The last lap of this year's Daytona 500 was pure madness. It contained two wrecks and one thrilling getaway finish for Tyler Reddick. As the Toyota driver hit victory lane, cars did collect behind him. As they often say, Daytona is a race of survival and luck. Brad Keselowski was not so lucky as he had his fair share of criticism for Riley Herbst.
As the cars came to the line, Herbst would push up to the high side to try to make a pass on Chase Elliott. Upon replay, this was quite irrational. As Keselowski said, Herbst had no momentum and should've stayed in line.
Entering the tri-oval, Keselowski had dibs on that high side. This had his No. 6 car being pushed strongly by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. behind him. The run was massive, and it would've surely brought it tight at the line between Reddick, Elliott, and Keselowski. Instead, Herbst would jump in front of that draft, and a big one would occur.
Brad Keselowski Has Words for Riley Herbst
Riley Herbst Collects Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano During the Last Lap of the Daytona 500
When the young buck angers the seasoned veteran, the words are usually not kind. Keselowski went on to tell the media, "That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen." Keselowski would go on to say how Herbst has zero chance of blocking that mounted run. Most fans would agree that Keselowski was right.
When the microphone was given to Herbst, he had his own rebuttal. Herbst explained how he pushed Reddick after the field spread out on the backstretch. As Reddick made his move down low, Herbst was left out to dry. In turn, he would have to make it a finish and push up high in the tri-oval. This was a bold move and a split-second decision that had negative results. Hard to knock the guy, but a tough result.
It seems like Herbst really had his mind working fast. He clearly did not see Keselowski's mounted run, nor may he have checked. The spotter could have let Herbst know, but when it's the Daytona 500, you chase the win at any cost. Herbst surely did not know the cost would ruin the day for those Fords, but it did.
There will be no revenge from the Keselowski camp, or at least none isexpected. However, Herbst will not be on his good side either. Again, a tough result in a tough race where split-second decisions often go awry. That is why we have the "Big One."