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  • Daytona 500 Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Jet Dryer

    Daytona 500 Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Jet Dryer

    The 2012 Daytona 500 is one that will go down in history as being the longest and most bizarre races of all time. The race was post-poned on two occasions due to a downpour of rain. The race was originally scheduled to start at 1pm est. on Sunday, but was rescheduled for noon on Monday. When the rain continued to flood Daytona the following day, NASCAR was forced to post-pone the race again until 7pm est. Monday night. An estimated 140,000 fans showed up for the event and got their monies worth.

    The Good

    Matt Kenseth Excels in Daytona: Matt Kenseth started out the season with a bang, winning the second Gatorade Duel race and qualifying in fourth position for the Daytona 500. He led the race two times throughout the night for 50 laps total, but most importantly led the last lap to take his second win in the Great American Race. The 2012 season marks the 25th anniversary for Roush Fenway Racing and Kenseth’s win gave RFR their 300th career win.

    Denny Hamlin is back: After a rough and rocky ending to the 2011 season, Denny Hamlin was ready to close the book and start the 2012 season with a fresh outlook. He began that outlook with a new championship winning crew chief, Darian Grubb. They started speedweeks off well, finishing in 5th position in the Bud Shootout. The FedEx Toyota qualified in the 37th position for the Daytona 500, but quickly made that up, going on to lead the race. Hamlin led for 57 laps, earning the 3M Lap Leader award of the race. He also won the USG Improving The Finish award for gaining 27 positions, the most gained during the race. Overall, the No. 11 team finished the race in fourth position.

    Greg Biffle exceeds expectations: After a win-less 2011 season and a disappointing 16th place finish in the championship standings, Greg Biffle was at the top of the leader board at Daytona. He started out speedweeks finishing in sixth position in the Bud Shootout and qualifying on the outside pole for the Daytona 500, along-side his teammate Carl Edwards. He led the race on eight different occasions for a total of 44 laps. On the last lap, while running second, he was passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr to bring home a third place finish in the Great American Race.

    The Bad

    Danica Patrick has rocky NASCAR start:IndyCar turned NASCAR star Danica Patrick did not have her entrance to the Cup series go as planned. I think the media was more saddened over this than Patrick herself. Patrick started the race in the 29th position after taking a hard crash in the Gatorade Duels. The Daytona 500 wasn’t much better for the rookie after being a victim of someone else’s wreck on the second lap of the race. The No. 7 Go Daddy team was able to repair the car and get her back out on the track to finish in 38th position.[media-credit name=”Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”274″][/media-credit]

    Jimmie Johnson starts the season on a sour note: Jimmie Johnson’s Daytona experience was an overall unsuccessful week. On February 17th, the No. 48 car failed initial inspection, resulting in NASCAR confiscating the C-pillars on the car. In the Bud Shootout he was caught up in a late race multi-car incident, leaving him to finish in 14th position. After being involved in a crash on Lap 2 of the Daytona 500, Johnson came home with a 42nd place finish. Unfortunately, the disappointment continued after leaving Daytona.

    NASCAR announced Wednesday that the No. 48 team was in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the rule book or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-2.1E (if in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted — unapproved car body modifications).

    Crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec are suspended for the next six Sprint Cup Series championship events and have been placed on NASCAR probation until May 9th. Knaus was also fined $100,000. Johnson and car owner Jeff Gordon have been penalized with the loss of 25 driver and owner points, respectively. As a result of the penalty, Johnson is now 23 points in the negative after earning just two points with his 42nd place finish in the Daytona 500. The team will appeal the penalty, allowing Knaus and Malec to attend the race at Phoenix this weekend.

    And, The Jet Dryer

    With 40 laps remaining in the Daytona 500, the race took a very unexpected turn. While under caution, a suspension piece on Juan Pablo Montoya’s No. 42 car broke, causing the car’s brakes to lock up. This sent Montoya spinning and crashing violently into a jet dryer truck that was on the race track. Jet dryer trucks carry an estimated 200 gallons of jet fuel, which caused a fiery explosion immediately upon impact.

    Thankfully both Montoya and the driver of the truck walked away from the incident without any major injuries. The fire from the incident took several long, frightening minutes to contain. NASCAR used Tide laundry detergent to clean the spilled fuel off of the track surface. Fans were then again forced to sit through a two hour red flag period waiting for the track to be cleaned. During the red flag, drivers were parked on the backstretch, providing the fans with a bird’s eye view of their favorite driver.

    In finishing the Daytona 500 around one o’clock in the morning, NASCAR teams had their week cut short in preparation for the next race. Teams will head to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend and leave the madness of Daytona in their rear-view mirror.

  • NASCAR Suspends Chad Knaus and Ron Malec, But Rick Hendrick to Appeal

    NASCAR Suspends Chad Knaus and Ron Malec, But Rick Hendrick to Appeal

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”222″][/media-credit]On Wednesday, NASCAR issued a list of steep penalties to Jimmie Johnson and team No. 48 as a result of rule infractions found on Febraury 17th during opening day of inspection for the Daytona 500. The penalties include a six week suspension for both crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, plus probation till May 9th. They also fined Knaus $100,000 while taking away 25 driver points from Johnson and 25 owner points from his owner, Jeff Gordon.

    According to NASCAR, they did not agree with the shape of the c-posts and requested that they be changed. The C-post is a piece of paneling towards the back of the car that connects the roof to the rear quarterpanel. The team modified the piece to gain an aerodynamic advantage.

    As per their press release, the posts were “in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the rule book or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-2.1E (if in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted – unapproved car body modifications).”

    Hendrick Motorsports has already announced that they will be appealing the penalties, which will see Knaus and Malec remain at the track during the process.

    “Our organization respects NASCAR and the way the sanctioning body governs our sport,” Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said. “In this case, though, the system broke down, and we will voice our concerns through the appeal process.”

    After NASCAR made the call during Speedweeks to have the 48 team remove the parts, there was a lot of discussion from those involved about exactly what was going on. According to Ken Howes, Hendrick’s Vice President of Competition, he told SBNation.com that crew chiefs are always working around the templates to try and gain an advantage.

    However, NASCAR has made it clear to teams that they do not like them modifying parts “between the templates” and have told Knaus that before, suspending him six weeks in 2007 for modifying the front fenders.

    “We’re pretty serious about the body configurations of the cars for all of the right reasons,” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said. “This one was a modification that had been made to the car that put it outside that box.”

    On that topic, Howes told SBNation.com that the template doesn’t quite cover every square inch of the car and there is nothing written in the rule book to stop them. The rule book just states that the car must fit the templates that NASCAR specifies.

    Hendrick added to that, telling ESPN.com, “You know, I don’t like it if we find some flagrant problem. I don’t like it when someone says I just don’t like the looks of it and never put the plate down on it.” Hendrick says that in speaking with Knaus, NASCAR never used the claw in determining whether the c-posts fit within the rules to begin with.

    By section 20-2.1E of the rule book, it says that NASCAR is allowed to call teams out on parts that they modify. By having that one line in the rulebook, it allows NASCAR to influence judgment calls on certain situations.

    Looking at everything, if the change to the car wasn’t made technically against the templates but isn’t something NASCAR didn’t approve of, couldn’t they had just requested the 48 team change it without further penalty? Beyond that, if they did want to penalize, does it warrant a penalty of this size?

