NASCAR.com Power Rankings: Daytona/Kentucky

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Pat DeCola

Keselowski dominated the Daytona field to a tune of 115 laps led, rounding out his restrictor-plate prowess by collecting his first win at the Florida track.

MORE: Kes captures first Daytona win

Kevinharvick

-1

A big wreck took Harvick out of the race, saddled him with a 39th-place finish — and he still holds a standings lead of 14 points.

MORE: ‘Big One’ nets Harvick, others

Joeylogano

The third of four Fords in the top five, Logano is starting to put the pieces of a solid stretch together — unless the guy that used to drive his No. 22 has anything to say about it.

MORE: Logano’s thoughts on Busch contact

Kurtbusch

-2

In case you missed the reference in Logano’s capsule, this is the guy who used to drive his No. 22. And Busch is not happy.

MORE: Busch, Gibson have harsh words for Logano

Carledwards

-2

Edwards’ record at Kentucky is a mixed bag — as is a trend for a majority of Sprint Ciup drivers, it seems — but he does have two top fives at the track: his first race there — and his most recent.

KyleBusch

Busch had a four-race swoon after his Kansas win, but appears to be back on track after a runner-up finish at Daytona and a top 10 at Sonoma — plus he’s the defending race winner at Kentucky.

MORE: Busch back on track after bad streak

Martintruex jr

Sure, Truex only has two top 10s at Kentucky, but he’s never finished outside the top 20. Don’t expect a down night for the No. 78 driver.

JimmieJohnson

-1

Johnson and Jamie McMurray wrecked, landing 35th- and 34th-place finishes, respectively. They had a little chat about it after, but things didn’t get too heated — after all, they do have six championships between them.

MORE: Johnson, McMurray talk after wreck

ChaseElliott

Elliott has never raced at the Sprint Cup level at Kentucky, but he does have two top 10s in XFINITY Series competition.

DennyHamlin

Like several other drives, Hamlin has two top fives at Kentucky, with some other not-so-good results.

Mattkenseth

-1

Kenseth had a disappointing day at Daytona, but hey — at least he has a primary sponsor for 2017.

MORE: DeWalt extends with JGR, Kenseth

Kylelarson

Larson’s short career at Kentucky is not wonderful, with finishes of 40th and 35th. That said — he started first last year and started sixth in 2014.

AustinDillon

Dillon’s restrictor-plate success continued at Daytona and he’s now approaching the top 10 in points.

MORE: Dillon remains undaunted at Daytona

DaleEarnhardt Jr.

-1

Junior has — wait for it — two top fives at Kentucky. He did have the pole in 2013, which was his last pole on an intermediate track.

Ryannewman

-1

Stop me if you’ve heard this before — Newman has two top fives at Kentucky. It certainly seems like we’re going to see a mixed bag of drivers in the top 5 and top 10 this weekend.

Ryanblaney

With two wins at Kentucky in the XFINITY Series, one would think Blaney should excel in his first Sprint Cup start there.

Kaseykahne

-1

For the last six races, Kahne has alternated a top 10 with a non-top-10. If the trend holds, he’ll finish in the top 10 at Kentucky — as long as he stays out of the … 10’s … way.

MORE: Danica: I ‘definitely’ could take Kasey

Trevorbayne

Another solid race for Bayne at Daytona led what could be the beginning of a long overdue Roush renaissance.

MORE: Bayne leads banner day for Roush

Jamiemcmurray

-1

McMurray only has one top-10 finish at Kentucky in his career, but it was a runner-up performance.

Tonystewart

Stewart wrecked out of his final Daytona race, but managed to still move into the top 30 in points. Given his situation, that’s still a win.

MORE: Stewart wrecks in final Daytona race

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For the storied Penske Racing organization Brad Keselowski‘s victory in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola served as an important exclamation point — the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for legendary team owner Roger Penske.

As team officials and the night’s victor came into the Daytona International Speedway media center just after midnight, they donned specially designed black hats that sported a simple red number: 100.

Even for a team like Penske’s, which holds records across all forms of auto racing, Keselowski’s win at Daytona felt so significant.

