DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Up until the green flag waved to begin Tuesday night’s Busch Clash at Daytona Int’l Speedway, detractors of all kinds questioned the decision to move the race from its long-held place on the track’s 2.5-mile oval to the 3.61-mile layout integrating both the oval and the infield road course.

Fans said, sometimes loudly, that the racing wouldn’t be entertaining. Industry insiders believed the allure of the event — often a no-holds-barred free-for-all in the draft — wouldn’t be present.

Then the 35-lap race began and the complaints quickly turned into wide smiles.

Cars were sliding around on a slick Daytona surface, made complicated by dirt that was kicked onto the track in the bus-stop chicane throughout the race thanks to drivers trying to cut the curbs in that section of the race track.

Goodyear tires that last speed as they deteriorated, along with teams being limited to three sets of tires for the event, led to varying strategies that shook up the running order multiple times.

And the challenge of the Daytona road course — technical on the drivers compared to the oval, where the art of drafting was always king — led to many overdriven corners, forced mistakes and several game-changing incidents.

It was a race that had a little bit of everything, but most of all, it was vastly entertaining.

For those who complained there wouldn’t be much passing, if any, there were 13 lead changes among eight drivers. That included a stretch of eight lead changes during a nine-lap span.

For those who thought that one driver would run away and dominate the proceedings, there was never a lead of more than three seconds all night long.

For those who believed there would be a lack of action and intensity, the last lap spoke volumes.

Even before the scuffle between Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott that defined the closing moments of the Busch Clash and paved the way for Kyle Busch to steal the victory, the battle between two of the young stars of the NASCAR Cup Series had fans on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

Yes, Blaney chased Elliott down and passed him, but Elliott never let Blaney get away. He chucked his car through the 14 turns of the Daytona road course, closing on Blaney’s bumper multiple times and putting himself on the ragged edge in an attempt to come home with the victory.

Then, in his own words, Elliott “did what I had to do” on the final lap to try and win the race. It didn’t work out in his favor, but it was incredibly fun to watch Elliott go for broke.

It was Merriam-Webster’s definition of a show, “something exhibited especially for wonder.”

Asked after the event by SPEED SPORT if they felt the new-look Busch Clash delivered for the fans, several drivers lit up and offered affirmatives, enthusiasm clear in their voices.

“It did live up to the hype,” said Team Penske’s Joey Logano. “Any time you have an all-star type of race, and the Clash is one of those … where there’s nothing to lose, everyone is just going to go and fight for the win. Second place nobody cares about. That’s what the Clash is about. We’ve seen that happen plenty of times on the superspeedway. On the road course, the tire strategy is probably what made it such a great race, the fact that there was a limited amount of tires. I think that was a really smart move by NASCAR to limit the tires just to those three sets. I think that made it a good race because you had comers and goers.”

“It was an exciting finish. I’ll bet it was fun to watch,” added Blaney. “Obviously, it wasn’t fun for me to be a part of at the end there. We had kind of an up-and-down night. We had a fast car up front, then I blew by turn one on the restart and we kind of had to work our way back (forward), but it was definitely a different feel. I think it came down to an exciting finish for the fans to take in, for sure.”

Busch elected to reserve his judgement somewhat, having not seen the TV broadcast, but nodded to NASCAR needing to entertain the fans and recognizing some of the big moments from behind the wheel.

“As far as the show goes, I’m not sure what the show looked like on television, but hopefully it was a good one,” Busch noted. “We always want to put on a great race, whether it’s at the Daytona road course or on the Daytona oval, or at Phoenix or Martinsville. We’re an entertainment business.

“Hopefully, it was a good race. I know there was a lot of excitement here and there,” Busch added. “Leaders crashed out of the lead here and there. That kind of shows you how treacherous and tricky this place is.”

After a year in which everything in the sports world was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR needed a big moment to kick-start a new season, one that TV partner FOX is billing as “the best season ever.”

They got that big moment in the form of a successful and entertaining Busch Clash.

It was a race that few expected to work out well at all. In the end, not only did it work out, but the buzz was palpable and gave a positive vibe for the rest of Daytona Speedweeks at the World Center of Racing.

That positivity is something that fans and media can all get behind, and something we’ve all desperately needed.