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Hamlin Takes the Sprint Unlimited Win at Daytona

Denny Hamlin opens the season in victory lane.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 39 laps on his way to scoring the victory in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway. He overcame an early race incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to win the race.

“This win couldn’t be possible without my teammates,” Hamlin said. “Matt (Kenseth) sacrificed so much, pushing me at the right time. Total team effort. Just like Kyle’s championship, we win as one. This is a Joe Gibbs Racing win.”

This is his third career win in the 75-lap exhibition event that kicks off Speedweeks. It’s the fourth win in this event for JGR in the last five years. Hamlin looks to become the first driver since Dale Jarrett in 2000 to win both the Unlimited and the Daytona 500 in the same season.

Joey Logano put on a strong run at Hamlin toward the end of the race but had to settle for runner-up in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

“I don’t know if it’s a non-points race that plays into it or if it’s just superspeedway racing,” Logano said. “Typically in the Unlimited, there are a lot of crashes.”

Paul Menard rounded out the podium in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Larson came home fourth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Those four cars avoided the final lap melee in Turn 1. Casey Mears rounded out the top-five in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet as part of the multi-car wreck.

Stenhouse finished sixth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and Kurt Busch finished seventh in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon placed eighth in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet followed by Brad Keselowski in ninth racing his No. 2 Ford with Greg Biffle rounding out the top-10 in his No. 16 RFR Ford.

The race lasted 79 laps, four over the scheduled conclusion. There were six cautions for 24 laps, 12 lead changes among three different drivers and 12 cars finished on the lead lap.

February 13, 2016
Vickers Has Rough Outing in Return to NASCAR

The return to racing wasn’t too pleasant for Brian Vickers.

The substitute driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet suffered a cut right-rear tire, t-boned the right side of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car, ripped its side off, slid back up the track, slammed the wall hard on the driver’s side, collected Kevin Harvick, slid back down the track and clipped the No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer. Kurt Busch also got a piece of the wreck as he just got clipped by the 14 car.

Vickers was treated and released from the infield care center.

“I don’t know how I cut it yet,” he said. “I felt it going down the straightaway, and at that point, I started to roll out. But at that point, you’re going 200 mph and there’s nothing you can do.”

Asked if this wreck could have an effect on his health, he said, “Not really. Every wreck sucks, especially the hard ones. I don’t think it was so much scary. If you’re thinking about whether or not it’s scary, you’re fine. For me, as soon as you hit the wall, it’s really more of a process of, like, why did I hit the wall.”

He’ll continue on driving the No. 14 car for the rest of Speedweeks.

Teammate Harvick said that if one was “going to wreck, tonight is the night to wreck. Just the wrong place at the wrong time.”

If you missed the wreck, here’s the video of it. See video: https://youtu.be/7A43sG6LZPc

Vickers will use what he learned from the Sprint Unlimited next week for the Daytona 500.

“We learned a lot,” he said. “It’s the first time back and we worked on the spotter-driver relationship, talked about what we want and what we need.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get to pit road, that was the part I was most disappointed in, I needed to make sure I hit the marks. But we’ve got plenty of time, the Duels, practice and then the Daytona 500.”

Vickers went on to say, “I think the most frustrating part of it for me was not to finish this first race back. But these guys have done so much and worked hard and gave me a great car. Not gonna get ’em tonight. We’ll have to get ’em in the Daytona 500.”

February 13, 2016
Logano Drafts to the Top of the Charts in Second Daytona 500 Practice

Joey Logano found his way to the top of the charts. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 45.934 and a speed of 195.933 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 45.954 and a speed of 195.848 mph.

Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 45.954 and a speed of 195.848 mph followed by Ryan Blaney who was third in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 45.966 and a speed of 195.797 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 46.183 and a speed of 194.877 mph and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 46.226 and a speed of 194.696 mph.

Matt Kenseth finished sixth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota and Kevin Harvick finished seventh in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Chase Elliott finished eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Carl Edwards finished ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota while Greg Biffle rounded out the top-10 in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Blaney, Keselowski and Logano took to the track to form a three-car draft with less than 10 minutes remaining in the session.