“I would just say that the 100th in NASCAR is something special,” Penske said following the race. “To do it here on the Fourth of July weekend, it’s amazing. But it’s a byproduct of all the good people we have, and to me we’ve got to continue to remember that. I just think that (Keselowski crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and the team, we lose more than we win in this business, and you’ve got to know how to deal with the downs and take advantage of the ups. And I guess 100 wins puts us in a good position, but you look at (Joe) Gibbs and you look at (Richard) Childress and certainly (Rick) Hendrick, these guys have won a lot of races.

“I think we’ve competed in multiple series, and I think we’re almost at 450 wins now, and we’re I think three or four away from 500 poles. Our goal is 500 and 500. This was the first step to get to 100 in NASCAR.”

Eight drivers have contributed to Penske’s Sprint Cup win tally, from legends such as the late Mark Donohue (one) to NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison (four) and Rusty Wallace (37).

Penske’s current drivers Joey Logano (13) and 2012 Cup champion Keselowski (19) have already combined for four wins this season alone.

“The wins are never easy to come by, and I think this one means a lot to me for sure because looking at our past here, it hasn’t been all that rosy,” said Keselowski, whose win Saturday night was the team’s third on the Daytona high banks — Ryan Newman won the 50th anniversary version of the Daytona 500 in 2008 and Logano won the 2015 Daytona 500.

“I was telling Roger Penske when I was in Victory Lane and the fireworks were going off, usually I’m loading up the car and about to be to the airport, so it’s nice to be here and have a great finish.”

In addition to the historical significance of Keselowski’s Daytona victory, his new three-win tally for the season ties him with Kyle Busch for the most wins in 2016 and places him second in the Sprint Cup points standings and at the top of the Chase Grid.

“It’s a huge deal, 100 wins for Roger here at the Sprint Cup level,” Keselowski said. “I know his next goal will be 200. I’ll probably hear it tomorrow. Someone gave me a stat, over the last two or three years since Joey has been on board, between the two of us we’ve won 20 or 30 percent of all the races Penske has ever won in Cup, so we’re certainly in a great spot.

“But the captain, he likes to look forward, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Team Penske’s 100 wins

Driver	Numbers of wins
Rusty Wallace	37
Brad Keselowski	19
Joey Logano	13
Ryan Newman	13
Kurt Busch	10
Bobby Allison	4
Jeremy Mayfield	3
Mark Donohue	1

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Staff Report

RELATED: Watch the live stream here

From 8-11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, NASCAR.com will live stream the post-race inspection process at the Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

The three-hour look takes you behind the scenes as NASCAR officials inspect Sprint Cup Series vehicles following Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway.

The cars at the R&D Center this week are: the No. 2 Ford of Brad Keselowski (winner of Saturday’s race) and the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch (finished second in Saturday’s race).

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Nascar

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR XFINITY Series teams ran their last restrictor-plate race of the season Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.

On Sunday, three of those teams will return to the 2.5-mile speedway to work with NASCAR officials, testing potential changes in the cars that could lessen the tandem drafting that occurs when one car intentionally pushes another for an extended period of time, enabling the two to move more quickly through the field.

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with driver Daniel Suarez, the No. 22 of Team Penske with driver Ryan Blaney and the No. 33 of Brandon Jones (Richard Childress Racing) are scheduled to participate in the one-day test.

While NASCAR polices such incidents with a no-push rule, it’s one that has been scrutinized often in restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.

Instituted in 2014, the edict allows drivers to “bump-draft” or shove another car in an effort to pass others, but constant contact will draw a penalty from officials.

Officials are expected to look at several changes aimed at making the cars more similar to those in the Sprint Cup Series, where the front and rear of the cars don’t match up sufficiently to enable one car to push another effectively. Sprint Cup cars currently cannot run an extended number of laps without risking damage to the engine of the trailing car due to overheating.

Friday night’s race, won by Sprint Cup Series competitor Aric Almirola, was the 15th of 33 on this year’s schedule. The series’ inaugural Chase will consist of the final seven races of the season, and will begin at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 24.

Posted on July 3, 2016 by

Breaking down the full field for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway:

1. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. What a night for Keselowski and Team Penske. Total domination by Keselowski, who led 115 of 161 laps for his fifth restrictor-plate win but first at Daytona. Grade: A+

2. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch recovers from yet another hard crash at Daytona to score his series-best 10th top five of the season. Grade: A

3. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne avoided being collected in Tony Stewart‘s wreck to finish in the top five for the second time this season and third time in his career. You haven’t forgotten the first, have you? Grade: A

4. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. It was a tale of two pushes for Logano. Teammate Brad Keselowski loved his on the final restart; Kurt Busch had no love for Logano after he went from 2nd to sliding across the start-finish line in 23rd. Grade: A-

5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse came into the year with three career top-five finishes, one in each of the past three seasons. Now he has two in 2016. This also was his third top 10, equaling his total for all of 2015. Well done. Grade: A

6. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson’s finishes at Daytona this year: 7th and 6th. In his first four starts: 38th, 36th, 34th and 39th with three DNFs for crashes. Grade: A

7. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. In seven starts at Daytona, Dillon has five top-10 finishes. It’s only a matter of time before he puts the No. 3 in Victory Lane. Grade: A

8. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle started from the pole for the first time since 2012 and picked up his first top 10 since last September at New Hampshire. Nicely done. Grade: A

9. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. After his quick exit last week at Sonoma (five laps), Bowyer got his third top 10 of the season and led a lap for the first time in 2016. Grade: A+

10. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family. McDowell scored the third top 10 of his career (196 starts) and first since 2014. Oh … all three top 10s are at Daytona. Grade: A+

11. Cole Whitt, No. 98 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Witt just missed the first top 10 of his career (101 starts) but still posted his best finish. Grade: A+

12. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Despite being collected in Tony Stewart‘s wreck on Lap 149, Mears recovered for his best finish since finishing 11th in last year’s Coke Zero 400. Grade: A

13. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Allmendinger restarted 10th on Lap 155 and was running ninth when Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer came together, pinching Allmendinger high and he brushed the wall. That could have been disaster. Instead he cut his deficit to 16th place from 20 points to 12. Grade: A

14. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney was involved in the incidents that brought out the final two cautions but prevailed to post his best finish in three starts at Daytona. Grade: A-

15. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. One day after winning the Xfinity Series race, Almirola gets his best Cup finish since the second week of the season. Grade: A

16. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Yet another driver to post his best finish of the season. Grade: A

17. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes on the last caution, costing him a better finish. Grade: B-

18. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman’s car sustained damage in the Big One on Lap 90, but his crew fixed the nose of the No. 31 and Newman increased his cushion over 17th place to 26 points despite dropping a spot to 14th in the standings. Grade: B

19. David Gilliland, No. 35 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Gilliland avoided trouble and has now finished 17th (Talladega) and 19th in his only two starts of the season. Grade: A

20. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett was one of 22 drivers officially caught up in the big wreck. He also was one of the drivers to post his best finish of the season. Grade: A

21. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt sustained damage in the big wreck but survived and just missed the Carl Edwards wreck on Lap 155. Despite that good fortune, he was not happy with his car. We can’t print what said about it over the radio. You’ll have to trust us on this one. Grade: C

22. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. A familiar refrain: Sorenson posted his best finish of the season. In fact, it’s Sorenson’s best finish since Talladega in October 2014 (14th). Grade: A

23. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Not that Busch would have caught Brad Keselowski, but he was running second when Joey Logano turned Busch as the field approached the finish line. Busch’s 0-fer continues in restrictor plate races, but we give him some love on his grade. Grade: A

24. Bobby Labonte, No. 32 Ford, GO FAS Racing. Labonte was in line for an even better finish until he was collected in Carl Edwards‘ crash on Lap 155. Grade: B

25. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Edwards checked up when AJ Allmendinger touched the wall on Lap 155. Unfortunately Ryan Blaney couldn’t do the same and Edwards was turned into the wall. His eight laps led were third most in the race. Grade: B-

26. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. By design, Stewart ran in the back for most of the race and looked golden as he totally avoided the big wreck — he was running 34th — and found himself running sixth on Lap 149 and staring at a big points jump in the standings. Instead, he got loose in Turn 1, overcorrected and smacked the wall, ending his day. “Definitely my fault,” he said after the race. Still, because of the big wreck, he could finish no worse than 26th. And a 26th-place finish with a DNF was a gift. Grade: C

27. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Danica was caught up in the big wreck but returned to the track and finished 31 laps back. Grade: C

28. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Temptation got the better of Kenseth on Saturday night. A bad pit stop put the No. 20 in the back of the field, and he said that should have been a sign to stay back there. But when it appeared the racing had “settled down,” temptation wooed him forward. Right into the jaws of the Big One. Kenseth returned to the track and finished 34 laps back. Grade: C-

29. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. Truex also sustained damage in the Big One, and like his Toyota brethren Matt Kenseth, also returned to the track and finished 34 laps back. Grade: C

30. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. The Big One made Kahne a big loser. He went from 16th in the standings, with a three-point cushion over Ryan Blaney, to 18th in the standings, nine points behind 16th-place Jamie McMurray. It could have been worse, but the No. 5 team worked hard to get Kahne back on the track. Grade: C

31. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. An early electrical issue cost Cassill 42 laps in the garage, but to the team’s credit the car returned to the track and Cassill finished 31st rather than 40th. Grade: C-

32. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. The rookie is now 2-for-2 at Daytona. Two races, two wrecks. This one wasn’t his fault. The Big One did him in. Grade: C

33. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto also was collected in the Big One. He returned to the track and avoided a fifth DNF in his past eight starts. Grade: C

34. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. McMurray was at the epicenter of the Big One. He was running eighth when he came down the track and made just enough contact with the side of teammate Kyle Larson‘s No. 42 to cut his left tire. McMurray said that caused him to lose control of his car. Jimmie Johnson then tapped McMurray from behind, and just like that, half the field was in pieces. Grade: D

35. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. If you’re not skipping around, you just read Jamie McMurray and know what happened to Johnson. Saturday’s race was Jimmie’s second DNF 35th-place finish in the past four races (Pocono). Grade: C-

36. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Three words: The Big One. Grade: C

37. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Scott had the wildest ride of drivers caught up in the big wreck. His car ended up atop Kevin Harvick‘s Chevrolet. Grade: C

38. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Three words: See Paul Menard. Grade: C

39. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick spent a lot of time running in the back, looking to avoid the Big One. Turned out he didn’t stay back there long enough. Grade: C

40. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Buescher has three DNFs this season — in each of the three restrictor-plate races. Grade: C

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Holly Cain

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | Standings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Greg Biffle stood rather proudly alongside his hobbled and taped-up No. 16 Ford on Daytona International Speedway pit road following Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola. It was a night of perseverance for the whole Roush Fenway Racing three-car team, and in the end, everyone was smiling.

Top-10s all around.

2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne led the Roush squad with a third-place finish. Fourth-year full-time Sprint Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fifth and Biffle’s pole-winning car finished in eighth place.

It’s been two full years since Roush had a top-10 sweep, and watching and listening to the team’s drivers late Saturday night, they seem convinced there is more to come.

“To have a top-three finish today, it’s really a great day for us and a great day for Roush Fenway Racing and Ford,” Bayne said. “For our organization to be on the pole this weekend, to have three cars in the top eight, two in the top-five, I think that’s kind of a landmark for us as an organization with the struggles we’ve had to get all three teams running strong on a weekend like this.”

All the Roush cars were a little bumped and bruised on pit road post-race — a result of the hectic pace and frantic maneuvering so typical of restrictor-plate tracks. But they finished the quest as strongly as they started it.

“We had a really good car,” Biffle said standing next to his banged up Ford EcoBoost-sponsored Fusion. “Two or three cars were definitely faster, but we stayed up front there and just got shuffled out of line there. Lost track position and were just working our way back up and got caught up in that wreck. Accidents happen at these restrictor-plate tracks so we fought our way back up and finished eighth. Pretty impressive for a car damaged this much.

“We’re pretty happy. We definitely wanted to finish better than eighth and we wanted to do it differently than that, but we’re happy.”

