Daytona 500 - Daytona Internat'l Speedway
Despite triumph earlier in the week, the Daytona 500 did not find much else to give our drivers but heartache.
While the majority of the race was uneventful, the bad luck and crashes that did occur seemed to suck in DEI, MWR and Casey and Kurt. The first hint of poor things to come happened early on when Boris Said pushed off of Turn 2 and made contact with the side of David Reutimann’s 00 Camry on Lap 16. While David avoided wrecking, the damage hindered him more than I had expected. He fell a lap down as the race took on a long green flag run.
Michael’s day was dismal from the start. He wanted a spring change and it ended up doing just the opposite of improving the NAPA Camry. The car developed a massive push, causing him to hit the wall and, according to Dale Jarrett’s race report, cut a tire. With a combination of an ill-handling car and a lot of green racing, Michael went 2 laps down, finishing 30th. Because of the 100 point penalty earlier in the week, he will start the season with -27 points. Yikes! On the flip side, at least he didn’t wreck it!
Kurt Busch’s day ended early but not because of poor handling or the Big One. In fact, he led the most laps and had one of the two best cars. However, while riding behind Tony Stewart, in the other best car, havoc broke loose – literally. In Turn 4, Tony’s Chevy wiggled and he let off the gas. Unfortunately, Kurt was currently closing in and could not make evasive action in time. He just barely tapped the 20 and the plumes of smoke that followed indicated a wreck brewing. Because Kurt was so close, when Tony spun and hit the wall hard, Kurt ran into him again, severely injuring the front end of his car. Kurt unnecessarily took all the blame and was very hard on himself. Luckily, Tony did not jump to conclusions (so I did not end up roaring at him through the TV). The #2 car concluded the first race of the year in 41st. Kurt said on a practice broadcast today that after reviewing replays he realizes the crash was not his fault and that he and Tony are good.
Only about 20 laps later, David’s improving run was over. With his lost lap back and damage fixed, he began moving forward. Alas, off of Turn 2, Jimmie Johnson was moving backwards! He got loose and admittedly overcorrected, sending the car on an insane zigzag journey along the backstretch. With so much happening and so little time, David smashed right into the side of the defending Daytona 500 Champion. Several other cars were also collected, including Denny Hamlin. David would finish 40th.
DEI teammates Dale Jr. and Martin ran decently all day, although Junior later stated that the engines weren’t making enough power. It showed. When it came to crunch time in the closing laps, the #8 and #1 could not really make many moves. With only 4 to go, a huge wreck ensued when Matt Kenseth hit his own teammate Jamie McMurray a little to hard. McMurray hit the wall and triggered a domino effect behind him. Dale Jr. was running with Martin behind him when the crash started. This drafting is good until they all start spinning. As a result, both Junior and Martin were taken out in one fell swoop. Dale Jr. finished 32nd with terminal damage. Martin was able to limp it home to a 29th place finish.
Dale Jarrett had a good day. Not a great one, but good. He was never in contention and really seemed fine with riding around at the rear of the field. Although effort may seem to be lacking at first, in reality this saved him from the late-race wrecks, even the enormous one on the last lap of the green-white-checkered. He was the highest finishing Toyota, ending the day in 22nd. DJ’s website says he finished 23rd. Hmm.
Remember “the enormous one on the last lap”? Our last driver, Casey Mears, got taken out in that one. The wreck began just off of Turn 4. Now, it appears that Kyle Busch tagged the apron and got loose, but I noticed something more. Watch Matt Kenseth – he comes down very close to Kyle just before his back end came around. It may not have just been the quick transition in banking that caused Kyle to lose it.
But back to the wreck itself. Cars twisted and turned everywhere. Casey drove blindly – for there is really no other way in that situation – through it and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He hit Clint Bowyer broadside, causing the #07 to flip over and slide in the grass, even cross the finish line, on his roof! Thankfully for Clint, the grass was kind enough to flip him over again because the car had some flames leaping out from under the hood. Clint was able to get out of the car himself. Casey finished 20th – not too bad!
While the wreck happened behind them, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin battled to the end to be the Daytona 500 Champion. The caution never flew despite the crash, leading to a great finish. Kevin inched out Mark by .02 seconds! Of course, there was all kinds of controversy about NASCAR not throwing the yellow, saying that they wanted Harvick to win on the 6 year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s death. You know what I say to that? Bull! The race ended the way it should have – a race for the win! And if NASCAR had thrown the caution, people would complain that they gave it to Mark. Plain and simple, everyone that was in the wreck would have been in it whether the yellow was out or not.
Congrats to Kevin Harvick! He may get on my nerves from time to time, but he’s a good guy and deserved this win.
On to California. Qualifying for the NEXTEL Cup is only minutes away. It looks like it is going to be a very tough race to get in to. In practice, the star cars swapped speeds quicker than the commentators could broadcast them. It looks like we’ll only know everything when the qualifying session is over. We can only hope!
