was able to heavily tape the damaged right-front fender and send McMurray back in the race.
Despite the damage, McMurray remained fast and even got back to the front lead by lap 164 to lead six laps in the race. McMurray was collected in the final crash of the race on lap 199 that sent the race into overtime. McMurray finished 22nd.
“I’m thrilled I made it as long as I did,” McMurray said. “I made it through two or three wrecks I should have been in and didn’t get torn up. It is just part of it. It is what it is, and I’m just thankful I’m safe. This is just one of those places you come to that there are a lot of unknowns and certainly after flipping at Talladega speedway (in 2018), racing was a little different in my mind.
“It was certainly, a bizarre 500 to have so much green flag racing and then so many wrecks at the end,” McMurray said. “It’s incredible to me how many times we were able to crash in the last 10 laps. It’s part of it. You were able to get big runs. It seemed like as the sun went down those runs happened more often. When the Daytona 500 is on the line, people are willing to take big risks. They just all waited to the end.”
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