    As Eddie Gossage, who is the track promotor for Texas Motor Speedway, wrote at ESPNDallas.com, “It’s the first race of the year. It was the first time the team presented the car for inspection this season. Only one area of the car failed. NASCAR, rightfully, made the team make changes to the car so it will qualify and sit on the grid only after it completely passed inspection. The car will be 100 percent legal.

    “Isn’t that the point of NASCAR’s pre-race inspection? The integrity of the race and the sport are not tainted. NASCAR found an infraction and caused it to be fixed.”

    Though in a story that involves many sides, there is even more to be said here. Hendrick told ESPN.com before the Bud Shootout that this is the same car that Johnson ran in all four restrictor plate races last season. He added that the roof had not been altered.

    He then continued to say that the car has been at NASCAR’s Research and Development (R&D) Center three times – after both Talladega races and before the Daytona 500 – and was returned without being said to be outside the lines. Looking back to last year if you look back at the October Talladega race, Knaus was caught on film telling Johnson to damage the rear end of the car if he won. Hendrick said that NASCAR took the car back to the R&D center and kept it there till the end of the season.

    The only change that Hendrick says has been done to the car is it has been re-painted.

    David Newton, who wrote the story for ESPN.com, asked Hendrick if maybe this is a response to the incident last year.

    “Maybe you can put it together,” Hendrick said. “I don’t understand. The know the serial numbers on the cars. Our guys swear they have not touched the roof of the car.”

    Some have already said that they believe that NASCAR is only implementing a penalty of this size due to Knaus’ track record, but isn’t that an example of a crew chief trying to find an advantage for their team? That is actually something that Hendrick Motorsports applauds their crew chiefs on as it shows that they are always trying to get better. So is it fair to access a penalty under those parameters?

    Beyond this particular situation looking down the road, what about future situations that arise like this one? What if NASCAR sees something and lets it go? That will stir the fans as they will begin to question if NASCAR is playing favorites or not – is that a road that NASCAR wants to go down? The rule perfectly allows for this to happen with the interpretation that is there.

    With everything that is involved and everything that has been said, it will be interesting to see what happens at the appeal and moving forward.

    In this writer’s opinion, it looks like Hendrick Motorsports has put a solid case together to take to the appeal and have a good chance at winning. But after viewing all of the evidence known to the public, I’ll let you also say what you feel.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth won at Daytona, outlasting Sunday’s postponement and Monday’s inferno to win on Tuesday.

    “Brad Keselowski may have 200,000 followers,” Kenseth said, “but I’m happy with just 42. And speaking of ’42,’ the race took a turn for the worse when Juan Montoya crashed into a jet-fueled track dryer. It was almost ‘Juan and done.’ That’s what’s called a ‘Colombian-fuego.”

    2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished second after his bid to overtake Matt Kenseth failed, arguably due to a block from Kenseth’s Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle, who finished third. Earnhardt winless streak now stands at 130.

    “How is a jet dryer like a Junior fan in the infield?” Earnhardt said. “They both got ‘lit’ at Daytona.

    “Although I didn’t win, I saved racing from a Kenseth-Biffle 1-2 finish, which, if it were a Farrely brothers movie, would be called Humdrum And Humdrummer. That’s victory in itself. At this point, I’ll take any I can get.”

    3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota led a race-high 57 laps and was a factor for the duration of the Daytona 500. But in the end, his charge to the front fell short and he finished fourth.

    “My car was fast,” Hamlin said, “but not as fast as the fastest car on the track. That would be Danica Patrick’s No. 10 GoDaddy.com machine, which was moving at hyper speed. Just to clarify, that’s the speed of hype.”

    4. Greg Biffle: Biffle led 44 laps at Daytona and finished third behind Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt. Biffle was running second into the final corner, but never found the momentum to get past Kenseth.

    “Even with Earnhardt pushing me,” Biffle said, “I still couldn’t get past Kenseth. I couldn’t get by the car labeled Best Buy, which eventually said good bye. I guess I didn’t bide my time correctly.”

    5. Jeff Burton:Burtonled 24 laps at Daytona and finished fifth as the Richard Childress trio ofBurton, Paul Menard, and Kevin Harvick finished 5-6-7 in the 500.

    “This RCR team was impressive at Daytona,”Burtonsaid. “As opposed to ‘burning with jet fuel,’ we were ‘cooking with gas.’ We’ve all heard of ‘gas and go.’ Juan Montoya’s crash has coined a new term: ‘go and gas.’”

    6. Paul Menard: Menard was fast in the Daytona 500, scoring a sixth in an eventful race marked by rain delays and Juan Montoya’s fiery crash with a jet dryer during a lap 159 caution.

    “It started at 7:00 P.M. and lasted until the next morning,” Menard said. “No, I’m not talking about a Jeremy Mayfield bender; I’m talking about the Daytona 500. Or should I say the ‘Daytona 500 Degrees?’”

    7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick, one of the early favorites to win the 2012 Sprint Cup championship, posted a solid start to the season with a seventh in the Daytona 500.

    “We’re confident we can win it all this year,” Harvick said. “In other words, we’re ‘expecting.’ I urged everyone on this team to visualize a Cup title. So, the seed has been planted. And by golly, there will be a berth later this year.”

    8. Carl Edwards: Edwards started on the pole at Daytona and finished eighth, successfully overcoming a late penalty and damage incurred in a lap 187 wreck.

    “This race had it all,” Edwards said. “including the four elements. There was water in the form of rain, and there was fire in the form of the blaze ignited when Juan Montoya crashed into a jet dryer. There was earth in the form of the sand used to absorb the jet fuel, and there was air, in the form of two Waltrip’s in the broadcast booths.”

    9. Tony Stewart: Stewart’s No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet was fast at Daytona, as the defending Sprint Cup champion won his Gatorade Duel and was up front for much of Monday’s 500.

    “Considering the circumstances,” Stewart said, “I’m pleased with the result. I can easily round into championship form, especially since my championship form is round.”

    10. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex led at the midway point, collecting the $200,000 bonus, and finished 12th in the Daytona 500.

    “Michael Waltrip is happy,” Truex said. “Happy with my finish, and happy that Juan Montoya has displaced him as the driver most negatively associated with jet fuel.”

  • Danica Patrick Suffers Crashes During Speedweeks, But Continues to Learn

    Danica Patrick Suffers Crashes During Speedweeks, But Continues to Learn

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignnone” width=”270″][/media-credit]Coming into Speedweeks 2012, things were looking up for Danica Patrick as it was supposed to be a weekend of learning and a weekend where she could do well. Instead, the weekend became one that ended in a headach as in each of the three races she ran, she was involved in a wreck.

    The crashes began on last Thursday afternoon with the Gatorade Duel. For the majority of the race, Patrick had stayed out of trouble, testing the waters and running as high as sixth at one point.

    However, she wouldn’t make it to the finish. On the last lap, she hit the inside wall hard after contact from Aric Almirola on the final lap.

    “I got valuable practice time,” she said afterwards. “But it is never a good feeling for me to not be able to drive the car back to the pits and something about me feels guilty when I see that Go Daddy is all broken up along the side.”

    Patrick didn’t let that bring her down for long as the next day, she won the pole for the Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300. She wanted to win the pole for crew chief Tony Eury Jr., as it meant the first Nationwide Series Daytona pole for him despite all the success he had with cousin Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that series.