While the majority of the race was uneventful, the bad luck and crashes that did occur seemed to suck in DEI, MWR and Casey and Kurt. The first hint of poor things to come happened early on when Boris Said pushed off of Turn 2 and made contact with the side of David Reutimann’s 00 Camry on Lap 16. While David avoided wrecking, the damage hindered him more than I had expected. He fell a lap down as the race took on a long green flag run.
Michael’s day was dismal from the start. He wanted a spring change and it ended up doing just the opposite of improving the NAPA Camry. The car developed a massive push, causing him to hit the wall and, according to Dale Jarrett’s race report, cut a tire. With a combination of an ill-handling car and a lot of green racing, Michael went 2 laps down, finishing 30th. Because of the 100 point penalty earlier in the week, he will start the season with -27 points. Yikes! On the flip side, at least he didn’t wreck it!
Kurt Busch’s day ended early but not because of poor handling or the Big One. In fact, he led the most laps and had one of the two best cars. However, while riding behind Tony Stewart, in the other best car, havoc broke loose – literally. In Turn 4, Tony’s Chevy wiggled and he let off the gas. Unfortunately, Kurt was currently closing in and could not make evasive action in time. He just barely tapped the 20 and the plumes of smoke that followed indicated a wreck brewing. Because Kurt was so close, when Tony spun and hit the wall hard, Kurt ran into him again, severely injuring the front end of his car. Kurt unnecessarily took all the blame and was very hard on himself. Luckily, Tony did not jump to conclusions (so I did not end up roaring at him through the TV). The #2 car concluded the first race of the year in 41st. Kurt said on a practice broadcast today that after reviewing replays he realizes the crash was not his fault and that he and Tony are good.
Only about 20 laps later, David’s improving run was over. With his lost lap back and damage fixed, he began moving forward. Alas, off of Turn 2, Jimmie Johnson was moving backwards! He got loose and admittedly overcorrected, sending the car on an insane zigzag journey along the backstretch. With so much happening and so little time, David smashed right into the side of the defending Daytona 500 Champion. Several other cars were also collected, including Denny Hamlin. David would finish 40th.
DEI teammates Dale Jr. and Martin ran decently all day, although Junior later stated that the engines weren’t making enough power. It showed. When it came to crunch time in the closing laps, the #8 and #1 could not really make many moves. With only 4 to go, a huge wreck ensued when Matt Kenseth hit his own teammate Jamie McMurray a little to hard. McMurray hit the wall and triggered a domino effect behind him. Dale Jr. was running with Martin behind him when the crash started. This drafting is good until they all start spinning. As a result, both Junior and Martin were taken out in one fell swoop. Dale Jr. finished 32nd with terminal damage. Martin was able to limp it home to a 29th place finish.
Dale Jarrett had a good day. Not a great one, but good. He was never in contention and really seemed fine with riding around at the rear of the field. Although effort may seem to be lacking at first, in reality this saved him from the late-race wrecks, even the enormous one on the last lap of the green-white-checkered. He was the highest finishing Toyota, ending the day in 22nd. DJ’s website says he finished 23rd. Hmm.
Remember “the enormous one on the last lap”? Our last driver, Casey Mears, got taken out in that one. The wreck began just off of Turn 4. Now, it appears that Kyle Busch tagged the apron and got loose, but I noticed something more. Watch Matt Kenseth – he comes down very close to Kyle just before his back end came around. It may not have just been the quick transition in banking that caused Kyle to lose it.
But back to the wreck itself. Cars twisted and turned everywhere. Casey drove blindly – for there is really no other way in that situation – through it and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He hit Clint Bowyer broadside, causing the #07 to flip over and slide in the grass, even cross the finish line, on his roof! Thankfully for Clint, the grass was kind enough to flip him over again because the car had some flames leaping out from under the hood. Clint was able to get out of the car himself. Casey finished 20th – not too bad!
While the wreck happened behind them, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin battled to the end to be the Daytona 500 Champion. The caution never flew despite the crash, leading to a great finish. Kevin inched out Mark by .02 seconds! Of course, there was all kinds of controversy about NASCAR not throwing the yellow, saying that they wanted Harvick to win on the 6 year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s death. You know what I say to that? Bull! The race ended the way it should have – a race for the win! And if NASCAR had thrown the caution, people would complain that they gave it to Mark. Plain and simple, everyone that was in the wreck would have been in it whether the yellow was out or not.
Congrats to Kevin Harvick! He may get on my nerves from time to time, but he’s a good guy and deserved this win.
On to California. Qualifying for the NEXTEL Cup is only minutes away. It looks like it is going to be a very tough race to get in to. In practice, the star cars swapped speeds quicker than the commentators could broadcast them. It looks like we’ll only know everything when the qualifying session is over. We can only hope!