Forty-two of the 44 cars took to the track to post a lap in this session.

The cars will be back on track tonight for the Sprint Unlimited.

February 13, 2016
Earnhardt Leads the Way in First Daytona 500 Practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens the NASCAR season at the top of the charts in the first Daytona 500 practice. The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 46.364 and a speed of 194.116 mph.

Reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano was second in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 46.427 and a speed of 193.853 mph followed by Matt Kenseth who was third fastest in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 46.444 and a speed of 193.782 mph.

Reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano was second in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 46.427 and a speed of 193.853 mph followed by Matt Kenseth who was third fastest in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 46.444 and a speed of 193.782 mph.

Chase Elliott was fourth in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 46.491 and a speed of 193.586 mph and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 46.492 and a speed of 193.582 mph.

Brad Keselowski finished sixth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Greg Biffle finished seventh in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Kurt Busch finished eighth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards finished ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota followed by Martin Truex Jr. to round out the top-10 in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet.

Ryan Blaney was the highest non-charter driver in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 13th.

As of the publishing of this piece, the Sprint Cup Series is on track for second practice.

Complete Results:

February 13, 2016
2016 Sprint Unlimited Preview

A new season is about to dawn, but first we must wake up the race fans from their offseason hibernation.

This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads down to Daytona International Speedway to kick off the annual ritual of Speedweeks. This consists of 10 days of activity that culminates on Feb. 21 with the 58th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. But before we officially start the season, we need to get back into the racing mindset. To do that, we run the Sprint Unlimited.

The race

The Sprint Unlimited is an invitation-only exhibition race held the week before the Daytona 500. It’s a 75-lap event divided into two segments with a competition caution at lap 25 separating the two segments. It consists of 25 drivers that either won a pole last season, are a past winner of the race, have won a pole for the Daytona 500 in the past or were a Chase driver the previous season. If that should fail to fill the 25 minimum, then the remaining spots will go to drivers highest in points not already locked into the event.

The eligible drivers are as follows.

Pole winners

Twelve drivers are eligible for winning a pole in 2015. They are A. J. Allmendinger (Sonoma and Watkins Glen), Kurt Busch (Auto Club, Texas and Pocono), Kyle Busch (Pocono), Carl Edwards (both Loudon races and Indianapolis), Jeff Gordon (Daytona, Las Vegas and both Talladega races), Denny Hamlin (Dover, Bristol and Homestead), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix), Jimmie Johnson (Phoenix), Kasey Kahne (Michigan), Matt Kenseth (Bristol, both Charlotte races and Michigan), Brad Keselowski (Darlington, Kansas and Texas) and Joey Logano (Atlanta, both Martinsville races, Kansas and both Richmond races).

Given that Gordon retired at the end of 2015, he won’t be competing in this race.

Past winners

Two drivers are eligible for being past winners of the Sprint Unlimited. They are Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003 and 2008) and Tony Stewart (2001, 2002 and 2007).

After sustaining a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra, Stewart will miss the event.

Past Daytona 500 pole winners

Five drivers are eligible for being past Daytona 500 pole winners. They are Greg Biffle (2004), Austin Dillon (2014), David Gilliland (2007), Danica Patrick (2013) and Martin Truex Jr. (2009).

Gilliland is without a ride for the 2016 season and more than likely won’t take part in the race. Bobby Labonte would fit the criteria in this category having won the pole for the Daytona 500 in 1998 and 2002, but he wasn’t listed as an eligible driver.

2015 Chase drivers

Four drivers who weren’t locked in via the above criteria are locked in via being in the 2015 Chase. They are Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman.

The rest

The final two eligible drivers in the race based on points are Aric Almirola and Kyle Larson.

With Gordon’s retirement, Stewart’s injury and Gilliland’s lack of a ride, the final three spots will be filled based on championship driver points. The first five provisional drivers are Casey Mears, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., David Ragan and Trevor Bayne.

