I have roadraced motorcycles professionaly for over 20 years. I occasionally watch NASCAR but get bored with it. It reminds me of marathons. I watch the big ones and enjoy the nuance. Some explanation required to answer your questions Johnson, so bear with me.
Some time back engine performance got ahead of the engineers ability to manage the air moving over a passenger car body designated by NASCARs strict rules on body shape. Strange stuff starts happening at about 140 mph and gets a lot worse over 200 mph.
NASCAR decided to slow the cars down by restricting horsepower via re stricter plates over the carbs limiting the amount of air into the engine. So instead of just drafting by the car behind they started pushing. It became a 2 car game because it's almost impossible to push with 3 cars in line. Think of a semi with 2 trailers trying to stop = same as pushing air at 200 mph.
To counter the 2 car push and keep the pack together NASCAR tried to slow down the car behind by limiting the air flow into the radiator. The hotter the engine gets the less horsepower it produces and even causes overheating problems (think running a marathon w/ a long sleeve cotton shirt in 75 degrees). So the cars could only effectively push for about 3-4 laps then they need to peek out and 'get air' thus increasing their drag and slowing them down.
Running at night helped. The outside lane is usually quicker but when you go through the banking at 200 mph it compresses the suspension which becomes a problem when you come off of the banking as the car decompresses and becomes light. It's tough enough to handle that condition but really hard when someone is pushing you. The cameras don't show it much but the ride is anything but smooth and lends itself to an uneven push resulting in spinning out the lead car. At 195 mph on a superbike on the banking - especially the tri-oval it feels like you are completely out of control, tho I haven't been onit since the new pavement was put down.
Long answer to your short question.
1) slim chance since 'Best Buy's' teammate (3M) wasn't going to pull out and go around. Had he done so Diet Mountain dew (earnhart) would have gone with him and made it an exciting finish. I thought 3M was holding back a little. Best Buy did have an incredibly strong car - the equivalent of your letsrunning trolls claiming epo or some such. If the race was run during the day with higher temperatures he would have been passed
2) second at Daytona is like 2nd in NY marathon. But it does help with the sponsorship dollars which is what makes the whole sport go. Imagine the shoe companies not sponsoring runners.
3) I thought the announcing was very good. They usually do a good job explaining the nuance if you can stand the color commentator.
All in all you are correct. It was an anti climatic finish.
The Target car (perfect name in this case) Montoya hitting the jet drier was a cluster f of biblical proportions in racing terms. yeah, something broke in the drive train but still he'll never live that one down.
all the best