While drivers were saving fuel at Daytona, fans with unprecedented access to in-car data were losing their patience. With ‘The Great American Race’ arguably being the biggest spectacle on the calendar, many motorsports enthusiasts were expecting some high-octane, wheel-to-wheel action. But drivers’ fuel-saving strategy ended up taking over the headlines, thanks to NASCAR’s advanced technology exposure.

Rick Hendrick’s employee explores tech exposure for backlash

Flores, a NASCAR pit crew member, recently discussed the Daytona 500 and the criticisms surrounding it in the recent Stacking Pennies Performance podcast with NASCAR driver Corey LaJoie. During this time, he pointed out how technology attracted ‘unnecessary hate’.

“You know what hurt it? Too much information. Because, if you saw after qualifying where it showed the throttle input and it showed 90% for the Fords, like people can go on HBO Max or the NASCAR app and see what throttle percentage run.”

As the fans found out about less throttle performance, thanks to the advanced mobile application and television system, they knew that the drivers were running slower than usual in order to save fuel. This painted a grim picture of the sport.

“If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t say anything. But now, and I’m not saying we need to take it away from them, but it’s just something like, oh, they’re not running full throttle,” Flores, who works for Rick Hendrick’s co-owned team, JR Motorsports, further added.

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As per reports, the drivers were running at least 50-60 percent less throttle during the Daytona 500 on Sunday, especially the Toyota drivers who were leading the race, such as Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, and Riley Herbst, among many others.

Even though this brought in huge reactions from fans, this is a common tactic used by drivers, especially during Speedway racing. The races at Daytona, Charlotte, Talladega, or Indianapolis often run long, and as a result, the drivers remain cautious not to run out of fuel before the end of the race.

Although this hampers the flow of the race, the drivers are bound to take this route to ensure they can finish the race. Interestingly, Team Penske star Ryan Blaney also voiced stern criticism of this tactic.

Team Penske star calls out Daytona 500 fuel saving shenanigans

Following the Daytona 500 race at the Daytona International Speedway, Ryan Blaney was clearly frustrated. After a disastrous day that saw him finish 27th, the #12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver shared strong criticism of the Toyota drivers.

“We started in the back [After returning from the garage following a wreck] and then just kind of got trapped with the Toyotas running 52-second laps and road blocking the whole thing, and then never really jumped anything on the pit stop and just didn’t really go anywhere on the restart and got caught up in the wreck into one.”

Without naming anyone, the former Cup Series champion mentioned the three-wide Toyotas and said:

“Toyota has three cars and just blocked the whole field, which is unfortunate. We’ve got to fix that. It’s pretty bad.”

The Toyota drivers are yet to comment on this. In the end, Tyler Reddick, driving the #45 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, claimed the victory, finishing ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano.