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I will first preface this by stating that I am merely a casual NASCAR fan at best, but have you ever invested a lot of time in something only to be disappointed by the outcome?  Whether it is a movie you were anticipating for months, or your favorite musical artist's much anticipated new record, you are often left feeling cheated by the end product after so much hype had your emotional batteries boiling over. Well, that is how I feel about this year's installment of the Daytona 500. How in the heck can you end the most important race of the year when it is not even nearly complete?

From the almost endless coverage leading up to the race, we had compelling storylines, tales of past glory, and the endless interviews of how this race is the "Super Bowl" of NASCAR.  Well, I have news for everyone:  The Super Bowl would not have ended their game in the third quarter!  To take it even further, what other sport has their most watched and biggest event stop before the climatic ending?  Baseball even got this right last year when they played game 5 of the World Series until it was tied in pouring rain. They then finished the contest. That's right, they came back and completed the most important contest of the year.

Look, I am not asking that we put the safety of everyone in jeapordy by running cars in circles at 180 MPH in slick conditions, I am simply asking to wait it out, or even better, finish the daggum race the next day. By shortening the race, all of the strategy and the gut wrenching drama was taken out of the entire event. How many really think that Matt Kenseth wins the Daytona 500 had it gone the full race?

Am I the only one that feels jipped by spending in excess of 2 hours getting emotionally invested in this spectacle?  Were we robbed of one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR history?  Could there have been an ESPY somewhere in the last 1/3 of the race?  All of this we will unfortunately never know because we got a rain shortened Daytona 500 in of all places, "The Sunshine State."  Regardless, congratulations Matt Kenseth. You were the leader after 2/3rds of the spectacle that was the Daytona 500.

Tags: daytona 500, nascar