The venue

Photo Credit: Tucker White

Daytona International Speedway is a 2.5 mile (4 km) asphalt superspeedway located in Daytona Beach, Fla. Opened in 1959, Daytona is the centerpiece of the NASCAR empire, and not just because the corporate headquarters is located just across the street from the speedway. It’s home to the Daytona 500, the biggest and most important race in NASCAR and one of the biggest in all of motorsports.

It was built to be a track that would be both a place that favors sight lines and a cathedral of speed. Fifty-eight years later, the dream project of a madman by the name of Bill France Sr. continues to stand tall over the NASCAR landscape. It’s only going to stand out more thanks to the $400 million Daytona Rising project.

I’m not going to go into deep detail about the history and importance of Daytona in this piece because I’m saving it for my Daytona 500 preview, but I will say that this track was built to be the shining example of the NASCAR world and the motorsports world.

So who’ll win?

To win at Daytona and Talladega, you must master the art of the draft. You must use the draft to both keep up with the competition and beat them. No driver has hands down been better at the draft as of late than Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 6/1 (Vegas Insider). Next is Jimmie Johnson at 8/1. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano are 10/1. Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. are 15/1. Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray are 25/1. Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman and 30/1. Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick are 50/1. A. J. Allmendinger, Casey Mears and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are 60/1.

Race time and info

The Sprint Unlimited gets under green Saturday night at 8 p.m. on FOX. Longtime NASCAR broadcaster Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip will be joined in the booth by the now retired Jeffrey Michael Gordon.

The radio broadcast will be heard on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM (subscription required for the latter). Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace will be in the new tower working the race from the booth. Dave Moody will be working Turns 1 and 2 from the Sunoco spotters stand outside Turn 2. Mike Bagley will be working the backstretch from a stand on the inside of the backstretch down towards Turn 3. Kyle Rickey will be working Turns 3 and 4 from the other Sunoco spotters stand outside Turn 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post will be working pit road.

February 11, 2016
Sprint Unlimited at Daytona – Schedule & Driver Lineup

NASCAR returns this week with the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Raceway Saturday night followed by Sprint Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. FOX will provide television coverage for both events while all practices can be seen on FS1. Please see the complete schedule and the driver lineup for the Sprint Unlimited below.

Friday, Feb. 12:

On Track:

5-5:55 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited Practice – FS1
6:30-7:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited Final Practice – FS1

GarageCam: (Watch live)

4:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

11 a.m.: Daytona International Speedway announcement
11:30 a.m.: Stewart-Haas Racing announcement
1 p.m.: Eddie Wood, Leonard Wood, Jon Wood
2 p.m.: NASCAR, Chip Ganassi Racing announcement with Jamie McMurray
3:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
3:45 p.m.: Joey Logano
4 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson and Steve Post

Saturday, Feb. 13:

On Track:

10:30 a.m-12:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
1:30-3:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
8:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited – (75 laps, 187.5 miles) – FOX

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

10 p.m.: Sprint Unlimited Post-race (Time approx.)

Sunday, Feb. 14:

On Track:

1:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FOX

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

2:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Daytona 500 Post-qualifying (Time approx.)

Sprint Unlimited Driver Eligibility:

There are 25 open positions for the Sprint Unlimited. The eligible drivers include 2015 Coors Light Pole Award winners, former winners of the Sprint Unlimited and former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full time in 2015.

The 16 drivers who participated in the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship are also eligible. Any remaining available positions will be filled based on 2015 Sprint Cup driver points.

Eligible Drivers:

2015 Coors Light Pole Awards Winners

AJ Allmendinger
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
Carl Edwards
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Jimmie Johnson
Kasey Kahne
Matt Kenseth
Brad Keselowski
Jeff Gordon – Will be replaced by Casey Mears as the first provisional
Joey Logano

Former Sprint Unlimited Race Winners

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tony Stewart – Will be replaced by Brian Vickers

Former DAYTONA 500 Coors Light Pole Award Winners

Greg Biffle
Austin Dillon
David Gilliland – Replaced by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. due to no car available
Danica Patrick
Martin Truex Jr.

