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Author: Tucker White

Multi-Car Wrecks Ruled the Weekend at Daytona

On Sunday, 16 cars retired from the Daytona 500 due to an accident. On Saturday, 23 cars retired from the XFINITY Series race due to an accident. On Friday night, 11 trucks retired from the Camping World Truck Series race due to an accident. And those numbers don’t include the vehicles that also received damage as a result of these wrecks.

Austin Cindric heads for a head-on collision with the Turn 1 wall as the field wads up behind him in a multi-car wreck on the second lap of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 Camping World Truck Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

The car graveyard opened for business on only the second lap of the race when Noah Gragson was shunted into the wall by Chase Briscoe. Gragson’s lifeless truck came back down and clipped the No. 19 of Austin Cindric and sent him into the wall. The rest were collected or received damage because of checking up and the wreck played out as a result of an accordion effect.

“I was riding probably around seventh or eighth at the time on the outside and just got popped from behind,” Gragson said. “It felt like, going through one and two, the 29 got me. He hit me, got me sideways and then I tried not getting into the 27 (Ben Rhodes) in front of me, but it was not our night tonight I guess.”

In total, 14 trucks were involved in the lap 2 Big One: Gragson, Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Clay Greenfield, Stewart Friesen, Tommy Joe Martins, Tyler Young, Ross Chastain, JJ Yeley, Briscoe, Terry Jones, Cody Coughlin, Myatt Snyder and Bobby Gerhart.

Capping the night was the final lap wreck that collected 12 trucks.

Exiting Turn 2, Grant Enfinger was bump-drafting with teammate Ben Rhodes when he shunted him too much and loosened him. This turned him down into Matt Crafton, who did a 180 spin before his truck was lift up in the air, flipped in a corkscrew motion and landed on all four wheels.

“I was coming off (turn) two and I was like, ‘I’m going to win this race, I’m going to win this race.’ I got my Daytona jinx off of me and all of the sudden I looked in the mirror and I saw the 27 (Ben Rhodes) get turned and I’m like, ‘Just don’t let him get in the right rear of me,’ and the 27 of Ben Rhodes gave me the push to win that race and I got out so far going through the tri-oval and then I got hooked and then I felt light and it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the air then I was in the air and then I saw lights and we had the wrong side down boys,” Crafton said.

Amongst Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes, Austin Wayne Self (who finished second), Regan Smith, Christopher Bell, Yeley, Snider, Coughlin, Timothy Peters, Spencer Gallagher and Enfinger all received some form of damage from the final lap wreck.

The next day in the XFINITY Series PowerShares QQQ 300, all but two cars made it through the race unscathed.

On lap 23, Scott Lagasse Jr. loosened Tyler Reddick and sent him into Spencer Gallagher, who comes back down and pinballs off other cars. In total, 20 cars (Kyle Larson, Garrett Smithley, Ryan Reed (who went on to win the race), Gallagher, Ray Black Jr., Cole Custer, Jeremy Clements, Michael Annett, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Yeley, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Green, William Byron, Benny Gordon, Lagasse, Anthony Kumpen, Clint King and Brendan Gaughan) were involved.

Cleanup necessitated the red flag for 18 minutes and 22 seconds.

On the restart with two laps remaining in the segment, Daniel Hemric gets loose in the speedy dry in Turn 3 and clips Justin Allgaier, sending him into the wall.

“I think the 7 (Allgaier) got turned by somebody and I saw Erik didn’t lift, so I didn’t lift and we were trying to go through the middle, and I think me and Daniel collided there. It was just unfortunate circumstances that put us there,” Wallace said.

Thirteen cars (Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chris Cockrum, Hemric, Harrison Rhodes, Brandon Hightower, Matt Tifft, Lagasse and Blake Koch) were involved.

Cleanup for this wreck necessitated 27 minutes and 51 seconds of red flag time.

With 17 laps to go, the field was riding down the backstretch when Elliott Sadler was shunted into the wall by Austin Dillon and the resulting accordion effect resulted in a 16-car wreck (Reed, Dillon, Black, Sadler, Gaughan, Annett, Yeley, Koch, Byron, Suarez, Kumpen, Sieg, Chastain, Reddick, Smithley and Joey Gase).

