2021 Daytona 400

The 2021 Daytona 400 was a 400 mile (643.74 kilometer) motor race held on February 14th, 2021 as the premier event of the 2021 GTPlanet Fantasy Series season. The race was held at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Pre-race activities began two weeks prior with 2021 Speedweeks, also held at Daytona.

## Race Background

### Rule Changes

With the exception of being the first live broadcast of the GTPlanet Fandom Series' history, the racing and package was mostly the same as 2020, though Fantasy Promotions mildly updated the cars from the 2020 spec, primarily around the nose and spoiler, the series used the 6th Generation stock car for this event. It would be the final time that the GTPFS would host the Daytona 400 with the 6th-generation car.

### Event Alterations

The 400 mile event would remain as one of only a few things to remain unchanged from 2020, the only notable change being Ken Davis failing to qualify for the event, the first time in the event's history. Davis failing to make the field allowed two part time entries to claim a spot in the marquee event.

The Daytona Speedway was largely unchanged, other than minor resurfacing due to the tracks age.

## Entry List

(R) Denotes GTPlanet Fandom Series rookie.

## Race Report

Scotty Vetter led the field to the green flag, in overcast conditions, alongside Jordan Greer. Rain was a potential for the event, with the race needing to reach lap 81 to establish an official event, but was not forecasted as an imminent threat. Vetter would lead the first lap of the event, and would lose the lead to Tyler Vickery at the end of lap 2.

The lead would exchange multiple times, as is customary for the flow of Daytona. The race saw three wide racing as early as the first lap, and would establish a trend of intense pack racing that would carry for the duration of the event.

A multicar crash was triggered on the beginning of lap 7, after Nii Areetey hit the wall. Rookie Jocke Phelps tried to split Areetey four wide, but was turned by Dennis Doodle into Raven Hawke, who then spun into turn one and back into traffic on the banking, collecting Lucas Demat, Duel Winner Samuel Juise, Polesitter Scotty Vetter, and J.J. Rodgers. The race would resume on lap 12, with Demat and Hawke retiring 41st and 42nd, respectively.

Gary Slater led the field back to the green flag, and was passed by Muhammad Ahmed, who was a strong factor all race. The Toyota Team Quatro cars would also be strong contenders, as well as the KANS Autosport cars.

A round of green flag pit stops would commence, and the caution would not fly again until lap 45, where the Big One occured, when Scotty Vetter was turned into the outside wall in the tri oval by Felix Jackson, who then collected Dale "Iron" Matthews and Silver Wing, and slid back up the banking, collecting several strong contenders, such as Edward Jackson, Hazel Neild, Gary Slater, Jordan Greer, BK Glover, Luke Akmuq, Felipe Michelin, Clayton Hardy, Jordan Phisher, and Seth Smith Jr. The race was red flagged half a lap later, on lap 46, due to oil and debris. All drivers were okay. Kristina Ryan narrowly avoided the incident , splitting the incident 3 wide, slowing down, and being one of the only cars in her pack to not be involved in some capacity. This avoidance was among one of the best of the season, and earned her the Webroot Moment of the Race award. The red flag was lifted after roughly 16 minutes, and resumed racing on lap 50, with 27 Lead Lap cars. The race would continue with 3 wide racing, despite the incident, but would spread out over the course of several green flag pit stops. This mix of pack and spread out racing would continue until lap 119 when the caution would fly for the third time, after a debris caution. Kristina Ryan would go from 5th to 1st under the yellow flag pit stops, and we lead the field back to green on lap 124, with 23 cars remaining on the lead lap. Evangeline Porter, Tyler Vickery, Muhammad Ahmed, Paul Del Prete, Michael White and Kristina Ryan found themselves among the strongest in the closing laps. The lead pack consisted of both lead lap cars and lapped cars that were up to speed with the leaders, creating a hybrid pack. The final 30 laps saw massive runs and blocks, and multiple lead changes. The interesting dynamic became drivers purposely moving to the high lane and dropping back, as drivers took turns "timing" the cycle to the front of the field, so they had the best chance at leading at the end.

Lapped traffic would split the lead group up with 20 laps to go, creating a 5 car lead group, led by Porter, trailed by Ahmed, Vickery, HC Niku, and Ray Burns (who was a lap down). Over 4 seconds back would be the three car group of Kristina Ryan, Michael White, and Alex Sky, who quickly became the fastest cars on the racetrack.

While concerns were growing about fuel, and some cars were pitting due to not having enough to make it to the finish, those concerns would be wiped, as the fourth and final caution flew on lap 148, with 12 laps remaining.

The final restart would occur with all lead lap cars on fresh tires and full fuel, and set up for a Shootout of 8 laps to decide it. Kristina Ryan, Pedro Harsk, Muhammad Ahmed, and 3 others pit on the one-to-go to top off on fuel, and as such would restart at the tail end of the field. Brandon Manor would lead the field to the green. Tyler Vickery would take the lead with 7 laps to go. Manor would retake the lead from him with 5 laps remaining, Pedro Harsk would take the lead with 4 to go after a strong push from Evangeline Porter and Michael White. Porter would then take the lead with White coming to 3 laps remaining. Felix Jackson would pass White and push Porter in a 2-car-breakaway coming to two laps to go, while the field raced three wide behind them, and a strong effort of teamwork from three of the four Team Kate Upton cars saw Jesus Christobal challenge down the back stretch after a push from Brandon Manor. Porter would lead the final lap, but Christobal would take the lead after a final push from Manor entering turn 1, Muhammad Ahemed and Kristina Ryan finally found their way to the front, and entering turns one and two, committed to the bottom lane, pushing Christobal to a lead. Ahmed attemped to pass down the back straightaway on the high side, but was blocked by Christobal, meanwhile Ryan pushed the lapped car of Ray Burns, filling the hole on the bottom and forcing Ahmed to the middle lane. Coming through turns 3 and 4, There was a three-wide lead change, as Ryan committed to pushing the lapped car of Burns, Porter pushed Christobal on the top lane, and Ahmed was stuck in the middle without help. Ryan would push Burns, and then be shoved from veteran Andrew Dustone, and would win her first Daytona 400. Ryan and Dustone went from 7th and 9th to 1st and 2nd on the final lap, respectively. Ahmed in his first career 400 would finish on the podium, followed by Christobal, and Porter to complete the top 5. The race would finish under green, and would make the full scheduled distance. 20 cars finished on the lead lap (Burns being the last of which), and 28 cars finished the event. Rain would begin to sprinkle while Kristina performed her celebratory burnouts. It would be her second career win, her first of which coming at Talladega. She also would claim her third win on restrictor plate tracks, having won her Gatorade Duel, and also would become the first driver in GTPFS history to win both the Daytona 400 and their Duel. Ahmed would also become the first Pakistani to podium in both the GTPFS and the Daytona 400. Porter's top 5 also meant that KANS would finish with 2 top-5's and a win.

## Box Score

### Race Statistics

* Cautions: TBD
* Lead Changes: