Chat with fans during the season-opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
Practice 3: Results
Ty Dillon was once again back on top in the third and final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice on Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
The Richard Childress Racing driver paced the final session at 182.113 mph to best the field, hitting the mark on his fifth and final lap. Ray Black Jr. was next on the charts at 181.207 mph, followed by Jeb Burton (181.127 mph), Joey Gase (180.411 mph) and Darrell Wallace Jr. (179.802 mph) to round out the top five.
Midway through the session, Wallace’s No. 6 team was forced to swap out the transmission in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford backup car.
The red flag was also displayed in the session, as Derek White had a mechanical problem in Turn 2 that dropped fluid on the track.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series hits the track again for Coors Light Pole Award qualifying at 10 a.m. ET Saturday on FS1, followed by the season-opening PowerShares QQQ 300 at 3:30 p.m. ET, also on FS1.
Practice 2: Results
David Starr topped the second of three NASCAR XFINITY Series practices Friday at Daytona International Speedway.
Speeds dipped significantly in the afternoon session, with Starr’s 183.516-mph clip well off the pace that Ty Dillon (192.526 mph) set in the opening practice.
Dillon’s teammate, Brandon Jones, was next on the charts at 183.109 mph, followed by Joe Nemechek (183.035 mph), Ryan Preece (182.964 mph) and Benny Gordon (182.426 mph).
Erik Jones made a mock qualifying run in his only lap of the session, pulling in ninth at 180.567 mph.
Practice 1: Results
Ty Dillon paced the opening NASCAR XFINITY Series practice of 2016 on Friday morning at Daytona International Speedway.
Dillon, one of the favorites to win the 2016 series title, bested the field with a top speed of 192.526 mph, achieved on his eighth of 16 laps.
Blake Koch was next on the charts at 191.963 mph, followed by Dillon’s brother and Sprint Cup Series regular, Austin, at 191.910 mph. A pair of Cup regulars followed in Kasey Kahne (190.034 mph) and reigning Daytona 500 champ Joey Logano (190.002 mph).
The practice session was halted early after Darrell Wallace Jr. was turned by the No. 98 of Aric Almirola, sending his No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford down onto the apron and then up into the outside retaining wall.
MORE: Early practice wreck forces Bubba Wallace to backup
“It’s just a bummer, but excited to be here. just trying to be a better pack racer,” Wallace told FS1 after the wreck. “I don’t know if I came down on him or he just got into me.
“If this is a sign of getting (wrecking) out of the way early, I’m an advocate of that.”
Final practice is at 3 p.m. ET, with Saturday’s season-opening race seeing the green flag at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Follow all the coverage on FS1 and keep track on NASCAR.com’s Live Leaderboard.
RELATED: Full race results
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ new caution clock rule came into play for the first time in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
Sort of.
The NASCAR rule — new this season for the truck tour — mandates that the yellow flag fly if a caution period hasn’t slowed the event after 20 minutes of green-flag racing. During Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250, it meant teams were watching not only the lap counter but also the new caution clock.
After the timer’s debut, teams may also be watching for possible rules tweaks.
With less than 20 seconds remaining before the clock was set to expire, a handful of teams scrambled to dive to pit road on Lap 42. The strategy would have given the early birds track position over the drivers who stopped during the impending caution.
But several trucks made contact trying to slow for the pit entrance, sending Cody Coughlin and Spencer Gallagher spinning. Coughlin smacked the inside retaining wall. Gallagher looped his truck and collided with the pitting truck of Christopher Bell, before nosing into the infield grass. As a result, the 100-lap race’s third yellow flag — with 11 seconds remaining on the caution clock timer — went into the race’s statistics as a naturally occurring caution period.
Gallagher, who wound up 21st in the 32-truck field, suggested that competition officials close pit road at a certain point before the clock is set to expire to prevent a recurrence. NASCAR race procedure is to close pit road shortly before a competition caution period begins.
“I’m going to be real forthright about it,” Gallagher told NASCAR.com. “NASCAR needs to add some kind of shutdown to pit road. I’d say probably even around five minutes before the caution clock is due to hit, just because of that exact reason it happened. It just invites too much gamesmanship with making a green-flag stop and trying to outsmart everyone else. That’s what happens. Things get way too crazy.”