After the checkered flag flew, there was a four-car wreck that included Smithley, Byron, Lagasse and Annett.

Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth and Ty Dillon come to a rest at the bottom of Turn 3 following a multi-car wreck just past halfway in the 59th running of the Daytona 500. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

The Daytona 500 was more collected for the first 105 laps. But that changed when Kyle Busch suffered a left or right-rear tire blowout, spun out in front of Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, and collected them both as they went into the wall in Turn 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. who was leading the race, was clipped by Busch and sent into the wall.

“I don’t know what happened there with the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) he just got turned around. I tried to get the wheel turned and get down the race track but I lifted off the gas to miss it, and got on the splitter a little bit and the car went straight. We jumped him, and got in the wall a little bit,” Earnhardt said.

Cleanup necessitated a 17-minute red flag.

On lap 127, Jamie McMurray is shoving Jimmie Johnson down the backstretch when Johnson gets loose and turns down into Trevor Bayne. This sent both of them pin-balling through the middle of the pack and collected 12 other cars (Clint Bowyer, Chris Buescher, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, DJ Kennington, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, David Ragan, Matt DiBenedetto, Gaughan, Cole Whitt, Kurt Busch (who would go on to win the race), Martin Truex Jr., Gase and Joey Logano) in the process.

With 59 to go, McMurray dove to the inside of Chase Elliott to pass, but was blocked. He checked up and was hooked into the wall by Gaughan. Suarez, who swerved left to avoid McMurray, came down on Ryan Newman and triggered an 11-car wreck (McMurray, Keselowski, Newman, Hamlin, Ragan, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Suarez, Ty Dillon, Elliott, Michael McDowell and Gaughan).

February 26, 2017
Kurt Busch Wins the Daytona 500

Kurt Busch now adds a Harley J. Earl Trophy to his collection and résumé, alongside his 2004 championship, after winning the 59th running of the Daytona 500.

Cole Whitt, who opted not to pit during the final caution of the race, led the field to the final restart with 47 laps to go and promptly lost the lead to Aric Almirola, who then lost it to Kyle Larson the following lap. He had a dicey battle for the lead with Joey Logano with 38 to go. Chase Elliott, who started on the pole, powered by Logano on the outside line on the backstretch with 26 to go to retake the lead.

With 20 to go, the bottom line started dissipating and the front 12 cars formed up in a single-file train on the top line. They remained in line until Ryan Blaney broke rank and attempted to form a working bottom line with 10 to go, but there was little help from the others and he jumped back in line.

“I tried to make a move with about 10 to go and I didn’t go anywhere,” Blaney said. “We were kind of stuck. Luckily we had the 22 with us and I kind of helped him and he kind of helped me.”

On the backstretch with four to go, Elliott’s car ran out of fuel. He fell back, went on to finish 14th, and gave way to Martin Truex Jr. He also ran out the following lap and Larson took back the lead, only to run out of gas in Turn 1. Busch was in position to capitalize and scored the victory.

“There is nothing predictable about this race anymore and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past,” Busch said in victory lane. “My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back. And I thought that was an omen. Throw caution to the wind. The more unpredictability that keeps unfolding at the Daytona 500, I predicted it. It just got crazy and wild and I am so proud of all the drivers at the end. We put on a show for a full fuel run and nobody took each other out and it was one of the smartest chess games I have seen out there. All the hard work that Ford and SHR put into this — this Ford Fusion is in Daytona’s victory lane.”

The first half of the race was light on cautions with just two in the first 105 laps and only one for a wreck. That wreck being Corey LaJoie on lap 31 when he mistimed his entry onto pit road and aborted before slamming into the back of Clint Bowyer’s car, only to slam the tri-oval wall.

The cautions, and wrecks, started adding up with a six-car wreck on lap 105 that began when Kyle Busch’s car suffered either a left or right-rear tire blowout, piled into Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, and slammed the wall, collecting also Ty Dillon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was leading the race when he was clipped by Busch.

This brought out the red flag for 17 minutes.

The next wreck was the Big One that started when Jamie McMurray shoved Jimmie Johnson down the backstretch. It loosened the 48 car and turned him down across the No. 6 of Trevor Bayne. This spun both of them out and sent them both pin-balling through a gaggle of cars. Fourteen cars were collected or received damage from the lap 127 wreck in Turn 3.