2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Drivers

Clint Bowyer
Jamie McMurray
Paul Menard
Ryan Newman

2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Driver Points

Aric Almirola
Kyle Larson

If an eligible driver cannot or does not enter the race, the open position is filled based on 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship driver points.

The first five provisional drivers are as follows:

Casey Mears – Will compete as a result of Jeff Gordon’s retirement
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Will compete because David Gilliand cannot (no car)
Sam Hornish Jr.
David Ragan
Trevor Bayne

Sprint Unlimited Format Notes:

The event will be split into two segments with a competition caution at lap 25 separating the segments. As in 2015, NASCAR will pair select fans with each crew chief and hold a random drawing to determine the starting grid and pit road positions.

February 11, 2016
The White-Zone: Stop Whining About “Daytona Day”

“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to tell everyone to calm down with the freakout over “Daytona Day.”

From time to time, NASCAR nation gets embroiled in some ridiculous discussions like the Confederate flag and the restart zone. By far the most ridiculous discussion of all still belongs to the damn restart zone, but the uproar over Daytona Day is a close second.

For those of you who weren’t watching the NFC Championship Game this past Sunday, FOX ran a one-minute promo for the upcoming 58th running of the Daytona 500. If you didn’t get to see it, here it is.

As you can see, it’s basically a promo aimed at people my age who love to socialize and have fun while watching sporting events. It’s not meant for those of us who are diehard fans of NASCAR and already had the Daytona 500 circled on our calendars. While I think it’s a little cheesy, I know people to whom this would appeal nicely. It’s basically saying get your friends together for a Daytona 500 viewing party like you would for the Super Bowl.

Judging from the reaction of the fans already here, you would think FOX took a truck full of bibles, dumped them into a hole, doused them with gasoline and lit a match.

Fans were taking to Twitter to bitch and moan about a promo saying it doesn’t portray NASCAR fans the right way, it doesn’t depict the NASCAR experience and that it didn’t make any mention that Pope Pius XII died of heart failure on Oct. 9, 1958.

Some even said that this was the final straw and that they’ll never watch NASCAR again.

As I said in the lede, “get a grip!” This isn’t Augusta National where only the select few can enter. This is a sport with a fan base whose average age is 50 (Sports Business Journal).

Just like the human body, sports need new blood to keep the sport going. Our fan base isn’t getting any younger and we need people my age to get into the sport. Some of us weren’t born into families that already watched NASCAR religiously. Those people like myself had to find our love for racing on our own.

A lot of the old school fans have attacked the people in the ads as a bunch of yuppies who wouldn’t stay for the entire 36 race season. Even if that were the case, the Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year for us. We should be getting as many freaking eyeballs as possible in front of the TV sets every February.

Let me put it to you another way. NASCAR races every season average around 4 million viewers. Let’s say you throw a viewing party for the Daytona 500 and invite 20 people to watch it. If even just four of them are converted and continue watching for the next 35 weeks, that’s 16-million new people introduced to the sport we all love.

I understand that the old guard doesn’t want to acknowledge their time has come and gone. I understand that they don’t want to feel like NASCAR isn’t catering to them anymore. I’ve been following this sport long enough to qualify as a “legacy fan” so I get it. I also feel there needs to be a balance between serving those fans that got NASCAR here and serving those who are just starting their journey as fans into NASCAR. But the fact is the legacy fans aren’t going to live forever and what worked back in the day doesn’t work for my generation.

In any sport, the last and probably most important responsibility of the old guard is to help facilitate and initiate the new guard to take over. It can’t work, however, if you’re not willing to welcome those new guns and new ideas into the mix. Last year when Kansas Speedway announced that it had partnered with Nickelodeon to call the Kansas spring race the SpongeBob SquarePants 400, so many people turned their nose up at it saying it makes it too much for kids. To which I say, that was the whole point. What is wrong with using companies like Nickelodeon to help us market to children? I loved it because I grew up watching shows like SpongeBob and to a degree still enjoy it as an adult. A lot of the current stuff is crap, but it still brings in the youth that this sport desperately needs.