One driver who just missed the carnage was race winner Johnny Sauter, Gallagher’s teammate at GMS Racing. Sauter was making his entry to pit road as the bedlam erupted behind him; his No. 21 truck just missed being part of the stack-up.
“I knew it was going to be chaos, and I really thought about making the call of pitting the lap before that so we wouldn’t be in all that,” Sauter said after securing the 11th victory of his truck series career. “I really think it’s going to — I wish they could close pit road a couple, three minutes before the caution clock comes out so we don’t have this problem every week at these other racetracks, Texas, Michigan. It’ll make it so much nicer.
“I know we want to make it interesting for the fans, but we don’t want to have tore‑up race trucks like we did tonight on a pit stop.”
Third-place finisher Parker Kligerman, making his first truck start since 2014, attributed part of the frenzy to the lack of hand signaling from high amount of rookie drivers making their first superspeedway appearances. Protocol at restrictor-plate tracks calls for drivers to indicate on the backstretch that they intend to pit.
Runner-up Ryan Truex seconded Kligerman’s thoughts, saying that he had little indication that so many trucks would be pitting. But he also said he welcomed the provision in the rules change that turns the caution clock off for the final 20 laps.
“I think it’s different. It spices it up a little bit,” Truex said after his career-best truck result. “I’m glad that we got rid of it at the end there and got to run 15 laps straight or whatever it was, 10 laps straight.”
No other green-flag run in the 100-lap race came close to the caution clock’s 20-minute limit.
RELATED: Race results | Updated series standings
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With the No. 4 Toyota of Christopher Bell barrel-rolling through Turn 1 behind him, Johnny Sauter nosed ahead in his No. 21 Chevrolet and had more than a car-length lead when NASCAR called the final caution of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
With the victory, Sauter is all but guaranteed a spot in the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, a seven-race playoff modeled after the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
But Sauter needed a push from Bell to take the lead, moments before contact with the No. 17 Toyota of Timothy Peters launched the No. 4 and sent it rolling in as part of a 10-truck accident. Ryan Truex ran second, followed by Parker Kligerman, Brandon Brown and Tyler Young, as attrition eliminated some of the strongest trucks in the field.
RELATED: ‘Big One’ collects multiple trucks | ‘Big One’ strikes again
The victory was the first for Chevrolet in 17 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Daytona. It was Sauter’s 11th win in the series in his first start in the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevy and his first race with crew chief Marcus Richmond.
“I just had this feeling that our truck was so good yesterday that, if I didn’t make any mistakes, we were going to have a shot at this,” Sauter said. “And Marcus did a phenomenal job calling the race… This is unbelievable.
“I’m so pumped to be the first guy to get to Victory Lane here. GMS — I mean, what can I say? This is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
A colossal wreck on Lap 93 involved more than half the 32-truck field and eliminated some of the strongest competitors from contention, including Austin Theriault (who had led a race-high 31 laps), polesitter Grant Enfinger, two-time series champion Matt Crafton, defending race winner Tyler Reddick, Canadian Cameron Hayley and Mexican star Daniel Suarez.
NASCAR red-flagged the race for 27 minutes, 54 seconds for track cleanup. When the trucks began rolling again, Truex was in the lead, followed by Sauter and Peters, for a restart on Lap 98. Truex and Sauter battled side-by-side until Bell pushed Sauter to the lead after the trucks took the white flag.
“The 4 truck, thanks for the push,” Sauter said. “He was pushing me. I was sideways. We lost momentum there, and I thought we were all going to crash. The next thing I knew he was pushing me again and bumping me, and it all worked out.”
Note: After the race, Bell was transported to a local medical facility for further examination and observation. At 1 a.m. ET Saturday, Kyle Busch Motorsports tweeted a press release that stated Bell had been evaluated and released. No specifics about his condition were available, but Bell was able to climb from his car and walk to a waiting ambulance–standard protocol after any wreck.
READ MORE: NCWTS shifts to Chase elimination format
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — At heart, we’re all racers.
That’s the crux of NASCAR’s massive marketing and social media platform surrounding Sunday’s Daytona 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), one that includes activation on Twitter and Snapchat and gives fans a chance to win prized race-used memorabilia by “racing” each other in the Hashtag 500.