With 65 laps to go, Blaney signaled on the backstretch that he was coming to pit road. As he slowed down exiting Turn 4 to dive into the pits, Elliott Sadler turned up the track to avoid hitting him, only to clip Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. This sent the two Roush Fenway Racing drivers down the track and into the inside wall.

On the backstretch with 59 to go, McMurray, on the outside, tried to pass to the inside of Elliott. Elliott blocks the advance, so McMurray checks up. This gets him hooked into the wall by Brendan Gaughan. Daniel Suarez swerves to the left to avoid McMurray, takes out Ryan Newman and starts a chain reaction Big One that involved 11 cars.

The final wreck was a two-car wreck with 51 to go that started when Joey Gase was turned into the wall by Elliott. This set up the final 47 lap run to the finish.

The race lasted three hours 29 minutes and 31 seconds at an average speed of 143.187 mph. There were 37 lead changes among 18 different drivers and eight cautions for 40 laps.

Kurt Busch leaves with a 12-point lead over Blaney in the points standings.

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February 26, 2017
Smoke Steals the Show at Ford OEM Press Conference

Each season, the manufacturer reps and original engine manufacturers (OEM’s) meet with the NASCAR media corp in the deadline room at Daytona International Speedway to discuss the expectations for the upcoming season. The biggest takeaway from the Ford availability, however, is that retiring as a NASCAR driver hasn’t changed the fact that Tony Stewart is still the same Tony Stewart that most people love.

Right from the start, the owner of Stewart-Haas Racing demonstrated his vintage snarkiness. Jack Roush spoke about forgiving Stewart for an incident involving him, Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards at Pocono Raceway in 2007 when he “got frustrated with both of them at Pocono and he went after Clint and he got Carl.”

“Is that the only time I did anything? (laughter) If that’s it, I’m good with that,” Stewart said. “I appreciate it.”

The grenades continued flying, such as when he was asked to give the shortened story of when he and the folks at Ford started talking about transitioning SHR to the Ford camp.

“I can’t remember the date, but Raj (Nair) was sitting out front begging at the front door (laughter),” he said.

To which Nair responded, “Whatever it took (laughing).”

Stewart fired back with “That’s why they put us on opposite sides of the table, in case you were wondering about that.”

He was asked how Clint Bowyer’s transition to SHR was going and he delivered this classic.

“You guys know Clint. It’s like dropping a super ball off the top of a building and watching it bounce around non-stop,” he said. “The only thing we’re trying to figure out is what size shock collar we need to get to him to keep his attention and keep him focused (laughter).”

But the line that showed Stewart at his finest was his response to what it’s like being at Daytona as just an owner and not as a driver.

“I’ll be honest, it’s been kind of nice. If I’m late to practice, nobody yells at me. If I leave practice early, nobody yells at me. And if I don’t show up for practice at all, nobody yells at me (laughter),” he said. “That side has been kind of nice. Really, the only drama I’ve had so far is Roger (Penske) picking at me on the color of shirt I wear, and I guess Jack has kind of given me the pardon already, so it’s been a pretty good weekend so far. If all I’ve got to worry about is my shirt color, I’ve got it made right now.”

February 25, 2017
Grala Wins Carnage-Filled Truck Race at Daytona

A few hours after earning his first pole in NASCAR, Kaz Grala was in the right place on the final lap to drive through a field of wrecking trucks to win the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

With two laps to go, Johnny Sauter, who won stages 1 and 2, jumped down in front of Grala on the ensuing restart and led the field into Turn 1. Exiting Turn 2, Sauter jumped from the bottom line to the top to block the advance of Matt Crafton. After moving down, the outside line pushed Crafton to the lead. Sauter worked his way alongside Crafton in Turn 1 but found himself sandwiched in between Crafton on the bottom and Ben Rhodes on top.

Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes, who was receiving a bump draft from Grant Enfinger, got loosened by his teammate, turned down and clipped Crafton’s truck. His truck did a 180 spin and the combination of air rushing under the back of his car and being hit by Sauter lifted his truck into the air, flipped it in a corkscrew motion and landed on all four wheels.

