NASCAR Misery Index: 5 saddest drivers after the Daytona 500

1. Aric Almirola

For those of you in the tinfoil hat crowd who think that NASCAR is fixed, consider this: the perfect storybook ending was set up for Almirola. Guy breaks his back in a crash, worries about being able to walk, let alone drive again, and fiercely rehabs to return. He switches teams, then somehow outfoxes restrictor plate ace Denny Hamlin on the overtime restart and is leading the Daytona 500 with less than a lap to go. You can’t write this stuff!

(Although the guy who won while leading only the last lap is the grandson of Richard Childress, owner of Dale Earnhardt’s team, on the 20th anniversary of the Intimidator’s emotional Daytona victory, so … nah, just kidding.)

Instead of completing the script, Almirola was unceremoniously turned into the wall by Austin Dillon, a move that somehow wrecked no one but Aric himself. Instead of a career-defining victory, he settled for an 11th-place finish with a smashed up race car. Now that is misery.

Next: See all the highlights from the 60th Daytona 500

Somehow, Almirola kept it super classy in his post-race interview, referencing only his understandable and obvious heartbreak and not once mentioning a desire to whoop that ass like Brad Keselowski or Kyle Busch surely would have under the same circumstances. Here’s hoping he gained plenty of new fans as a result and they can help him through his grief.