It was the first top-10 finish of the season for Biffle, who won his first pole position since 2013.

It was the second top-five of the year for Stenhouse and third top-10 in a season where the former XFINITY Series champ feels genuinely encouraged. Not just about himself, but more importantly about the whole Roush Fenway organization.

“We had a chance to win and Trevor and Greg had a good run as well,” Stenhouse said. “Hopefully before (regular-season finale at) Richmond we can continue to get our cars better and finish up front, maybe win one of these.

“You’ve got to build on any race track it doesn’t matter where you go. We brought fast race cars. The whole shop did a great job of putting fast cars together and we did a good job of not tearing that car up and being able to work on it and bring it back to Talladega. Anytime you’re bringing fast cars to the race track it doesn’t matter if it’s a road course, mile-and-a-half, or superspeedway it builds confidence in the guys that they know what they’re doing and we’re going in the right direction.

“Everyone at the shop works that much harder and Jack (Roush) is a big part of that. He’s at the shop every week making sure everyone is working hard. It’s a fun organization to be a part of right now knowing we’re still making progress. We have a long way to go but it’s fun right now.”

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Nascar

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | Standings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kurt Busch had two laps to erase a career-winless streak in restrictor-plate races, but contact from Joey Logano sent the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion spinning through the grass on the final lap of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona international Speedway.

“We got hit hard from behind,” a composed Busch said after his shot at victory turned out to be a 23rd-place finish. “Our rear tires were off the ground and I don’t know where Logano wanted to go because he was going to go from fifth to first? There’s not a chance he had to win it.”

The fifth caution period of the race, brought out when Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Carl Edwards got into the wall on the frontstretch, set up a green, white, checkered finish, and when the field was reset for the start, Busch was second, alongside leader Brad Keselowski and trailed by Kyle Busch and Logano.

But a lap later and coming out of Turn 4 with the checkered flag in the air, Busch’s No. 41 Chevrolet suddenly turned left and slid across asphalt and eventually the infield grass after contact from Logano’s No. 22 Ford.

“I think that he made an aggressive mistake; you can’t go from fifth to first,” Busch said. “There’s just no shot at it. It’s a shame that we ended up spun around and wrecked. We could have come out of here with the points lead.”

Crew chief Tony Gibson said he felt his team had a shot at the win as the final laps began to play out. “We had a fast car; it was there,” the veteran crew chief said, watching as crewmen cut away the car’s damaged front end.

He didn’t seem surprised, though, that there was hard contact from the Team Penske driver.

“I don’t know. Logano races people like that,” he said. “That’s why he’ll never win a championship. He keeps pissing people off like that he’s never going to win, you know? It’s just stupid. Stupidity.”

Stupid is as stupid does!!! #22

— Tony Gibson (@TonyOldman41)
July 3, 2016

Busch had few choices as far as drafting partners in the closing laps; Gibson said that wasn’t an issue.

“I think at the end of the day if you have a fast car you’re going to have help,” he said. “The problem was Logano sees he has a chance to outrun his teammate so he’s going to wreck you to (do that). … It’s just a shame.”

Keselowski collected the victory, the 100th in NASCAR’s premier series for team owner Roger Penske. He led 115 laps of the race, which was extended one additional lap (from 160 to 161) by the final caution.

Logano finished fourth and called the incident “a product” of restrictor-plate racing. His contact with Busch was far from the only incident on the night. earlier cautions involved four or more cars, including one incident that collected 22 entries.

“I hate that I got into Kurt there at the end racing to the line,” Logano said. “I had a run to turn up underneath him and when you do that the cars get free and then I was there and he tried to catch it and I was there again.

“It is a product of this racing but I hate that it happened. The last thing I want to do is hit someone like that. Unfortunately, it happened.”

Penske, the car owner, said his driver “has taken … some undue criticism from my perspective based on some of the things that have happened.

“Certainly you can go back, and I can name three or four things that certainly weren’t his fault.

“Honestly, I think he’s one of the best drivers on the race track day in and day out, and sure, people make mistakes. … As far as I’m concerned, I’m behind him 300 percent, and I’ll talk to Kurt; he didn’t do it on purpose. It could have been a big mess down there tonight, too, and at the end of the day, that’s racing as far as I’m concerned.”