Twelve trucks were involved in the final lap wreck.

Grala, who was behind Crafton when he was clipped by Rhodes, was leading when the caution flew and declared the race winner.

He was so overrun with elation, he could barely answer how he won the race.

“Oh I wish you could tell me,” he exclaimed to Hermie Sadler in victory lane. “Oh my gosh. Yeah, I didn’t know what I was doing. I don’t know how to do a doughnut. I don’t know how to do a victory lap like that. I just know *can’t make out* That was freaking awesome! I can’t believe we won Daytona! This completely changes our season and the way that we can play it. This is huge for our organization and for myself, for Jerry, for GMS, Keith Lewis. I can’t even believe this.”

Sadler asked him about his final 20 laps where he fell back and worked his way through the field.

“My radio chord came out on lap 79. So I drove almost to the end of the race no…Oh my God, someone flipped! (Referring to Crafton’s flip on the final lap as he watched a replay of it in victory lane) I drove almost the rest of the race without a radio on and barely through the green-white-checker, I got a radio on. Honestly, I got lucky coming out of (Turn) 2 there. I just didn’t lift and lucky everything went crazy around me. (I) hope everybody’s alright there, but oh I’m so happy with (how) that played out. I can’t even believe it.”

On the second lap of the event, there was a 17-truck wreck that was triggered by Chase Briscoe catching Noah Gragson at the wrong time, loosened him and turned him into the wall. Gragson came back down the track and clipped Austin Cindric, sending him into the outside wall. The rest of the trucks scattered and ran into one another, trying to avoid other spinning trucks in a plume of smoke.

There a few other smaller wrecks scattered through the race, including one involving race leaders Christopher Bell and Brett Moffit coming to the line at the end of stage 1.

This Camping World Truck Series race was the first NASCAR points-paying race to utilize stages, or segments, in any of its three national series.

The first stage was rather competitive with four lead changes in the first 20 laps, eight of which were run under caution.

The second stage was more collected with the field riding single-file for most of the 14 laps run under green (six under the caution from the end of stage 1). Other than a half-spin by John Hunter Nemechek in Turn 3 on lap 38, which didn’t bring out a caution, nothing threatened to break up the flow of the race until the end of stage 2 on lap 40.

Timothy Peters exited pit road first and restarted as the race leader. It only took Sauter two laps to work his way back to the lead, which he swapped with Rhodes a few laps later. The caution flew with 30 laps to go for a four-truck wreck.

With 23 to go, the field formed up into a single-file train hugging the bottom line. This was broken up by Nemechek spinning out on the backstretch with six to go, setting up the two-lap shootout and final lap wreck.

The race lasted one hour, 55 minutes and 38 seconds at an average speed of 129.720 mph. There were 14 lead changes among nine different drivers and six cautions for 29 laps.

Grala leaves Daytona with a 14-point lead over Sauter.

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February 25, 2017
Journeyman Michael Waltrip Making Final Ride on Sunday

When the checkered flag flies on Sunday, that’s the conclusion of the journey for arguably NASCAR’s ultimate journeyman.

In sports, the journeyman is defined as “an athlete who is technically competent but unable to excel” and Michael Waltrip is arguably the textbook case in NASCAR. Statistically, his numbers aren’t impressive, especially when compared to those of his brother and NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Darrell Waltrip.

But out of all the drivers who’ve started a NASCAR race, Michael is one of 186 individuals who’ve actually won a race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He has two Daytona 500 victories on his résumé, one more than his brother and two more than drivers such as Tony Stewart and NASCAR Hall of Fame members Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace.

Waltrip started 462 times in the Cup Series without recording a victory, minus a victory in the exhibition All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1996. But on February 18, 2001, in his first race for new team owner Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Inc., he broke through for his first career victory in the sport’s biggest race.

Alas, what started as the greatest moment in his life quickly turned into the darkest day in NASCAR history. On the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt perished when his car slammed the Turn 4 wall head-on.

Waltrip says the circumstances of his first win is something he lives with, but wouldn’t call it “haunting.”