In an integrated marketing campaign titled Ready.Set.Race, combining television creative and social engagement, NASCAR seeks to highlight the racers in all of us.
“When you’re a kid riding a bike and racing the other kids in the neighborhood,” says Jill Gregory, NASCAR senior vice president, marketing and industry services. “Or when you’re at the gym on the treadmill, and you’re trying to secretly race the person next to you.
“To us, all that just reinforces that love of racing, and what better way to get your racing fix than watching or attending a NASCAR race. We’re absolutely focused on that in our television creative, but this digital and social component, where we’re encouraging fans to race each other during one of our events, is a new and innovative way to make that love of racing come to life.”
MORE: Race-day experience elevated with Snapchat partnership
During the Daytona 500, fans wishing to compete for race-used memorabilia must watch the FOX broadcast (pre-race coverage starts at noon ET) and follow @NASCAR on Twitter to receive a custom hashtag for each of 10 memorabilia items.
Once each hashtag is unveiled, the 500th person to tweet that hashtag in concert with #DAYTONA500 will win that race and the prize that goes with it.
That’s not the only aspect of Twitter’s expanded support around the Great American Race. Other activations will include the use of Vine and Periscope; Twitter Moments; @NASCAR tweets featuring such celebrities as John Cena, Florida Georgia Line and Ken Griffey Jr.; Twitter Mirror, a tablet based application where celebrities pose for their own photos; and infield branding in Daytona International Speedway.
RELATED: Exclusive Daytona content via Twitter
To help tell the story of what it’s like to attend a NASCAR race, Snapchat will at least double its Live Story coverage of NASCAR events in 2016, beginning with Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“(There will be) a curated stream of photos and videos submitted by fans at the race, and Snapchat will provide people outside the race track and outside the sport an inside look at what NASCAR’s all about.”
The thousands of submitted Snaps from each event will be curated and packaged by Snapchat into a video stream that is shared globally with Snapchat’s more than 100 million daily active users right on their mobile devices. Each NASCAR Live Story will be available to view on Snapchat for 24 hours.
Facilitating the social media engagement is the recently completed $400-million Daytona Rising project, which transformed the Birthplace of Speed into the first true motorsports stadium. One of the many benefits of Daytona Rising includes enhanced WiFi capability designed to heighten social media engagement of fans at the races.
In addition, broadcast partner FOX is asking fans to submit video content from Daytona 500 week for inclusion in a crowd-sourced documentary titled “100,000 Cameras,” to air on FS1 in late February.
NASCAR also offers a full range of digital and mobile products offering fans everything from in-car cameras to driver audio to social feeds and fantasy scoring. RaceView, for example, provides a 3-D representation of every car and track, real-time driver stats and multiple viewing angles for each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in real-time.
Last year, NASCAR set a record with 1.1 billion page views across its NASCAR.com website and digital platforms, a 20-percent increase over 2014.
“We know that our core fans are engaged quite a bit with these (social and digital) platforms, and we know younger, more diverse fans are users of these platforms,” Gregory says. “So for us it’s a win/win, because fans across all our segments have a way to engage with NASCAR.”
BRISTOL, Conn. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. just wanted some sushi.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Earnhardt. It’s President’s Day and we don’t have a full kitchen staff working today, which means we don’t have any sushi.”
The bearer of bad news almost prepared for the backlash surely to come with telling NASCAR’s most famous face — to his face — that he traveled all the way to single-digit Connecticut from balmy Daytona Beach, only to have his pre-arranged meal of choice be off the plate, literally.
“Oh, no worries at all,” said Earnhardt. “Maybe something healthy? Like a salad or something? With chicken?”
It’s easy to look at his last name and point to that as the sole reason why Earnhardt is the NMPA Sprint Most Popular Driver 13 years running — and that doesn’t hurt his chances — but it’s that down-to-earth, regular-dude accessibility that fans find so appealing about the 41-year-old. That guy in the Wrangler commercials wearing a T-shirt and jeans, tossing a football around at a cookout? Yeah, that’s actually him.