I found my love of NASCAR through a show called NASCAR Racers. Yeah, remember that show from back in 1999? When I discovered that this show was based on a real sport, I started tuning in and that’s how I’m here.

The bottom line is it’s ridiculous to get so worked up about a promo aimed at getting new blood into the sport we all love because the fan base is one of the oldest in professional sports. I’m not saying you have to like every new idea or new marketing campaign, but don’t get so worked up over a promo for one of the biggest races in all of racing because it’s cheesy and doesn’t include the fight of Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison in 1979. If you just stand around with your finger in your nose and do nothing, expect to get left behind.

My plane is about to take off so I must wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may or may not represent the views of Speedway Media.

January 28, 2016
Austin Dillon’s Airborne Crash – Fluke or Cause for Concern?

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line to claim his second win of the season at Daytona International Speedway, celebrating the victory was the last thing on his mind.

He had just driven the last two laps of the race focused on the traffic behind him, moving around the track as needed to protect his position when he saw the wreck unfolding in his rearview mirror.

“Oh my God,” he exclaimed when he saw the horrendous crash as Austin Dillon went airborne crashing into the catchfence. During his press conference with the media after the race, Earnhardt described the accident as, “frightening.”

He went on to say, “You’re just on the verge of tears, to be honest with you, because I think that the first thing that goes through your mind is, I saw everything in the mirror pretty clearly, and that car really went up in the air pretty high, and he hit the, I could just see that it was a black object that hit that fence, and so I’m assuming I’m looking at the undercarriage of the car. I’ve never seen… I’ve never really seen a roll cage handle those catch fences very well, and I just was very scared for whoever that was. I didn’t even know what car it was, so I was just very scared for that person.”

He was not alone in his reaction. As fans watched the No. 3 car sailing through the air, it was impossible not to reflect back on the heartbreaking incident in 2001 that took Dale Earnhardt’s life in another No. 3 car at this same track.

Crew members from the No. 88 team were among the first to reach Dillon and when they quickly gave the thumbs up sign indicating that he was okay, the racing word let out a collective sigh of relief.

Dillon was treated at the infield care center and released. He suffered a bruised tailbone and forearm as a result of the accident and is expected to be back racing next week at Kentucky. After viewing the almost unrecognizable carnage of his car, minus its engine which sat yards away, it seems almost miraculous.

Thirteen spectators received injuries due to debris that made its way through or over the catchfence, but eight declined treatment. Four were treated at the track and one fan was transported to the hospital, examined and quickly released. It could have been much worse.

In fact, it was, just a couple of years ago when Kyle Larson’s car hit the catchfence at Daytona during an XFINITY Series race and 28 fans were injured with 14 sent to the hospital for treatment. After the Larson accident, Daytona reinforced its fencing and the recent renovations at the track have moved the seating further back in an effort to prevent just such injuries.

Dillon voiced concerns after he was released from the infield care center, stating, “It’s not really acceptable, I don’t think. We’ve got to figure out something. Our speeds are too high, I think. I think everybody could get good racing with slower speeds. We can work at that, and then figure out a way to keep the cars on the ground. That’s the next thing. We’re fighting hard to make the racing good. I hope the fans appreciate that. We don’t, but it’s our job. You go out there and hold it wide open to the end.” He summed it up saying, “Its checkers or wreckers, you just hope you make it through.”

On the matter of safety, Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood stated that he was “proud of the fact that the fence worked” and said they will analyze the incident to “see if there are any additional things that we can learn to get better the next time.”

NASCAR chairman Brain France, said Monday during an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that, “We live and breathe delivering the closest, tightest and safest competition in the world and when we have a problem, we solve it,” France said.

While Earnhardt was obviously upset after witnessing Dillon’s wreck, he shared a different perspective, reminding us that racing is inherently dangerous and that, in reality, no amount of safety initiatives is going to change that. He suggested that the wreck was due not to a lack of safety measures but as a result of a perfect storm of particular conditions on this one day merging together to cause a singular event.

“Racing has always been very dangerous,” he began. “Fortunately for us we’ve gotten better and safer in the last 100 years. It’s changed tremendously. Hopefully, we can continue to learn and continue to get better, get safer, but there’s always going to be that danger.”

“They did a good job putting that catch fence up because that catch fence took a hell of a shot,” Earnhardt continued. “I mean, I don’t know what else you could throw at it besides what it saw tonight. So we’re just getting better at not only keeping the drivers safe but keeping the fans safe to where they can come and trust everyone to be able to enjoy an event and not be in danger.”

“I just think it’s always been dangerous, and I think that’s part of the appeal in a way that makes it exciting, but you hate to see it get to that extreme, but the potential is always there,” he explained.

“NASCAR knows a lot about this information. I myself don’t know exactly all I would like to know about it, Earnhardt said, “but there’s a speed that NASCAR would kind of like to stay under, and that’s why they incorporate all this safety into these cars like the roof slats and everything, so that when a car does get turned around, it can get under that speed and not become a flying object. But in rare occurrences where there’s an oddity how those cars collided tonight that Dillon didn’t get that chance for his car to slow down. So it just gets air under it, and it’s just going to go up in the air.”

Whichever theory you ascribe to, there’s no question that the safety of the drivers and the spectators is of utmost importance. While NASCAR strives to provide its fans with competitive racing, Dillon’s horrific crash should serve as a wake-up call. We cannot control the myriad of unforeseen circumstances that occur on any given race day, but we can, and should, minimize their impact. Above all else, safety should come first.

July 7, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

With drivers wishing their teams good morning due to the night race that went into the wee hours of the next morning, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 on the July 4th, 2015 holiday weekend.

Surprising: In spite of flying through the air, hitting the catch fence, rebounding back on the track, getting hit again and coming out of it all with a bruised tailbone and a bruise on his forearm, Austin Dillon was still able to keep his sense of humor. The driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet tweeted “What a friend lol” in response to Tim Dugger’s tweet “To all the ladies out there He’s fine. He ain’t gonna be such a romantic buckaroo for a while, but he’ll be fine.”

And even after that jaw-dropping, horrifying crash, Dillon was able to pull off a top-10 finish, taking the checkered flag in the seventh spot.

Not Surprising: With Chevrolets, many of them Hendrick-powered, dominating seven of the top-10 finishing positions at Daytona, there was one Toyota driver who was just happy to be in the mix.

“Our FedEx Ground Camry and battled with the best of them,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing third. “Those Hendrick guys, not only are their cars fast, but they’re good drivers and they work well together. It’s hard to break through with them.”

“You can get help from those guys every now and then, but they do a good job of sticking together and their cars are so fast and you can’t clear them at the right times. I was just happy to kind of be in the mix of them there late in the going. Worked well with all those guys at one point or another and still a decent day for us.”

Surprising: In spite of a disappointing season to date, as well as having to go to a backup car for the race, Trevor Bayne did the Ford and Roush Fenway Racing teams proud, finding his restrictor plate magic once again to finish in the ninth position.

“Our AdvoCare Ford was really fast tonight,” Bayne said after the race. “Despite getting into the wall avoiding that wreck off of Turn 4 our car ran really well, especially past halfway. We were able to get up front and run inside the top three with everyone and show that we belonged up there.”

“We’re happy to come home ninth despite getting collected in that wreck at the line. I definitely needed that AdvoCare spark tonight. I want to thank my whole team though for their work this weekend, especially since we had to go to a backup car after Friday. Now it’s on to Kentucky.”

Not Surprising: At least the fans who noshed to keep themselves awake during the race were not alone.

“Yeah, for sure when you’re under caution, you can feel the weight of the day kind of on you, on your eyes,” Jimmie Johnson, who finished runner-up, said after the race. “And then just sitting around waiting for it, there was a whole feeling, I think, throughout the industry that about 8:00, 8:30 the deal was over, so mentally I started shutting down and thinking, okay, I’m staying the night, what am I doing, trying to coordinate family things, and then all of a sudden it’s drying and the dryers are on the track.

Being in the sport as long as I have, you learn how to turn it off and turn it on,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet said. “I did overeat, so I haven’t figured that part out. It’s hard to sit out there for so many hours and not eat too much, but everything else went pretty well.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon was racing his last Daytona race and ended up with his best finish there in quite some time, taking the checkered flag in the sixth position, yet he still is glad to put it in his rear view mirror and thankful that there is just one plate race left for him to survive.

Oh, my gosh chaos it was crazy,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “I’m so glad Austin Dillon is okay. That was a crazy one. You knew it was going to be crazy. Right from the start I thought it was a wild race. A lot of action and crazy stuff going on.”

“We were pushing like crazy, just wide open. It is literally like a video game out there these days, except for it’s real life. It’s crazy. It’s really crazy.”

“I love Daytona. This place has been amazing for me. I can’t believe this is my final race here, but after going through that experience I’m glad I only have one more restrictor plate race left.”

Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer, who finished tenth, had a front row seat for the big wreck at the end and in ‘Bowyeresque’ style described it all as only he can.

“He (Austin Dillon) went over me,” the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “I went under him and thank God the seas kind of opened a little bit. It’s just Daytona — it’s wild. I got up there and got in position.”

“The 3 (Austin Dillon) I think checked up. I don’t know the reason why but I was right behind Austin – they checked and he was already shooting up and I hit him and it just went right over the top of me and that was scary.”

“I haven’t seen the whole wreck but I damn sure lived it through the windshield there for a second. This is entertainment. It’s certainly dangerous as hell, but its part of the sport.”

“Our old hot rod wasn’t quite what it needed to be, but it was a decent day.”

Surprising: Carl Edwards went for broke but, unfortunately, ended up pretty broken. The driver of the No. 19 Subway Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was involved in two separate accidents that led to his 41^st place finish.

“We went for it in this race and basically wrecked twice,” Edwards said. “The second one, I thought I had it saved a couple times and it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s just this style of racing.”

“For us, this was just a checkers or wreckers type of race and we were going to go for it.
Not Surprising: Restrictor plate tracks are often the great equalizers so it was not surprising to see some names not usually at the top of the leaderboard have good finishes. For example, Casey Mears finished 11^th and Landon Cassill finished a strong 13^th.

“The car was pretty fast,” Mears, driver of the No. 13 Geico Chevrolet said. “We were able to get to the front pretty quickly when it was time to go. There at the end we were sitting in a really good position. I was behind the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) pushing him pretty good. We had kind of talked.”

“I thought the No. 31 (Ryan Newman) might go with me. I went up a little high and he didn’t go, but that happens it is the way these races go. I think after all the carnage and everything that happened it would have been nice to be inside the top 10 or a little closer, but it’s a good day. A lot of guys had bad days here.”

“It was unbelievable,” Cassill, behind the wheel of the No. 40 Snap Fitness Chevrolet, said. “It’s just really tight racing. I’m just so proud of my Hillman Racing team. My Snap Fitness Chevy, we are so fast on these superspeedways and we can run up front and we have proven it.”

“I’m proud of our finish. These guys are just going to have to build another car and we will go to Talladega and be even faster.”

Surprising: Team Penske had a disappointing showing at Daytona, with Joey Logano finishing 22^nd and Brad Keselowski finishing 29^th.

“There isn’t much good to say about what happened here tonight,” Logano said after the race. “It is a product of the racing here. We got caught in the first crash which was way unfortunate after sitting around all day. We were five laps down and battled back to the lead lap, so that is something to be proud of but we couldn’t do much once we got there.”

Not Surprising: Brian Scott summed it all up best with his two words when asked about what happened after crashing out and finishing 42^nd.