    “Tony builds really good cars and the guys that helped him do that, did a really good job,” she says “I’m really thrilled for Tony Jr.; this is something that he wanted. So for me to push the pedal and give that to him, it feels really good.”

    The race wouldn’t go as planned as despite leading laps early, she would be taken out on lap 49 after contact from her teammate Cole Whitt.

    “I don’t think it’s ever great when teammates come together,” Patrick said. “We’ll have to figure out what happened and move forward.”

    Patrick quickly displayed her displeasure with Whitt over the radio, which Whitt responded by saying, “I wouldn’t expect her to be happy about it. I wouldn’t be happy about it either. I don’t know why anyone would expect her to be like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great.’ ”

    After her wreck in the Gatorade Duel, she would have to start at the back of the Daytona 500. Her race wouldn’t last long as she would be collected in a second lap incident that started when Elliot Sadler got into Jimmie Johnson. Her team would get the car fixed and she would go back out to run some laps.

    “Any lap that I turn is progression,” she said. “That’s why I was proud of them for getting me on the track. Was there much to gain for me to get back on track? No. But there was experience as I got back up in pack.”

    Patrick would finish in 38th in her cup debut, but picked up valuable knowledge.

    “I honestly I think I picked up a lot of tips and honestly, I wish the race would’ve been a single file line at the beginning like it was when I got back up there,” she said.

    As the weekend went, Patrick learned more about the draft and that was most evident in the Nationwide Series. Before the incident with Whitt, she had led a portion of the race, first with help from Earnhardt Jr., and then with help from Tony Stewart.

    The success she did have within the wrecks shows that she has picked up lessons since beginning in NASCAR in 2010. When she first started, she was barely running at a competitive pace.

    “I’m pleased with some of the stuff that’s gotten better over the year – I can think of the first race here where I was struggling to keep up,” she said. “Then now you can drop the green flag in a Cup race and I’m just hanging out. I know the rules are different, but the level of comfort and proximity of cars next to each other and front and back, and obviously has been improved.”

    Her improvement had Elliott Sadler call her the most improved driver in NASCAR’s top three divisions from the beginning of 2011 till now.

    “That’s appreciated and I have worked really hard and I’m lucky I drive for a good team that has good resources,” she said when told that. “Tony Jr. is a really, good accomplished crew chief. On the Cup side, we haven’t seen a lot of the great people around me there too, and some really good experience teammates.

    “That’s a nice pat on the back; I appreciated that. I still recognize that I have a lot to learn, but I’ve been able to do this in a nice way. I’ve had the backing from the beginning from Go Daddy and it’s been nice because instead of having to go out and show what I’m made of every week, got the most amount spots possible and be desperate. I’ve never had to feel like that. I’ve been able to sit back and observe, not step outside of my comfort zone, because I’ve had a plan since the beginning and so few drivers get that ability to plan long-term and have someone that’s there for them who will follow them wherever they go.”

    One of the keys to Patrick being able to pick up as many as lessons as she has is that she doesn’t rest on her laurels. She knows that there is lots that she is going to have to learn.

    Going into the Nationwide race, despite winning the pole, she knew it was going to be a challenge.

    “It’s going to come down to bump drafting, and being good at that,” she says. “Good at swapping, good at keeping the engine cool, good at keeping in a pack, good at keeping connected, good at strategy so when you pit, you pit with your partner and you don’t get left alone at any point. There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to happen during the race that we’re going to have to manage, so it doesn’t change our strategy.”

    Next week at Phoenix International Raceway marks her next challenge. She won’t be running the Sprint Cup race, but the Nationwide race will have its own challenges. Patrick has made three starts at Phoenix, with her best finish being 17th, which she scored last spring.

    This year is all about learning and getting ready for the full Sprint Cup schedule in 2013. Certainly the tricky oval in the dessert will teach her some more.

  • The Only Thing Missing from the Daytona 500 was the Locusts

    The Only Thing Missing from the Daytona 500 was the Locusts

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”286″][/media-credit]There was something in the air on Sunday that you just kind of knew that NASCAR had once again been beaten by its arch nemesis Mother Nature. The monsoons like rains were unrelenting and the track was being to resemble the Everglades more than NASCAR’s crown jewel Daytona International Speedway. But what was to come no one could have possibly predicted.

    History was made during this years Daytona 500. It was a foregone conclusion that history was going to be made regardless of who won when NASCAR vice president Mike Helton announced that the Daytona 500 would be run during prime time on Monday evening. Fox broadcasting was in. All of its affiliates and stations would broadcast the rain delayed season opener during its most expensive broadcast time frame. Starting at 7PM EST and running to its conclusion. It would be the wee hours of Tuesday morning before the sport would crown its Daytona champion for 2012. But it was all that happened in between the start and finish that would make it memorable.

    The anticipation on the starting grid was thick you could almost cut it with a knife. 43 of the best stock car drivers in the world had waited 36 hours to get the Daytona 500 underway. They were ready to race. They were under the lights. They were in prime time. The pressure of the 500 is normally pretty high but this made it more so.

    The classic under the lights phenomenon took place early on. The cool night temperatures and the lights take us back to our roots of Saturday night racing and always bring a more aggressive driver to the track. That aggression showed it’s head on the second lap of the race in the form of a multi-car pile up that took out 5 time Jimmie Johnson and involved the sports new star Danica Patrick.

    Patrick who was a victim of other people’s crashes in every race that she ran at Daytona sat patiently and dejectedly in her mangled car while crew chief Greg Zipadelli and team made the extensive repairs to get her back on the track. Many of her detractors pointed fingers and said see she can’t drive. However, the truth was light years from that. The truth was that she showed the guts and tenacity of her muse the honey badger. She refused to quit. Even when she had made up as many spots as possible and was given the option of parking the severely injured Go Daddy Chevrolet she persevered. At the end of the 6 hour race she exited her car pale and obviously exhausted with a smile and the patience to answer the mass of media’s questions. Her skill set is lacking yes. But so is the skill set of every other rookie who has ever driven a cup car at Daytona including names like Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Rusty Wallace, Ken Schrader and yes even Richard Petty. She showed however, that she has the tenacity to acquire the skill set with help from her team and teammates.

    The racing calmed down for many laps with the Roush boys showing the way for most of the race. There were some blown engines due to anomalies that couldn’t be explained completely but were attributed to the rain delay and the moisture’s effect on the gauges, including 4 time champion Jeff Gordon whose Hendrick Motorsports AARP Chevy expired very early on.

    The next real excitement would come for the $200,000 half way bonus. The pack surged, positions were traded wholesale and from the middle of the pack a long shot emerged and with help from Greg Biffle’s Ford, Martin Truex Jr would claim the big half way pay day.

    But the biggest and strangest event of the night was triggered when the yellow flew with 40 laps to go. Juan Pablo Montoya knew he had a problem. The car was vibrating violently in every gear. But he had no warning when the car suddenly snapped to the right and into a truck drawn jet blower and then slide to the bottom of the track. The driver of the jet blower and Juan Pablo Montoya were not injured. But the grand jewel of NASCAR was not so lucky. 200 gallons of jet fuel and diesel ignited out of the third turn setting the track all the way to the grass and including the safer barrier on fire. The spectacular fire could be seen for miles in the night sky.