So it came as no surprise to see Junior acting like a kid in a candy store on Monday at ESPN HQ promoting the Daytona 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the Road to Daytona campaign, making the television and radio rounds (colloquially known as the “car wash”) and stopping to take pictures or chat with every ESPN personality or former athlete he brushed shoulders with in the frantic hallways of the sprawling campus.
Original sign @espn ….�� very cool pic.twitter.com/0ZlvA3GKHa
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) February 15, 2016
He even FaceTimed fiancée Amy Reimann to show her how “cool” the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy blue-themed SportsCenter set was and to tell her how much fun he was having — minutes before a sit-down conversation with anchor Lindsay Czarniak — like we all would.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. FaceTiming with Amy Reimann on the set of “SportsCenter.”
“It’s always fun to come to ESPN to do the car wash. I didn’t like it when I first heard about it, because it sounds like a lot of work, but I came up here for the first time (years ago) and it’s like … when they call it a ‘campus,’ I don’t even know if that word does it justice,” said Earnhardt, who will kick off his 17th full-time Sprint Cup Series season on Sunday. “You get to walk around and actually be on all these shows that you see every day and you see the random people walking around the hallways; the ESPN stars just walking the halls and you want to take a picture with them and it’s a lot of fun.
“It actually ended up being a really good time that first car wash, so every time they talk about me doing the car wash, man it’s something I reach out and grab.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. with former NBA player Jalen Rose.
“It’s cold, weather’s not great but we’re inside and it’s comfortable and it’s been fun. They’re always doing new things here and everybody’s super nice so it’s always a great experience.”
Of course it was a great experience. After last month’s Charlotte Media Tour and Tuesday’s Daytona Media Day, it’s fair to say Earnhardt is a little talked out — at least when it comes to racing — and just wants to hit the track.
But he’s always game to chat about one of his other loves: the Washington Redskins.
And chat he did.
Between his 10:30 a.m. ET appearance on SportsCenter and his 3:40 p.m. ET taping for the 6 p.m. edition, Earnhardt squeezed in another seven appearances on ESPN programming — along with filming a few SportsCenter originals, one in which he pretends to be a bus-driving security guard — ranging from the debate formats of “First Take” and and “His & Hers” to the “Fantasy Football Focus Show” podcast with Matthew Berry and Field Yates.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. debated Washington Redskins with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith on “First Take.” (Photo courtesy of ESPN)
He was asked about his favorite NFL franchise on nearly all of them, answering questions like “Wait, why aren’t you a Carolina Panthers fan?,” “What the heck happened with Robert Griffin III?,” and “What should they do with quarterback Kirk Cousins — slap the franchise tag him, sign him to a long-term deal or let him walk?”
And he knocked them all out of the park, clearly impressing all of the hosts with his knowledge and insight of another sport, while maintaining his focus and preparation to be among the top competitors in another of America’s favorite pastimes.
(He thinks the ‘Skins and Cousins both need to make concessions and meet in the middle for a long-term contract, by the way).
One of the coolest moments of the day came a few minutes before Junior went live with Michael Smith and Jemele Hill on the set of “His & Hers.” Smith, a longtime ESPN mainstay (you’ve likely seen him on “Around the Horn'”) told Earnhardt how he met him sometime around 2002 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, when Smith was a fresh-faced 22-year-old reporting for the Boston Globe, and how nice the then-Dale Earnhardt Incorporated driver was to him.
Junior remembered.
It was just a “sliver of a memory,” but when you consider this was during the height of Junior Mania (let’s be honest — it’s still the height of Junior Mania) and the thousands upon thousands of people he’s met and shared moments with since, a sliver is still impressive.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the set of “His & Hers” with hosts Michael Smith and Jemele Hill.
“‘His & Hers’ was good. I hate to play favorites. I was excited about ‘His & Hers’ because I had seen that show and I like the debate like ‘First Take,’ and I had done ‘First Take’ before, and it’s good to see Stephen A. (Smith) and those guys, but man, they are so serious,” Earnhardt said. “When the cameras are off, it’s like ‘OK, see ya. Good job.’ But ‘His & Hers’ is a nice, clean debate. It’s friendly and their personalities are really good. I like that. There’s something about their debate where you can tell it’s coming from the heart, instead of ‘How can I sound one way or the other?’ ”
So, Earnhardt spent the whole day promoting the Daytona 500, getting people pumped for the “Great American Race.”
