Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ty Dillon among those with career-best finishes at Daytona

The chaos of restrictor plate racing once again reared its head at Daytona, but misery for some top Cup Series drivers turned into delight for some drivers who don’t often finish near the front.

Rightfully so, Erik Jones got to bask in the glory of his first ever NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night. The second-year driver certainly earned it, outlasting not only the various multi-car wrecks that dotted the race but also outdueling defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. to take the checkered flag. But about 10 spots back, Jeffrey Earnhardt was also having a night to remember.

It’s been a tough year for Earnhardt, who went from having a full-time ride to not having one to having one again to trying to piece together deals all over the span of about five months. His persistence paid off at Daytona, though, as he came home 11th, just missing his first top-10 Cup Series result.

Similarly, Ty Dillon has been enduring mostly misery in the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet in 2018, a year when some pundits expected him to take a step forward and run more competitively week to week. It hasn’t turned out that way, with Dillon mired way back in points and recording only three top-20 finishes prior to Daytona during a stretch in which he managed 10 last year. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 was good to him too, providing his first Cup Series top-10 as he ended up sixth.

And there were even more career-best finishes besides Earnhardt and Dillon:

• Canadian D.J. Kennington finished 13th, the first time he’s done better than 20th in his 12 Cup Series starts.
• Ray Black Jr. had never even managed to make it into the top 30 in his handful of previous Cup Series races, but he ended the night in 16th place.

Matt DiBenedetto narrowly missed out on a career-best of his own when he finished seventh, as his previous top result was a sixth two years ago at Bristol.

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There’s definitely some truth to the idea that simply riding around and avoiding wrecks can lead to a great result at Daytona or Talladega. Earnhardt provided a great look into the mindset of some of the smaller teams when it comes to restrictor plate racing prior to the Daytona 500, when he explained that these teams don’t root for the big guys to experience misfortune but aren’t upset about it when it happens.

“I know how much it costs and how much work goes into these cars, so I never like to see people tear them up, but it definitely makes it easier when you only have to go out there and outrun 16 cars instead of all 40,” Earnhardt said to FanSided back in February. “I’m not saying I hope they wreck out, but if they do, it definitely makes my job a little bit easier.”

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His job got easier on Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean it was easy, full stop. Earnhardt, Dillon and the others still had to miss those wrecks, often a big accomplishment on its own, and otherwise keep the fenders on for 400 miles.

Jones was the one showering in beverages and confetti in Victory Lane, but there were likely at least a few other race teams celebrating in lesser but very real fashion once the race was over. Just remember that when you hear the guys driving for the powerhouse teams complain about the plate races, there are more than a few others that know the opportunity for joy is as big as the chance for disappointment.