Nationwide Series gets first taste of double-file restarts

By Sporting News Wire Service
July 3, 2009
02:25 PM EDT

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Kyle Busch endorses the Nationwide Series using double-file restarts for the first time Friday in the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

"Daytona is a good place to do it since there is less chance of having trouble on the starts since it takes a little bit for us to get up to speed there and there are multiple grooves," Busch said. "It was good for NASCAR to wait until Cup and Nationwide were together on the same weekend again.

"When we go to the Truck events or the Nationwide stand-alone events, they don't have all the personnel there that they need in order to keep up with that stuff. When we have [Mike] Helton, [John] Darby and David Hoots [all NASCAR officials] here -- those guys know what they're doing pretty good. They can fix stuff right away."

Busch has an outstanding record in the past four Nationwide races at Daytona. He won the July race in 2007, finished second twice in 2008 and was fourth in the season opener in February.

Busch's victory at New Hampshire last week was his fifth of the season and boosted his championship lead to 162 points over Carl Edwards. In the past four races, Busch has two victories and two runner-up finishes.

Edwards likes the double-file restarts but would like to see them modified to allow the leader a slight advantage.

"I think it's great, but I do think they have to do something to give the leader his own row," Edwards said. "It's just not right that a guy goes all the way up there and leads the race and has a 5-second lead or something and now he has to start right next to someone. He's the leader ... he shouldn't have to line up against somebody."

Edwards was second to Tony Stewart by .068 seconds at Daytona in February. It was his best finish in nine series starts at the track.

Jason Leffler, fourth in the points, thinks the double-file restarts will make for better racing in the series.

"The double-file restarts are going to bring a lot of excitement to the Nationwide Series," Leffler said. "It's going to allow us the opportunity to race for position, instead of spending time trying to get by a lap-down car. There will be times that you feel like it hurts you, but more often than not, I think it will be viewed as a benefit. I'm really excited about it, and I think the fans are going to love it."

In addition to Busch and Edwards, other Sprint Cup regulars entered are Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, David Gilliland and Michael Waltrip.

Nationwide Show

John Wes Townley shares everything from his favorite track, to his favorite band.

THREE TO WATCH

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 5: Earnhardt is making his sixth of seven scheduled starts in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Junior has five Nationwide wins at Daytona, the most among active drivers. No. 1? His dad, who had seven. Earnhardt's last win was in July 2006. He finished seventh in February.

Matt Kenseth, No. 16: Of drivers with at least 10 starts, Kenseth has the best average finish of 5.1. He has nine top-10s in 10 starts (his other finish was 12th). Kenseth's lone win, by the way, came in a Chevrolet in 2000.

Kevin Harvick, No. 33: Harvick is No. 1 all time in top-fives (10) and top-10s (11). He has one win in 14 starts. Interestingly, his top-10s were all in his first 11 races at the track while driving for Richard Childress. In his three starts in his own Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33, Harvick's finishes are 21st, 12th and 11th.

TRACK CHATTER

Justin Allgaier: "You have to be patient and survive until the final third of the race and then start to make your move. The cars really bounce around a lot down there so you have to have a setup that is both fast, but also gives your car the ability to handle. The differences between this race and the event in [February] are the temperature. It is going to be hot and slick. There is going to be significantly less grip which means everyone is going to be sliding around a lot more."

Mike Kelley, crew chief for David Ragan: "The July race is a lot different than the February one; handling is the most important thing we will work on. The driver who can keep it wide open on the bottom of the race track is the one you will have to beat."

• Subway Jalapeno 250: Practice 1 | Practice 2