“Daytona happened,” Scott said simply. The field was coming up to pass a lap down car and it looked like the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) got loose going around it getting in the middle, which happens with these Sprint Cup cars. They are so aero sensitive on the side. Then from there it was Daytona.”

“They were wrecking. My spotter was doing a great job telling me where things were and it was one of those where we needed to gas up to get by cars that were sliding up. As soon as we got past those Carl (Edwards) came up and we ran into the back of him. It looked like he got jacked up on the windshield and then we were tore up.”

“Our car wasn’t going to run to the end. It sounded like it maybe caught fire for a second. But the bottom line is just a bad end to an already long weekend. Not the way we wanted to end with our Shore Lodge Chevy SS. I felt like we had a car that was capable of running up there in the top 10; top five early on. I felt like we could get back up there. Just trying to learn in the draft and be ready for the end, but the end came too soon.”

July 6, 2015
It’s Time for NASCAR to Wake Up and Look at the Debris

Everyone has to still be stunned to see Austin Dillon walk away from the horrifying last-lap crash that sent his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet flipping into the catch fence at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. The multi-car incident occurred as the field raced to the checkered flag, Dillon was clipped by another car, sending him airborne into the tri-oval catch fence and then back onto the track sliding on his roof. The No. 3 came to a rest upside down and was lastly clipped by the spinning, out of control No.2 car of Brad Keselowski.

“The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) car got turned by the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) car across the start/finish line and I thought the race was going to be over right there. We were almost there and I was just pushing the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) car and the next thing I knew, I was looking at my roof for a long time. I thought it was all over when I was sliding there and the No. 2 car came in and really got me. It was a wicked ride, but thank the good Lord above for taking care of me. I am just going to be really sore. It got my tailbone pretty good and my arm. I should be fine,” Dillon said.

Luckily safety equipment, enthusiasm and extremely good luck prevailed and no one was killed.

“I am just going to be really sore. It got my tailbone pretty good and my arm. Should be fine, just go ice it up and get ready for Kentucky,” Dillon added.

Race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to take a moment in victory lane to collect himself after seeing the carnage in the rear view mirror.

“Yeah that scared the hell out of me, I will be honest with you. I saw the whole thing happen. You are looking in the mirror the whole last lap. I saw Denny (Hamlin) get turned. I guess that is kind of how it started. That was terrifying to watch. You know a wreck like that has such a high potential for someone to get injured and you saw the car get high and get into the fence. You just worry about everybody else in the grandstands and all that stuff. You just don’t want to see that happen.”

Jeff Gordon described the restrictor-plate style of racing as more like a video game, but in real life. Dillon agreed, saying, “It definitely is a video game. With three to go you are just going to push somebody until the end of the race. It’s wreckers or checkers. It’s like Talladega Nights out there.”

Gordon said after the race, “It is literally like a video game out there these days, except for it’s real life. It’s crazy. It’s really crazy. I love Daytona. This place has been amazing for me. I can’t believe this is my final race here, but after going through that experience I’m glad I only have one more restrictor plate race left.”

Clint Bowyer summed it up as, “This is entertainment. It’s certainly dangerous as hell, but its part of the sport.”

I expect seeing the No.3 crashed up at Daytona had to be a horrible experience for team owner Richard Childress. But there’s no need to get into that part of it. The racing is what it is, as they say.

With that said, why exactly are we racing like this?

NASCAR will do all of the political head nodding and hand shaking this week while it all goes in one ear and out the other. We will hear them take the usual stance that they are checking for any safety issues and improvements that can be made for future races. Hey NASCAR, how about not doing it at all?

Do we really need four of these restrictor plate races? Do we really need video game roulette during the chase races? I believe those are the questions that need to be answered and no more changes that end up creating the same ole, same ole, four times a year.

I keep holding my breath during these races and hoping that no one will get hurt. But it seems like the inevitable “big one” always rears its ugly old head. I just keep thinking there has got to be a better solution.

July 6, 2015