But does it get his own juices flowing?
“It’s kind of fun, because there’s this … you get fired up, I guess. More so about the season as a whole. The race is the race. We’ll be there. It’s coming Sunday whether I like it or not,” Earnhardt said. “But when we come up to ESPN and we’re doing this kind of stuff, this is the kind of stuff that typically lets you know that the season’s getting started. It’s finally here.
“The season’s like Christmas. In a sense that when Christmas gets here, we all say, ‘I can’t believe Christmas is here! God, I can’t believe it’s here. It’s already here.’ And that’s the way the season sneaks right up on you. The Daytona 500 is one thing, but that whole 36-race schedule is another monster. You’re like, ‘Well, we’re doing this. It’s here. It’s starting. It’s real. Playtime’s over. All that fun we had in January is coming to an end.'”
Drivers, start your engines. It’s almost Christmas.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Have you ever wondered what it is like to drive on the track at the famed Daytona International Speedway? If you buy a new Chevrolet, your dealer will be able to offer you that opportunity.
Chevrolet and DIS today announced an exclusive delivery experience at the Speedway. This extra cost option will be available later this year through U.S. Chevrolet dealers on select new vehicle orders. While details are still being finalized, customers who order the option can expect:
• A tour of Daytona International Speedway
• An on-track driving experience
• A keepsake to commemorate the experience
• Authentication that the vehicle was delivered and driven at the Speedway
“Chevrolet is committed to offering our customers the best overall vehicle ownership experience possible – starting with the most technologically advanced and most dynamic vehicles in the brands history,” said Alan Batey, president of General Motors North America and leader of Global Chevrolet. “Beyond the vehicle, we are determined to deliver exceptional service through our dealers and unique experiences that only Chevrolet can offer, like driving your first miles in your new vehicle at the famed Daytona International Speedway.”
The Chevrolet Delivery Center at DIS will be located in the infield adjacent to Gatorade Victory Lane and will have the familiar appearance of a neighborhood Chevrolet dealership. Customers will choose the option to have their vehicle delivered at DIS during the ordering process. Pricing will be available at a later date.
“The Chevrolet Delivery Center is the type of elevated experience that guests visiting Daytona International Speedway come to expect,” Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III said. “This new offering complements the enhancements already made to the ‘World Center of Racing’ through the $400 million DAYTONA Rising redevelopment project. We’re looking forward to witnessing that first delivery later this year.”
Chevrolet already offers Corvette customers the option to have their vehicle delivered at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. The Museum Delivery option includes a private tour of the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant, home of the Corvette, and the National Corvette Museum. The owner then takes delivery of their new Corvette from the museum showroom, where their own car is on display. The delivery process includes a personalized demonstration of their Corvette’s features, broadcast around the world via live webcam 24 hours a day. The Corvette Museum Delivery option is $990.
DAYTONA Rising
Chevrolet is a Founding Partner at DIS as part of its DAYTONA Rising redevelopment project.
The historic $400 million DAYTONA Rising project, encompassing the Speedway’s nearly one-mile long frontstretch, recently debuted during the Rolex 24 At Daytona where Chevrolet’s Corvette Racing team took first and second in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Class. DAYTONA Rising has transformed DIS into the world’s first motorsports stadium, with premium amenities and attractions.
The multi-year agreement provides Chevrolet with naming rights for one of five fan injectors. The massive, new and redesigned entry includes more than 20,000 square feet of Chevrolet new vehicle displays and a fan engagement experience that vertically spans three concourse levels.
Additionally, Chevrolet is an official partner of “The Great American Race,” the DAYTONA 500®, and will receive Official Pace Car rights in select years beginning in 2017.
“Chevrolet’s commitment to racing originated more than a century ago with Louis Chevrolet and remains strong today as we solidify our presence at the ‘World Center of Racing’ by partnering with International Speedway Corporation, Daytona International Speedway and the DAYTONA Rising project,” Batey said.
MORE: Full starting lineup for 500
RELATED: Can-Am Duel 1 results | Photos from Duels
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott‘s first taste of Daytona 500 qualifying racing Thursday night ended well with the 20-year-old rookie securing a sixth-place finish in the first of two Can-Am Duel events.