“I accepted it and I think I said it very well the days after that race. I think we have a number of days when we’re born that we’re going to live. Everybody has that number and that was Dale’s day, and me winning was the perfect person to win because I just wanted to give him the credit,” Waltrip said. “I still honor him by giving him the credit and I will say also as I get older, as you think about your day coming up, it’s a pretty good day when you’re watching your two cars drive off to win the Daytona 500 and then you’re in heaven right after that. Obviously, I wish I could have got a hug from him and everything had have turned out different, but that’s just not the way it was meant to be.”

His next victory came at Daytona International Speedway on Independence Day weekend in 2002. Thanks to a late spin by Ryan Newman, Waltrip coasted to victory under caution and his demeanor in victory lane was “business as usual,” as opposed to the “fun, friendly, nice to old people and kids – even nice to the media” guy, as he described himself.

His third came a few months later in the rain-shortened 2003 Daytona 500. Asked if the race being shortened by rain mattered to him, he responded he “got the trophy and the check and they didn’t shorten either one of those.” He added that he’d rather have won in a manner similar to Denny Hamlin last year, but “that’s just not the way it is.”

Waltrip’s final victory came in the 2003 EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Restarting in the lead with five laps to go, he held off a final charge by Jeff Gordon to score his fourth and final Cup win.

The next two years, success was nowhere to find and he left DEI at the conclusion of the 2005 season.

After an unremarkable stint at Bill Davis Racing, which included four DNQ’s, he started his own race team that led to Toyota’s foray into the Cup Series.

“I think Darrell and I took it as partly our responsibility to tell the world that this was a good thing for NASCAR, that Toyota, they have a plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, and they employ a lot of hard working Kentuckians and Americans all over our country to build their cars, and they just wanted to come race in NASCAR, and the money they spent marketing and on the cars and the teams and all those things feel like we’re something that would help the sport, and I’m thankful that they asked us to be a part of it,” he said.

Unfortunately, the legacy of the organization that bore his name was of cheating with illegal fuel additives and manipulating the outcome of the 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Since 2012, Waltrip transitioned to the role of studio analyst and color commentator for FOX Sports, while still maintaining an ownership stake of MWR (prior to its shutting down at the conclusion of the 2015 season), although not running the day-to-day operations. It was here that his offbeat, goofy personality shined through, especially during his polarizing “Grid Walk” segments in FOX’s pre-race shows.

This hasn’t stopped him from jumping back in the car to race now and again.

This Sunday, however, will be the last for the 32-year journeyman. He thought 30 Daytona 500’s “was a cool number and the last one was coming some day and Aaron’s wanted to help me celebrate it and Toyota, so that’s why.”

When asked what advice he’d give to up and coming drivers, he said just to have fun and remember this is an entertainment business.

“We’re here for people to sit down and watch and smile and enjoy it,” he said. “And you don’t have to be cool. You can be cool, but you need to be fun, and you need to be outgoing and energetic, and you need to be able to tell your story with some flair.”

February 22, 2017
Logano Wins ‘The Clash’ Thanks to Final Lap Crash

Joey Logano capitalized on Denny Hamlin making contact with teammate Brad Keselowski on the final lap to win The Clash.

With 11 laps to go, the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas were in control and the rest of the field struggled to form a strong outside line. The field was almost single-file with five to go.

With four to go, however, Keselowski, Logano and Kevin Harvick made their way up the outside. Kyle Busch, who was fourth in the Gibbs line, succeeded in splitting Harvick from the Penske duo but found himself split from the Gibbs breakaway.

Working together the next two laps, Keselowski and Logano split Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez from Hamlin. He was all by himself and set up for the Penske teammates to draft right by him.

Going into Turn 1 on the final lap, Keselowski, charging with a full head of steam, dove under Hamlin for the position. Hamlin came down to block, but came across the nose, got loose and turned himself sideways.

Hamlin, who finished 13th, was asked afterward what he’d do differently if given the chance.

“There’s really not much I can do differently at the end. Perhaps staying in the middle lane there through one and two and trying to side draft,” Hamlin said. “He (Brad Keselowski) had help from the 22 (Joey Logano). I was in a bad spot there. He was just coming so much faster than what I was. There’s not much that I could have done to defend. We lined up so well as Toyota teammates throughout the race that once those guys started breaking that up and leap frogging, he (Keselowski) had commitment from the 22 and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and when they were able to back up there that really put us at a speed differential.”

