The Wood Brothers won’t be racing on Sunday, and that’s a sad break from the “roots” to which NASCAR claims it’s trying to return. The Wood Brothers, all of them, are some of the truest, nicest men in the garage. Eddie and Len, the “younger” generation, have had to fight an uphill battle with the top-35 rule that their dad and uncle, Glen and Leonard, didn’t have to worry about.

This week, it has bitten them more than it ever has.

Sure, if the top-35 rule weren’t in effect, by qualifying numbers alone, Bill Elliott still wouldn’t have qualified for the race. However, he qualified poorly, Eddie Wood said, because they were forced to push the envelope because they weren’t locked in. Eddie said Elliott burned up a gear during qualifying, which made his run well below where the team thought the car was capable of being.

So trying to overcome the top-35 rule cost NASCAR its longest current streak of Daytona 500s by one owner. The Wood Brothers had been in every 500 since 1962. But they won’t be in this one, the 50th running.

And that’s a sad, sad thing for anyone that cares about NASCAR history.

Also today: Denny Hamlin wins Toyota’s first race, even though it’s not a points race, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins AGAIN. I suddenly fear there are going to be a lot of Gibbs and Hendrick stories this year. Who saw that coming?