Why were drivers sticking their hands out the window during Daytona 500 qualifying?

Drivers are willing to do just about anything to get an advantage in Daytona 500 qualifying, even if it literally means using their hands to do it.

Plenty of us enjoy sticking our hands out the window while driving along on a nice day, but not too many people do it while driving nearly 200 miles per hour like the stars of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series do while qualifying for the Daytona 500. Yet if you tuned in and watched Alex Bowman claim the pole for the 60th running of the Great American Race, you saw several drivers do exactly that.

So what gives?

According to the Fox Sport announce team, several drivers stick their hand right up by the opening of the window net — remember that NASCAR race cars don’t have windows on the driver side for safety reasons — to try to reduce the amount of air flowing into the cockpit.

Does it work? That’s a good question, but with times and speeds so close among the top qualifiers, the “every little bit counts” philosophy seems like it ‘s worth exploring.

One driver who particularly looked like he felt the hand out the window gambit was worth a shot was Kyle Busch. During his Round 2 qualifying lap, Busch rode almost the entire way around Daytona International Speedway with his left hand up by the window net. He was for all intents and purposes driving with one hand on the wheel, which you probably can only do when you’re as talented and as experienced as Rowdy.

Next: More on 2018 Daytona 500 qualifying

It didn’t necessarily pay off, as Busch didn’t really mount a serious challenge for the Daytona 500 pole. But it was fun to see, and it will be something to watch for when the Cup Series heads to Talladega and returns to Daytona later this year.