Logano drove to the high-side of Hamlin and Keselowski and then drove on to score the victory.

“It’s cool to win the Clash,” Logano said in victory lane. “We came close last year and it’s really neat to be in Victory Lane and a good start to our day.

“The Toyotas are so selfless, I guess is the way to look at it. They are able to work together and think of one car of winning, and they’re really good at that. We had to think the same way as Ford and with Stewart-Haas and the Penske cars and we were able to get a good enough run to work together enough to break them up and make the passes and then there at the end was kind of a mess,” he said on what he saw at the end. “Everything was going really fast. Everything was going on and I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Coming to the line behind him, Busch and Alex Bowman made contact exiting Turn 4. Busch edged him out to the line to finish runner-up.

After the race, Busch and Bowman had a heated conversation on pit road.

“When the 22 (Joey Logano) got so far out in front that he was a lone duck…I feel like if we both could have worked together then we could have tracked them back down and then the three of us could have gone for the win instead of just automatically giving it to the 22,” Busch said on what he said to Bowman. “Just trying to see what his mindset was with it all and figure out what got him to that decision. Overall, good day and I need to eliminate some mistakes here for myself on this M&M’s team – the guys did a great job, the guys executed really well. I have a really fast car so I can’t say enough about my guys at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota – everybody’s done a really good job and we have some good stuff. It’s cool to be able to have the opportunity to race for a win like that, but it kind of snuck away from us there at the end. All in all, real pumped for the opportunity to qualify later and we’ll see where we stack up and get after it next week.”

“It was frustrating,” Bowman said. “We kind of struggled all day, a little bit. We couldn’t get the track position we needed. To come home third is solid, and not bad by any means. We will learn from it and hopefully give Greg (Ives, crew chief) and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) some information for the Daytona 500. It is a day race. I am just happy to be a part of the Clash.

“It wasn’t a bad day by any means. It was all we could hope for. To come home third is really gold. Just thankful for the opportunity to drive this thing. Had a lot of fast Chevrolet’s out there for Hendrick these 12 races. Just very thankful for the opportunity.”

Danica Patrick came from 10th on the final lap to fourth.

Harvick rounded out the top-five.

On the 17th circuit of the race, Jimmie Johnson’s car broke loose exiting Turn 4, turned down and clipped the right-rear corner of Kurt Busch’s car, sending him head-on into the outside wall.

On lap 50, Johnson’s car broke loose again exiting Turn 4. This time there wasn’t a car below him as he slid down the track and collected the wall head-on.

“It’s bizarre because it drove really good everywhere else, then off of (Turn) 4 the first time I had a handling problem was when it broke free and I got into the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) and then after that, it was really loose. After that caution and the last long stretch before I crashed again, just off of Turn 4, the Sun certainly sits on that edge of the track a little bit harder than anywhere else,” Johnson said of the two wrecks in which he was involved. “We will take some notes and learn from those mistakes and apply that to the (Daytona) 500 car.”

With 17 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr. was drafting with Harvick going into Turn 3 when he came across the nose of Kyle Larson and got turned. He spun out a few times before making contact with the wall. This brought out the race’s fourth caution and set up the 11-lap run to the finish.

Truex clipped Chris Buescher’s car when Buescher drove to the high side to avoid him.

The race lasted an hour, 18 minutes and 13 seconds at an average speed of 143.831 mph. There were six lead changes among four different drivers and four cautions for 16 laps.

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February 19, 2017
‘The Clash’ Postponed to Sunday

Rain has pushed the unofficial kickoff to the NASCAR season from a Saturday night shootout to a Sunday afternoon event.

The Advanced Auto Parts Clash at Daytona will now run at 11:35 a.m. on FS1 after a storm cell moved in over the Daytona Beach, Florida area prior to the scheduled start time of around 8:00 p.m. Showers were forecast around 40 percent with a chance of dissipating but to no avail.

The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for 75-degreee weather and a 10 percent chance of rain.

Brad Keselowski will lead the field to green after winning the pole which was determined randomly by lot. The defending winner, Denny Hamlin will join him on the front row, starting second. Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. will round out the top five.