    The red flag found drivers racing for the porta johns and Brad Keselowski tweeting the activity to world on his phone. The 2 hour delay pushed the Daytona 500 into the wee hours of the morning Tuesday.

    The damage to the track was minimal and patched and the cars again fired to take the green. The race would see more cautions including the final which would collect current champion Tony Stewart. Stewart would restart the race on a Green White Checker deep in the pack with a car whose tow was out 2 to 3 inches according to radio communications with crew chief Steve Addington. Stewart would finish a disappointing 16th on the lead lap and moving through towards the front.

    The race win would go to Matt Kenseth in the Best Buy Ford. Kenseth would hold off the tandem of Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr for the win. Earnhardt Jr would make a last turn pass and run to take second.

    One would think that all the strangeness that could possibly effect a race would be done, especially since the checkered flag had flown and the winner had been crowned. But not so in this case, within an hour of the finish of the race the track was enveloped in a thick dense fog that shut down the airport and prevented drivers and teams from leaving the track until Tuesday morning.

    Today, many are talking about the jet dryer crash and TV ratings are the highest for any race in Fox Broadcast history. They are talking about Brad Keselowski’s tweeting during the red flag. NASCAR says that he broke no rules and there will be no fines. They are talking about the fact that Greg Biffle could not advance on Matt Kenseth in the final two laps of the races even with a pusher. Some say he was protecting Kenseth’s win. Some say he found the new catch in the aero package two cars are no longer faster than one or the pack. Some are talking about Danica’s Daytona Fizzle. Frankly, those folks are just wrong. Danica’s misfortunes were not of her own making and she showed a great deal of skill and tenacity. The one thing that no one is talking about this year is a boring race, because this may very well have been the most memorable Daytona 500 in history.

    Congratulations to Matt Kenseth on his Daytona 500 victory. It was well deserved.

    Kudos to Dale Earnhardt Jr and his 88 team on an incredible run it is an incredible start to what promises to be an even better year.

    Kudos to Tony Stewart and his Office Depot team for pushing the envelope to the max with a car that would have been near impossible to drive for some.

    Kudos to Denny Hamlin for showing the strongest and most dedicated performance all night only to come up a little bit short at the very end.

    Congratulations to James Beuscher on his NNS win. And to John King on his NCWTS win.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • A Race of Rain and Fire: Daytona 500 Lap By Lap

    A Race of Rain and Fire: Daytona 500 Lap By Lap

    [media-credit name=”Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”274″][/media-credit]30 hours after the race was supposed to start, the drivers strapped into their cars and got ready to run the first Daytona 500 run at night. The rain delayed Daytona 500 also marked the first 500 that rescheduled for a day other than Sunday. The rain delay would be just the beginning for this race, though…..

    Lap 1 Biffle leads Kenseth and Edwards

    Caution Lap 2 – Johnson, Bayne, Patrick, Kurt Busch, Ragan – Sadler gets into Johnson as Johnson get loose, turning him into the wall followed by hard driver’s door contact from Ragan. Sadler passed along his apologies.

    Restart Lap 8 as Biffle leads with help from Edwards over Kenseth

    Lap 11 Regan Smith and Biffle run side-by-side for the lead

    Lap 12 Biffle leads as Edwards and Smith run side-by-side for second

    Caution as Newman goes for a spin as he has a flat tire…..Pit stops as everybody takes fuel….Newman loses tire leaving pit, Allmendinger runs in back getting enough damage to send him behind the wall

    Restart lap 17 as Menard leads after staying out

    Lap 18 Denny Hamlin dumps Carl in the sucker hole to take the lead

    Lap 25 Top 10 are single file as Hamlin leads Menard, Smith, Logano, Burton, Ambrose

    Lap 35 Top six single file as Hamlin leads Menard, Smith, Logano, Burton, Ambrose

    Lap 44 Burton to the lead with help from Biffle and then they went to the bottom

    Lap 54 Menard and Hamlin pit

    Lap 55 Labonte, Bowyer and others pit.

    Lap 57 The back group pits – Harvick, McMurray, Montoya,

    Lap 58 Truex, Logano, Ky Busch and others pit

    Lap 59 Half of the pack pits – Biffle, Burton, Edwards, Biffle and others. Stewart leads

    Lap 60 Gordon, Blaney, Earnhardt Jr. pit

    Lap 61 Stewart pits, giving the lead back to Burton.

    Caution Lap 64 for debris as Landon Cassil gets the Lucky Dog…….Pit stops for fuel for some while leader Burton stays out

    Restart Lap 68 as Biffle and Burton run side-by-side to the green. Biffle pulls ahead with from Ambrose.

    Lap 70 Top 8 are single file with Biffle leading Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Logano, Burton, Reuitmann, Truex Jr., and Bowyer

    Lap 79 Truex leads after Hamlin pushed him up the outside.

    Lap 80 Truex leads the field as Hamlin and Biffle run side-by-side for second.

    Caution Lap 81 Jeff Gordon blows up…..Everybody pits for tire as Biffle wins the race off pit road over Ambrose

    Restart lap 85 as Biffle leads Terry Labonte

    Caution Lap 89 Terry Labonte spins after contact from Ambrose, sending him for a spin but no contact with walls

    Restart Lap 92 as Bile and Ambrose lead them to the flag side-by-side. Biffle leads the field through turns with help from Truex

    Lap 94 Biffle leads while Ambrose and Truex run side-by-side

    Lap 98 Top four are single-file as Biffle continues to lead.

    Lap 100 Biffle leads Truex, Hamlin, Burton and Bowyer….Coming off turn four, Truex gets the lead with help from Hamlin. Truex gets the halfway payday of $200,000.

    Lap 102 Stewart to the lead with help from Hamlin on the back shoot but Hamlin goes under Stewart going into the turn 3. Hamlin is the new leader.

    Lap 116 Top 8 are single file as Hamlin leads Truex, Biffle, Burton and Bowyer. Elliott Sadler is blowing up.

    Lap 121 Hamlin leads Truex, Biffle, Burton, Bowyer, Almirola

    Lap 128 Bowyer is out of gas, misses pit road due to other cars, as Hamlin continues to lead.

    Lap 129 Stewart, Mark Martin, Logano pit as the caution comes for Bowyer being stalled. Logano didn’t stop as he skipped his stall while Stewart and Martin finished their pit work. Burton comes on while pit road is closed as he is out of fuel………Everybody pits as they are all low on fuel so its four tires and fuel. Regan Smith wins the race off pit road followed by Biffle. Sadler couldn’t find his pit stall so he causes a mess and then begins to look at engine issue

    Restart 68 to go as Mark Martin and Stewart lead the field to the green. Martin pulls down in front of Stewart in turn 1 and Martin leads the field with Stewart on his bumper. Biffle takes the lead out of turn four with help from Hamlin.

    64 to go Biffle leads Hamlin, Martin, Stewart, Smith, Almirola, Truex, Harvick, Kenseth and Burton.

    63 to go as the top eight continue to run single file.

