Discussion
Ok, so 2014 season is go already. Last night was pretty, err eventful? shall we say!
Spoilered the results in case some are watching on replay
Denny Hamlin won all three segments of the unlimited race.
Big crash caused by Logano & Kenseth getting together in the second segment took out Kenseth, Stewart, Gordon, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Stenhouse and Patrick. After the initial impact Stenhouse ended up piling in to Danica, which wrecked her car.
Later, just 10 laps from the end Ambrose turned Jr in to the wall, ending his night. Ambrose took responsibility and apologised.
Oh, and the pace car caught fire whilst on track, apparently traced to the battery pack that runs the light bar on the roof The car was abandoned at the edge of the track where fire crew quickly put out the flames.
Lots of news, but lets start with a "get well soon" to Darrel Waltrip who had gall bladder surgery at the end of last week, he wasn't around this weekend but will be heading to the track this week for the 500.
Richard Petty has been making waves by suggesting Danica can only win if everyone stays home The media seem to have turned this in to a "sexist rant shocker" type deal which isn't what Petty said nor implied.
Tony Stewart says his leg is fine and didn't suffer any pain from being in the car last night. He is donating the team liveried scooter & an all expenses VIP trip to the July Daytona race (including pit box access!) to an auction with all proceeds going to a spinal injury charity. To make sure the auction goes well he is matching the first $50,000 bid which will be donated to the charity.
Jeff Gordon says he'll retire if he wins the championship this year.
2014 Driver/Team charts here: http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/2014... all changes highlighted in Red. Paint schemes here: http://www.jayski.com/news/schemes/story/_/page/20...
Probably the biggest news is the return of the #3 car with RCR.
Biffle says he is working on a return with 3M and hopes to be back in the first quarter.
On to the 500 then. Just a reminder that qualifying for the 500 is a little different than other races.
Cars run a qualifying session at 6pm our time today. Only the top two cars get starting spots, the rest use their qualifying speeds to set the grid for the budweiser duel races on Thursday - even positions in one race, odd in the other. Each duel race is 150 miles and the results of these races set positions 3-32 for the 500. Postions 33-36 are the fastest 4 qualifiers (that don't already have a spot), 37-42 are set by owners points. 43rd place is a previous cup champion who doesn't have a spot or by owners points if there is no applicable champion.
Just to confuse it a little more, three drivers had engine failure during practice, which puts them to the back of the duel races - the three drivers are Patrick, Stewart and Labonte. All three where running HMS engines that gave up with no warning.
TV schedule:
Budweiser Duels, Thursday 20th 11:30pm, live on Premier Sports
Truck Race, Saturday 22nd 3pm, (not live) on MotorsTV
Nationwide Race, Saturday 22nd 5pm, live on MotorsTV
Daytona 500, Sunday 23rd 5pm, live on Premier Sports
time check: Daytona 500 starts in a little under 2 hours (6:20 is quoted green flag time). TV details above.
Hamlin & Kenseth won the duels, they are preceded on the grid by Dillon in the #3 and Truex in the #78, but he joins a whole group of cars at the back:
Full starting lineup here: http://www.jayski.com/news/stats/2013/story/_/page...
Hamlin & Kenseth won the duels, they are preceded on the grid by Dillon in the #3 and Truex in the #78, but he joins a whole group of cars at the back:
- 10-Patrick(engine)
- 14-Stewart(engine)
- 52-Labonte(engine)
- 1-McMurray (backup car)
- 15-Bowyer (backup)
- 34-Ragan (backup)
- 48-Johnson (backup)
- 66-Waltrip (backup)
Full starting lineup here: http://www.jayski.com/news/stats/2013/story/_/page...
Yes, a good race. Far better than the two man tag team drafting of recent years. NASCAR have changed tack since I attended the 2009 Daytona 500, won by Matt Kenseth.
You'll remember that the race was red flagged with fifty laps to go because of a light shower that lasted no longer than 20 minutes. The 250,000 crowd were NOT amused.
You'll remember that the race was red flagged with fifty laps to go because of a light shower that lasted no longer than 20 minutes. The 250,000 crowd were NOT amused.
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