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After a relatively calm start to Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the “Big One” came just after the race’s midpoint when more than half the field was caught up in a chain-reaction accident in Turn 1 involving many race favorites.

Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott and polesitter Greg Biffle were among those involved in the 22-car accident on Lap 89 of the 160-lap race. Several of the cars were so badly damaged they couldn’t return to competition.

McMurray’s Chip Ganassi Racing crew was among those working feverishly to repair his No. 1 Chevy so it could at least collect points to help him contend for a top-16 position in the Chase postseason scenario. He finished 34th.

His car was involved in the incident that triggered the chain-reaction accident. McMurray and Johnson had a private conversation about the incident outside the infield care center once the two were checked out and cleared medically; both said individually that they were trying to assess exactly what happened.

“I only saw one replay but it looked like the 48 got into my left rear quarter panel and it shot me down the track and I got into the 42 and I just didn’t have any control of the car,” McMurray said from the garage while his team worked on his car.

“I got the car straight and thought I was just going to just lose my momentum, but the 48 ended up hooking me again and sending me into the outside wall.

“First off, no one really knows what happened. You have to look at the replay because it happens so quick out there. Jimmie just asked me what I thought happened.”

Johnson said he was still trying to figure out what exactly happened and wanted to see video of the accident. Nonetheless, it was frustrating after he had worked his way into the top 10.

“The 1 (McMurray) car was on the outside lane and came across my nose and got to the 42 (Kyle Larson) a little bit and we were all straight and fine, but they slowed up more than I could and my momentum carried me back into the back of 1 and around we went,” said six-time Cup champ Johnson.

“Just hard racing, the cars are slipping and sliding a lot, the race track is aging, the handling is becoming an issue. I’m excited about that and think it’s going to put on a good race, but those slips turned into a big crash for everybody. We were in a big wad.”

It was a rough outcome for so many contending cars — several like Johnson’s and Harvick’s were loaded onto the team transporters unable to continue. Others returned to the track to finish the race multiple laps down.

“Just a bunch of cars crashing — pretty much that was it,” said Matt Kenseth, whose No. 20 DeWalt Toyota was among the wrecked cars. He returned to the race, however, 34 laps off the pace to finish 28th.

“I was just trying to make my way back toward the front a little bit there. We had a bad pit-stop exchange and came out way, way behind everybody.

“Carl (Edwards) was up toward the front and we were running with him before the pit stop. I probably should have just hung in the back, hindsight, but who knows when they’re going to wreck, you never know if they’re going to wreck. Just trying to get back toward the front and there was a wreck somewhere a few rows up in front of me and just nowhere really to go.”

Championship points leader Harvick suffered a 39th-place finish — his worst result of the season. He’s only finished out of the top 10 four times this season, and his previous worst showing was 17th at Martinsville, Virginia. This is Harvick’s first DNF (Did Not Finish) of the year.

“You really think it is going to happen from Lap 1,” Harvick said of the “Big One.” “It is hard to make ground, so you have to be pretty aggressive when you start making ground.

“Just kind of riding there just maintaining until that next pit stop so we could get my car off the ground and then really start being aggressive. I really couldn’t be aggressive and unfortunately I was in the back of that front pack and ended up getting in the wreck.”

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Staff Report

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Posted on July 2, 2016 by Staff Report

Tony Stewart wrecked with 12 laps remaining in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, but the night ended with good news for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver and co-owner.

In an event that led to the race’s fourth caution, Stewart got loose and smacked the outside wall. He was running fifth at the time, but had to bring his ride to the garage, where he confirmed a tire didn’t go down — it was driver error.

“Got loose into (Turn) 1 there,” Stewart told NBC. “Hadn’t been loose all day, but I got loose there and then over-corrected for it and drove it in the fence. So definitely my fault.”

The good news? Due to an earlier wreck that took out other drivers near him in the standings, Stewart actually climbed two spots and sits 30th in points. With his win at Sonoma last week, he now is in the provisional Chase Grid by virtue of his victory and being in the top 30.