    58 to go Joey Logano took the lead from Hamlin after help from Biffle

    54 to go Kenseth to the lead with help from Biffle

    53 to go Kenseth leads Earnhardt Jr., Harvick and Biffle

    49 to go Kenseth leads Earnhardt Jr., Biffle and Casey Mears as Keselowski and Logano run side-by-side for fifth

    42 to go Caution as Stremme blows up……Pit stops as everybody needs fuel. Casey Mears leads McMurray, Harvick, Biffle, Logano and Earnhardt Jr. off………….Montoya’s car breaks and slides up into the jet dryer, causing the jet dryer and Montoya’s cars to catch fire…….Red Flag….Kyle Busch and Edwards to the back for pulling off a windshield tear off under the red……. Red Flag was 2 hours, 5 minutes, 29 seconds

    The race is under yellow……..Casey Mears has run out of fuel on the apron

    The top 4 – Blaney, Cassil, Gilliland – pit to give the lead to Kenseth.

    Restart 34 to go as Kenseth takes the strong charge through one with help from Biffle

    30 to go Kenseth leads Biffle, Earnhardt Jr., Harvick, Logano, Martin, Menard, Hamlin, Truex Jr and Burton. Top five are single file

    25 to go Kenseth leads Biffle and Earnhardt Jr. as Hamlin and Harvick run side-by-side for fourth

    Caution 23 to go Casey Mears and Marcos Ambrose go for a slide. Stenhouse went into Ambrose, who then hit Mears, sending him for a spin while and Ambrose spins in the aftermath. Clint Bowyer gets the lucky dog.

    Restart 18 laps to go as Kenseth gets the jump on Biffle on the start, slides up in front of him and they pull ahead

    15 to go Kenseth leads Biffle, Earnhardt Jr., Harvick as Menard and Harvick are side-by-side for fifth

    Caution 13 to go- big wreck – Kahne, Smith, McMurray, Edwards, Keselowski, Stewart – McMurray had a cut tire and Logano made contact with him. McMurray actually just said on the radio that he felt that something was broken. So Biffle leads Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Harvick, Burton, Menard, Mark Martin, Newman, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Stenhouse Jr., Logano, Reuitmann, Stewart

    Green flag with 7 to go as Earnhardt Jr. gives Kenseth a big push on the bottom while Biffle pushes Hamlin on the outside. Kenseth dumps Jr so its now Kenseth, Biffle, Harvick and Earnhardt Jr. now

    Caution 4 to go Stewart spins due to contact from Stenhouse after he made contact with Logano, collecting Kyle Busch, Blaney, Newman, Reuitmann, Gilliland

    Green – White – Checkered

    Green flag as Kenseth and Biffle start the race lined-up. Kenseth gets the jump and moves up to pick up Greg Biffle, setting Earnhardt Jr. in third and Hamlin in fourth

    Kenseth holds everybody off to win the Daytona 500 as Dale Jr. passes Biffle at the line for second

  • Matt Kenseth Wins Daytona 500 After Rain and Fire

    Matt Kenseth Wins Daytona 500 After Rain and Fire

    [media-credit name=”Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]NASCAR fans have seen strange things happen before – animals on the track, a rolling plastic inflated orange – but after this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, it certainly takes the cake.

    The race was supposed to begin on Sunday afternoon, however was delayed due to rain. The weather caused NASCAR to postpone the race till 7pm on Monday night, making it the first Daytona 500 to be started on a non-scheduled day and the first primetime 500. This wouldn’t be the end of the chaos, as during the race, a broken part on Juan Pablo Montoya’s racecar would cause him to crash into a jetdryer, setting it on fire.

    After all the craziness and on Day 3 of the Daytona 500 (early Tuesday morning), Matt Kenseth came home victorious for his second Daytona 500 victory.

    “We had a lot of problems – we had the engine spew out water, fuel issue, radio issue – the team could hear me but I couldn’t talk to them,” Kenseth says. “I gotta thank Greg Biffle for working with me; we had fast rockets. It was all about who was in front of who at the end.”

    The victory for Kenseth marks his second Daytona 500 victory and the 300th NASCAR victory for Roush-Fenway Racing.

    “It is very fitting for Kenseth to win the 300th victory,” Roush said. “It’s fitting to do it with Jimmy Fenning (crew chief) who has been with Roush Racing for a long time. It’s fitting to do it with Matt Kenseth has been with Roush Racing for a long time. It’s very nice to celebrate our 300th win, winning the 54th Annual Daytona 500 and with it being Kenseth’s second, it’s pretty special.”

    A green-white-checkered would conclude the Daytona 500 as contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would send Tony Stewart for a spin, collecting Kyle Busch, Dave Blaney, Ryan Newman, David Reuitmann and David Gilliland.

    On the restart, Kenseth made the quick move to get in front of teammate Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Biffle followed Kenseth all the way around the track, looking for the right time to make his move, but that never came as Biffle was behind Kenseth across the finish line.

    “I think it’s a combination of everything, but I think it’s the combination of what would give us the best finish,” Kenseth said of their teamwork.

    Biffle would come home third in the end as Dale Earnhardt Jr. would pass him at the start-finish line for second.

    “I would have liked to have won, but I told Greg that I was going to push him on the last restart,” Earnhardt Jr. said afterwards. “I thought he was ‘waiting waiting’ and I waited till the last minute for him to make a move, and then made a move.”

    Biffle said that he tried to win the race, but couldn’t get a run on Earnhardt Jr.

    “All night, Jr had been shoving me against the back of the 17 car at will and at granted, he had someone pushing him,” Biffle explained. “We weren’t locked together but anytime you get locked together, you just go. But once he was against my bumper and I knew he was, I pushed the gas down and I thought we would drive up on the back of the 17 without a problem. It must have just pushed enough air to push the 17 out. So I thought I had to get out from behind him. So I tried to move out and Matt isn’t stupid, but we needed a run. I was also watching my bumper as I had him on me and didn’t know what pressure he had him.”

    In contrast, Kenseth said Biffle could’ve made the move while Roush said, “Greg was unselfish and worked with Matt tonight.”

    In looking back at the final laps now, Biffle said he should’ve dragged the brake and created some space between himself and Kenseth to get a run.

    Denny Hamlin would finish fourth, followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton, Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick. Pole sitter Carl Edwards would finish eighth, followed by Joey Logano and Mark Martin.

    The halfway payday of $200,000 would go to Martin Truex Jr., who would finish the race in 12th behind Clint Bowyer.

    The race would see a red flag last for more than two hours after an odd incident that happened under caution with 42 laps left in the event.

    As Juan Pablo Montoya came out of pit road and tried to catch up with the back of the field, something would break in the back end of his Chevrolet, causing him to slam into a jetdryer in turn 3. The contact caused a huge jet fuel fire that would take the two hour period to clean up in an 11-step process.

    “Well, I thought when I left the pits, I felt a weird vibration,” Montoya said. “I got my crew to check it and they said it was fine. Everytime I got on the gas, I felt the rear moving slightly and just as I asked my spotter about it, it turned right.”

    The condition of the race track was in great question after the massive clean-up, but the surface became unharmed and the drivers were able to run the full distance. President Mike Helton said it was important for him to that they take the time to do the necessary clean-up and get the full race in due to the dedication saw from the fans who had stuck around both days.

    Montoya’s teammate Jamie McMurray would also have something break on his car, causing a five car wreck with 13 to go that collected Kasey Kahne, Regan Smith, Edwards and Tony Stewart.