The 17-driver field includes drivers who won the Coors Light Pole Award in 2016 or made the playoffs last season as well as former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full-time last year and former winners of The Clash.

Rookie Daniel Suarez will drive the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the successor to Carl Edwards who retired suddenly in January. NASCAR allowed him to participate because the preparation of the JGR car was at an advanced stage.

Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
The 39th Annual Advance Auto Parts Clash
Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Fri, February 17, 2017 @ 02:48 PM Central
Track Race Record: Bill Elliott 02/08/87 12:15:10 197.802

Pos Car Driver Team Reason
1 2 Brad Keselowski SKF Ford
2 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
3 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Big Mac Chevrolet
4 3 Austin Dillon DOW Chevrolet
5 78 Martin Truex Jr. 5-hour Energy Extra Strength Toyota
6 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
7 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Ford
8 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet
9 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford
10 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford
11 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet
12 10 Danica Patrick TaxAct Ford
13 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
14 24 Chase Elliott NAPA Chevrolet
15 20 Matt Kenseth Interstate Batteries Toyota
16 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota
17 37 Chris Buescher Kroger Click List Chevrolet

February 18, 2017
Alex Bowman’s Career to Date and Future Plans

Since the latter half of 2016, Alex Bowman’s career has seen an uptick thanks to his time subbing for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. When the checkered flag flies tomorrow night, however, his time in the 88 car comes to an end.

Bowman came into racing lighting up the ARCA Series with four wins in his rookie season on his way to a fourth-place finish in points.

In NASCAR, success came harder.

His 2013 rookie campaign in the XFINITY Series brought six top-10 finishes on the way to an 11th place finish in points. In terms of points, this is to date the high-point of his NASCAR career.

The next two years, he ran for BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing to the tune of 30th place finishes on average. The highest he finished during this span was 13th at Daytona in July 2014.

Joining the Hendrick stable following the 2015 season, Bowman wound up driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for nine races to the tune of seven top-10 finishes.

But Earnhardt’s sidelining for a concussion gave way for Bowman’s display of driving ability that took ARCA by storm in 2011 and 2012. While not reflected in the stats, he only finished in the top-10 three times in 10 starts, he demonstrated he had the talent to drive. All he needed was the right equipment.

At Phoenix last November, he scored his first career pole and led 197 of 324 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish.

While he said he’s “[talked] about that quite a bit” with the folks at Hendrick Motorsports, he doesn’t know what the future holds.

He admitted that there are “a couple of races, not in the Cup Series, but in some other stuff” that he’s excited about, but not at liberty to address at the present. Other than that, he’ll be “at the (Hendrick) shop and coming to the race track when I can,” being “a sponge and learn as much as I can.”

He believes he’ll still be the go-to relief driver for Hendrick Motorsports, although they haven’t discussed the matter in great detail.

Bowman also said he was offered full-time rides with other Cup teams, but nothing that has enticed him to leave Hendrick Motorsports.

February 17, 2017
Hamlin Fastest in Final Practice

Denny Hamlin topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona International Speedway.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 45.795 and a speed of 196.528 mph. Daniel Suarez was second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 45.853 and a speed of 196.279 mph. Kyle Busch was third in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 45.860 and a speed of 196.249 mph. Matt Kenseth was fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 45.866 and a speed of 196.224 mph. Joey Logano rounded out the top-five in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 46.016 and a speed of 195.584 mph.

The four Gibbs Toyota’s all drafted together rather than work with a seven-car draft consisting of the Penske duo, two of the Stewart-Haas Ford’s (Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick), Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

Kenseth posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 195.510 mph.

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February 17, 2017
Keselowski Fastest in First Practice

Brad Keselowski topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona International Speedway.

The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 46.972 and a speed of 191.604 mph. Kyle Larson was second in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 47.013 and a speed of 191.436 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Penske Ford with a time of 47.034 and a speed of 191.351 mph. Kevin Harvick was fourth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 47.184 and a speed of 190.743 mph. Danica Patrick rounded out the top-five in her No. 10 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 47.277 and a speed of 190.367 mph.

Eleven of the 17 cars posted a lap. All ran single-car runs.

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February 17, 2017