    The jetdryer incident wasn’t the only big piece of action on track during the Daytona 500. When the race started, contact from Sadler to Johnson on lap two would see Johnson for a spin, and then get hit hard in the driver’s door by David Ragan.

    “I’m good,” Johnson said afterwards. “That last hit in the door was pretty hard. We were all just trying to make our lane work. There was a lot of energy there and Elliott got into the back of me, turning me into the wall. I knew sitting in the middle of the track that was someone was going to hit me and Ragan had no place to go. It sucks to be done this early after all the effort into this car.”

    “I just want to see the replay to see what bonehead would make a move like that early in the 500,” Ragan said of the incident.

    Other drivers collected in the accident would include 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick.

    “I have no idea what happened,” Bayne said. “This is devastating. We wait a whole day for a race and this happens on lap 1.”

    “Any lap that I turn is progression,” she said. “That’s why I was proud of them for getting me on the track. Was there much to gain for me to get back on track? No. But there was experience as I got back up in pack.”

    Patrick would finish in 38th in her cup debut, but pick up valuable knowledge.

    “I honestly I think I picked up a lot of tips and honestly, I wish the race would’ve been a single file line at the beginning like it was when I got back up there,” she said.

    Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon also wouldn’t make it to the finish as he would blow the motor on lap 81.

    “It’s pretty strange that we’ve been through some liability testing and if I saw some high temps, I would have expected this,” he said. “I saw some low temps so I thought we were in good shape. It’s just a shame. This is not the way we wanted to start the season with the Daytona 500.”

    With everything that happened in Daytona, the rest of the 2012 NASCAR season ends and we’ve certainly learned to expect the unexpected.

  • James Buescher wins DRIVE4COPD 300 after Last Lap Crash

    James Buescher wins DRIVE4COPD 300 after Last Lap Crash

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Going into the final corner, it looked as if Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, or Joey Logano would find themselves in victory lane. However, coming out of turn four, Kurt Busch would slide up, getting into Logano, who would get into Stewart, wrecking the entire front of the field. As the mess sorted out, James Buescher would find himself as the first driver crossing the finish line to win the DRIVE4COPD 300.

    “Nobody wanted to work with us at the end,” Buescher said in victory lane. “We just got the best draft we could after everybody. I saw everybody wrecking there, I just went to the bottom and tried to get by all of it. We didn’t have a lot of track position there, but we stuck with it and we won.”

    The victory marked the first victory for Buescher in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

    “Anytime you win a race, it means a lot,” car owner Steve Turner said. “But with our goal of working with young drivers, gives us a good shot and makes me feel comfortable that we’ve put the right guys in the right place. We’ve really changed our organization over the off-season to cater to the young drivers.”

    Buescher hadn’t escaped trouble all day long as he was involved in the caution on lap 75. Michael Annett got into Brian Scott, turning him into the side of Buescher before Scott hit the wall. The team worked on fixing the damage and were trying to work their way up at the end.

    Brad Keselowski, who had fallen back in the pack with Buescher, would be credited with finishing second.

    “I don’t know how we brought the Discount Tire Dodge home; lots of squirming around there,” Keselowski said. “If we could’ve got through without that minor damage, we could’ve won.”

    Sadler, who was pushing Stewart at the time of the incident, would escape being wrecked to finish third and be the highest driver in the finishing order that’s running the full Nationwide Series schedule.

    “It felt like the leader came up and tried to block, and blocked too late, and pinched the 20 into the wall in front of us,” Sadler said. “We had a run there and a good shot to win the race. It’s so fun running with Tony Stewart as he always knows how to use the right lane.”

    Rookie Cole Whitt would find his way around the incident to finish in the fourth place position. Whitt had a rough day himself. On lap 49, he got into the back of Danica Patrick to push her at the wrong time in the middle of the corner, turning her into the wall.

    “I don’t think it’s ever great when teammates come together,” Patrick, who finished 38th, said. “We’ll have to figure out what happened and move forward.”

    “We’re teammates,” Whitt said. “We want our team to win. I mean, that’s why we were pushing each other anyways – we want to get our team up front together.”

    Patrick quickly displayed her displeasure with Whitt, which Whitt said, “I wouldn’t expect her to be happy about it. I wouldn’t be happy about it either. I don’t know why anyone would expect her to be like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great.’ ”

    Then once on pit road after the incident, Whitt would get turned around backwards on pit road as he was coming into his pit while Kyle Busch was leaving his.

    Rookie Austin Dillon would survive the last lap scramble to come home in the fifth position.

    “We didn’t get to stick to our game plan like we wanted to at the beginning of the race,” Dillon said. “Changed up, got dropped to the back.  Had to work our way back to the front.  Got hooked up with Elliott at one point in time.  Got back up to a decent stop.  Got some track position. Then we got faded back again.  Hooked up with Jr.  Drove to the front.  That one run felt really good pushing with him and Elliott, too.  It was fun.  It was difficult to tandem through the pack.  You had to fish your way through the pack.  When you had a gap to push, you could push.

    “My car was really good at pushing today.  The Advocare Chevrolet was fast enough to get to the front.  Ended up in the front.  Doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you finish up there, so it was fun.”

    Tayler Malsam and Timmy Hill sneak by the wreck to finish sixth and seventh, while Tony Stewart would finish eighth, going for his fifth consecutive Daytona victory.

    “I don’t know that we even made it to turn four,” Stewart said. “We got a big run on the outside and all of a sudden the door got slammed on us. I don’t know why whoever it was turned right, but it wasn’t a very good time to either try blocking or moving. It was definitely not the finish we wanted for sure. We had an awesome (car) today.”

    Kasey Kahne would finish ninth with Kurt Busch rounding out the top 10.

    “We were up front, leading laps and doing exactly what James Finch would have wanted,” he said. “We took the white leading and had the lead halfway down the back. Everybody was side drafting and we got separated.

    “I went to crowd the outside lane, didn’t know that there were two cars up there. I thought it was just a single lane. I was trying to side draft to get the best finish I could at the end. Everybody was racing to the end. Man, a lot of tore up cars. That’s just everybody full throttle at the end.”

    This wouldn’t be the only incident of the afternoon that Busch would receive the blame for as with 17 to go, he would try to squeeze through a hole three-wide that wasn’t there. The result would be a 20-car wreck that included Robert Richardson Jr., Denny Hamlin, Justin Allgaier, Kenny Wallace, Casey Roderick, Reed Sorenson, Johanna Long, Ryan Truex, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dillon, Mike Wallace and TJ Bell.

    “I quickly reminded myself why I don’t run these races,” Hamlin said. “It’s hard to control your fate in these races….had been running up front, was up front there, and just a chain reaction. Looked like Kyle and Kurt got a run up through the middle there and scared some people.”

    The middle part of the wreck saw Sorenson drive partly under Allgaier’s car.

    “I saw guys spinning in front of me and tried to get around them, but got caught up with another guys,” he said. “With having the two-car tandems and pack racing, guys are getting runs there that shouldn’t be.”

    The next race for the Nationwide Series is next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

  • Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 Lap-By-Lap

    Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 Lap-By-Lap

    [media-credit name=”daytonainternationalspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”272″][/media-credit]After a wreck on the final lap, James Buescher would be crowned the winner of the DRIVE4COPD 300.

    Green flag as Dale Earnhardt Jr. quickly gets on Danica Patrick’s bumper to push her ahead

    Lap 1 – Patrick leads with Earnhardt Jr. as Bayne/Sadler try to run them down

    Lap 2 – Bayne to the lead around the outside with help from Sadler, putting Patrick/Earnhardt Jr. behind them

    Lap 5 – Sadler and Bayne swap so Sadler leads, but Tony Stewart/Sam Hornish Jr. go by them and take the lead

    Lap 7 – Patrick brushes the wall and falls back as her partner Earnhardt Jr. goes looking for.

    Lap 9 – Stewart and Kurt Busch become the newest team as Hornish tried to get his car cool.

    Lap 11 – Kahne/Earnhardt Jr. to the lead as they go to the outside of Stewart/Busch while Bayne/Sadler chase them.

    Lap 13 – Bayne/Sadler leading

    Lap 14 – Hornish/Brad Keselowski takes the lead through turn 4 as Bayne/Sadler fall back

    Lap 18 Hornish/Keselowski, Mike Bliss/Joe Nemechek, Michael Annett/Kurt Busch, Kenny Wallace/Mike Wallace

    Lap 20 Hornish/Keselowski still hold the lead as Bliss/Nemechek try to chase them down. Annett/Busch battle side-by-side with the Wallaces for the next position

    Lap 22 Bliss/Nemechek pass Hornish/Keselowski for the lead

    Lap 26 Earnhardt Jr/Kurt Busch to the lead past Bliss/Nemechek

    Lap 27 Bliss/Nemechek take the lead as Busch/Earnhardt Jr. swap positions in their tandem

    Lap 28 Bliss, Nemechek, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Kahne, Stewart, Patrick, Hornish Jr., Mike Wallace

    Lap 29 Busch/Earnhardt Jr. back to the lead in the tri-oval, ast Bliss/Nemechek as Logano/Kahne try to chase them down

    Lap 30 Earnhardt Jr./Busch swap as Earnhardt Jr. keeps the lead through the lap traffic

    Caution Lap 31 Debris on the track as Jason Bowles has an engine problem. Pit stops as some take two tires, some take four tires. Kurt Busch leads Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Cole Whitt and Michael Annett off pit road. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has issues getting into his pit, but solved the problem by using his cup sign for the rest of the day. Kyle Busch had the right rear window vibrating so they sealed it.

    Restart Lap 36 as Kurt Busch pulls slightly ahead through turns ½ with help from Kasey Kahne

    Lap 37 Tony Stewart/Joey Logano side-by-side with Kurt Busch/Kasey Kahne for the lead

    Lap 38 Stewart/Logano pull ahead to the lead with Busch/Kahne in toe followed by Danica Patrick

    Lap 40 Stewart leads Logano, Busch, Kahne and Sam Hornish Jr. as Patrick falls back through the field

    Lap 44 Logano/Stewart make the swap, allowing Busch/Nemechek to take the lead.

    Lap 45 J.J Yeley has smoke trailing from his car, quickly gets outta line.

    Lap 46 Busch/Nemechek lead as Dale Earnhardt Jr./Kyle Busch chase them down, followed by Hornish Jr.

    Lap 48 Richardson Jr. makes a big save in the middle of three-wide to prevent a wreck

    Lap 49 Kurt Busch leads Nemechek, Earnahrdt Jr., Kyle Busch, Hornish Jr., Hamlin, Logano, Ryan Truex, Kenny Wallace

    Caution Lap 49 as Danica Patrick gets into the wall after contact from teammate Cole Whitt. Patrick has enough damage to send her behind the wall. Sadler got some damage after running down off the track to the apron to avoid Patrick, fixed it on pit road. Reed Sorenson gets the lucky dog……Pit stops: Cole Whitt gets turned around backwards on pit road, after contact from Kyle Busch. Cole was coming in as Kyle was going out.

    Restart Lap 54 as Denny Hamlin leads the field to the green, but Kurt Busch quickly goes back to the points with help from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    Lap 55 Busch/Earnhardt Jr. have spaced themselves from the field as Kenny Wallace/Mike Wallace are next in line, followed by Brad Keselowski/Kasey Kahne

    Lap 58 Trevor Bayne has a flat tire as he brings the car to pit road. This came after contact with Brian Scott.

    Lap 59 Busch/Earnhardt Jr. lead Hamlin/Logano as they have separated themselves from the pack

    Caution Lap 60 Mike Bliss has wrecked at the halfway mark. He backed off and Joe Nemechek got into the back of him. Pit stops: Some choose to pit while others stay out. Kurt Busch now leads Earnhardt Jr. as they both stayed on track

    Restart with 56 laps to go as Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. run side-by-side for the lead through turn 2. Earnhardt Jr. is able to get by Busch, but it is Elliott Sadler/Austin Dillon driving by him in a two-car tandem.

    55 to go Sadler/Dillon pull out to a pretty sizable lead as the pack runs three-wide all the way back.

    50 to go Sadler/Dillon continue to lead, in front of Kurt Busch, Nemechek, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Hornish Jr.,

    Caution Lap 75 Brian Scott wrecks in the tri-oval. Michael Annett got into Scott, turning him into James Buescher, and then Scott hit the wall. Kurt Busch leading…..Pit Stops as most can make it from this point: Joe Nemechek leads Hornish Jr. and Mike Wallace off pit road…..Trevor Bayne took the wave around so he’s only one lap down now.

    Restart 42 laps to go as Nemechek and Hornish Jr. are side-by-side through turns 1 and 2.

    41 laps to go Hornish Jr. leads with help from Mike Wallace.

    40 laps to go Hornish Jr. leads Wallace, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch as they’ve separated themselves from the pack

    39 laps to go Hornish Jr. and Wallace get separated, allowing the Busch brothers to go by on the outside.

    38 laps to go Stewart/Sadler go by the Busch brothers for the lead with Stenhouse/Hamlin in toe.

    37 laps to go Stewart/Sadler lead the Busch brothers and then Stenhouse/Hamlin

    30 laps to go Hamlin/Stenhouse to the lead coming across the finish line but its Earnhardt Jr./Austin Dillon taking the lead coming out of turn two.

    29 laps to go Earnhardt Jr./Dillon and Stewart/Sadler are side-by-side for the lead

    28 laps to go Stewart/Sadler surge ahead

    27 laps to go Joey Gase blows the motor, bringing out the caution, which puts Trevor Bayne back on the lead lap…..Pit stops as mostly everyone gets a splash of gas. Hamlin leads Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. off pit road. Timmy Hill stayed out so he’s the leader

    Restart 22 laps to go. Kenny Wallace takes the lead down the back straightaway with help from Robert Richardson Jr.

    21 laps to go three-wide for the lead as Denny Hamlin now leads with help from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    20 laps to go Hamlin/Earnhardt Jr. have left the field as the rest of the pack battles side-by-side.

    19 laps to go Sam Hornish Jr. brushes the wall, Brian Scott gets into the wall hard – no caution. Tony Stewart takes the lead with Elliott Sadler’s help as Denny Hamlin/Earnhardt Jr. run behind them. This marks lead change no. 36 to break the record for the most lead change.

    17 laps to go big wreck including Robert Richardson Jr., Denny Hamlin, Justin Allgaier, Kenny Wallace, Casey Roderick, Reed Sorenson, Johanna Long, Ryan Truex, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Austin Dillon, Mike Wallace, TJ Bell……Kurt Busch tries to squeeze through a hole that wasn’t there, and everybody started back off – Trevor Bayne got sideways once he slowed up and went up towards the wall, collecting the others…..Red flag…..

    Restart 9 laps to go as Kurt Busch goes to the lead with help from Kyle Busch.

    8 laps to go Stenhouse/Hornish battle three-wide for the race lead with Stewart/Sadler and Busch brother combo.

    Caution with 7 to go as three-wide does not work out as Sam Hornish Jr. goes around, collecting Michael Annett, David Ragan, Joe Nemechek, Dale Earnhardt Jr……Ragan got a push from behind, causing him to get into the back of Hornish and spinning him in front of Earnhardt Jr., collecting others.

    Restart 2 to go as Kurt/Kyle get the run off the top, go to the bottom and lead the field.

    White flag as Kurt/Kyle pull to the lead with Logano/Bayne in toe, trying to pass.

    Coming out of turn 4, Kurt Busch got into Joey Logano, sending him up into Tony Stewart, collecting the rest of the leaders.

    WRECKED: Stewart, Bayne, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Whitt, Logano,

    James Buescher misses the wreck and is scored the winner after coming through turn four in 11th.

  • Rookie John King wins Crash-Filled NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona

    Rookie John King wins Crash-Filled NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]When the trucks hit Daytona International Speedway, they’ve been known to create a lot of sparks. This year was no exception as after three green-white-checkereds (GWC, rookie John King took the checkered flag.

    “I’m a rookie – I’m not supposed to be here,” King said afterwards in victory lane. “This is unreal. This Red Horse Racing team is unbelievable. I don’t know what to say. This is a dream come true.”

    A caution with seven to go for Parker Kligermann and others wrecking would set off the chain of GWCs. Kligermann wrecked after Dusty Davis and David Starr squished him in the middle, collecting Bryan Silas and Ross Chastain.

    On the first GWC, it was Jason White leading them to the green, but Johnny Sauter taking the lead with help from Ron Hornaday, before dropping down inline on the bottom in front of White. Sauter looked to have the win in hand before a caution came out before the field took the white flag when Brad Keselowski wrecked. Clay Greenfield got into the back of Keselowski, turning him into Rick Crawford. Rookie Max Gresham was also collected in the wreck with significant damage.

    On the restart, Sauter looked to have the win in hand again as he pulled ahead with help from King. However, coming to get the white flag, King turned Sauter into the outside wall, collecting Brendan Gaughan, Starr, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Nelson Piquet Jr., Chris Fontaine and Ryan Seig.

    “It was substainable help,” Sauter said of the contact he got from King to send him around. “He’s obviously getting help from behind – that’s Bodine, typically known for driving over his head at these places.”

    “I apologize to Johnny Sauter,” King said. “I shouldn’t have been there. I closed up real fast. … I couldn’t get off of him.”

    The field then restarted for the final attempt at a green flag finish with King leading Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters and Joey Coulter. On the restart, Bodine and Coulter didn’t get a good start on the outside, causing them to drop back through the field as King pulled out to the lead with help from Peters. Coming to get the white flag while Coulter and Bodine were trying to mount a charge back to the front, James Buecher would turn Coulter into the outside wall. The contact would cause Coulter to go airbourne and make contact with the catch fence. Coulter were emerge from the crash with no injuries, while a track spokesperson reported two fans were injured but would be okay.

    Coulter’s wreck would hand the win to King, who was making his eighth Camping World Truck Series start.

    King’s Red Horse Racing teammate Timothy Peters would be credited with second for his third top-10 at Daytona.

    “It was an action-packed night,” Peters said. “We were fortunate enough to keep our nose clean all night long. That right there is what it’s all about, seeing that boy right there celebrating in Victory Lane.  That’s a special place.  It couldn’t have been a better night for Red Horse Racing as a company, 1-2 finish, Todd coming in fifth.

    “Can’t say enough about my guys, Butch Hylton, guys on pit row, Service Central, Tire Kingdom, Toyota Tundra, Joe Gibbs Engine.  It was an awesome night tonight.  These guys worked hard on our truck since we left Daytona last year. We got some momentum.  It’s showing.  We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in year.”

    Justin Lofton would be scored in third to score his first top-10 at Daytona.

    “It was an exciting one,” he said. “I mean, we had a game plan of sticking to the bottom.  Unfortunately our teammates were taken out halfway through the race.  Team owner (Eddie Sharp) was spotting for me also.  That definitely helps a lot.  It was a really cool run.  We had good pit stops all night.  We played the right strategy.  Eddie kept me calm.  When they would get that run on the outside, I wanted to drive up there, but he kept me down.  We found ourselves in the right place at the right time.  I tried to push Timothy to get us in a better position.”

    Travis Kvapil , who found out just a couple weeks before Daytona that he’d be racing, came home in the fourth position.

    “All the credit goes to Robby Benton and the RAB racing team,” he says. “They brought me a solid Toyota Tundra tonight. We just kept it out of trouble. We knew we had a strong truck – just kept out of trouble, made the right moves at the right time. To come out of here with a top five finish makes me really happy.”

    Jason White would round out the top five, followed by Todd Bodine, Chris Fontaine, Ward Burton, Ty Dillon and Clay Greenfield. Dillon was able to come home with a ninth-place finish after barely dodging the wrecks at the end.

    “Going into tonight, we knew it was going to be a wild night and we just wanted to finish the race,” the rookie said. “We played it a little conservative – it hurt us a bit. Felt like I was a magnet tonight. We had a strong truck, could do whatever we wanted, and we’d make it to the end.”

    The three wrecks at the end weren’t the only action for the night, as there was action for fans from top to bottom.

    On lap seven, Paulie Harraka got sideways and shot up into Jason Leftler, taking him out, while Dakota Armstrong wrecked behind them.

    “It’s just too good to be true,” Leftler said afterwards. “The truck was really good. The truck was fast. Kind of just sitting there, couldn’t get anybody to work with me that early in the race. It just happens. I don’t know what happened, the No. 5 (Harraka) just shot up into me. The next race is at Rockingham and there’s no question that I’ll be quick there.”

    On lap 60, eventual race winner King moved up to the track, hitting Cale Gale, turning him and collected TJ Duke, Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner and J.R. Fitzpatrick.

    “Can’t teach patience,” Skinner said afterwards. “You can’t teach people how to drive racecars; they obviously are great racecar drivers. I’m not going to blame Cale for that; I wish he would’ve just rode behind us. I was running half-throttle, the other veterans were running half-throttle; they were just running all over.”

    “It’s just one of those things,” Gale said. “We got a little behind in a fuel window there, came back on track and were trying to move up. I don’t know what happened there. I tried to be patience. I was to the point of ‘Do I need to ride and wait it out?’. I guess it’s just our fault.”

    Pole Sitter Miguel Paludo wouldn’t find much luck as with 30 laps to go, he would make hard contact with the inside wall after getting loose behind teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.

    “That was a hard hit for sure, I lost my breath,” Paludo said. “All in all, it was a good day for us. Got the pole, led some laps. Just got loose up there; I had been loose all day. Just so proud of my guys, having all three Turner Motorsports trucks up there. We’re going to win some races this year.”

    The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is in five weeks at Martinsville Speedway.