The Daytona 500 pole-winner led the first two laps of the race before eventual race winner — and Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate — Dale Earnhardt Jr. took control leading all but 27 of the 60 laps.
Elliott expected it would be a learning experience — a high speed lesson in speedway drafting with the big kids. And it certainly proved to be.
“Just a lot of things learned for me, got into a few positions, had a few things happen that I should have stopped before they did happen,” Elliott said. “The top was pretty dominant, I feel like whatever lane Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) was in, was moving forward fast. He does a good job working the air and that was something I struggled with.”
Elliott spoke at length with his crew on pit road after climbing out of his No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet after the race. This year’s version of Speedweeks is simultaneously a learning experience and a high-profile opportunity for the promising young talent.
Elliott, son of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott, has taken over the driver’s seat of just-retired Jeff Gordon‘s famed No. 24 Chevrolet. He was well aware many eyes were on him for that reason. After becoming the youngest Daytona pole-sitter in history this past weekend, the expectations are high for the rookie.
RELATED: Bill finds joy in Chase’s rise in NASCAR
None higher, however, than Elliott’s own. Standing on pit road after the race he was still scrutinizing his performance, and speaking about learning opportunities.
“We’ve got to be aggressive with the side-draft and keeping guys pinned down at times,” Elliott explained of the lessons he learned Thursday night. “It’s just being mindful of which lane is forming up ahead of time and the good guys make that happen and recognize that.
“We have some areas I know we need to work on and some things I need to recognize before they happen and the good guys do that so I’ve got to learn.
“But,” he said turning around and looking at his unscathed Chevrolet, “the car’s in one piece. Just got to take it and try to correct things.”
In addition to working with his teammates on the track, Elliott’s six-time champion HMS teammate Jimmie Johnson was on the radio and stood on the pit road stand, offering assistance to his first-year Cup teammate.
“Jimmie’s up here; he says just make sure you block the middle,” Elliott was told at one point.
His veteran spotter, Eddie D’Hondt, was mindful of guiding the rookie too.
“The tough part here is you just don’t want to ever lose this draft. Just keep that in mind,” D’Hondt told Elliott early in the event, adding a couple laps later, “So right here you’re always in looking your mirror looking to block the middle. See what Kasey did ahead of you was try to side-draft Dillon. What we want to watch here is that not all of your help here bails and goes to the top and you get conga again. But they’re not.”
Another Elliott teammate, the race winner Earnhardt, made a point to speak with the rookie before the race began and told him, “I’m not going to be helping you tonight and don’t help me, don’t worry about where I’m at.
“Do everything you can to keep the lead, don’t give the lead up. …You’ve just got to be selfish.”
RELATED: Junior wins Can-Am Duel No. 1
Elliott said he looked forward to getting together with the group for a post-race review, but was encouraged overall and eager to put the lessons learned to use in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“The car’s in one piece and we were able to bring it back all in one piece and that was a goal in itself,” Elliott said. “That experience gained tonight was the most important thing and I feel good about that and I know there are some things I need to do differently an just correct for Sunday.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Sitting in a director’s chair looking noticeably fit and unmistakably eager, Greg Biffle smiled often while answering questions from reporters about his expectations of his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford team in 2016.
He was as upbeat as he’s sounded in years. And there is plenty of good reason.
Every driver does his best to be optimistic leading into the start of the season, but Biffle seemed and sounded — and frankly sold everyone — on a redemption year coming.
He’s got a new crew chief, Brian Pattie, who previously worked at Michael Waltrip Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. NASCAR has a new rules package that Biffle likes, and his Roush Fenway Racing team has invested in a wide assortment of new engineers. It feels like a fresh start.
RELATED: More about Roush Fenway
So sitting up straight in his chair and making direct eye contact with those asking the questions, Biffle explained why he was more confident in the 2016 season than he has felt in years.
“I felt (winning the championship in) 2005 was a missed opportunity and two or three years proceeding that definitely was,” Biffle said. “You want to be in position to win and I do feel like we’re getting back to that now.
“You need some extraordinary circumstance in order to create that opportunity. A rule change, a change in body of the car, change in your organization — a re-organization and we sort of have all three of those going into 2016.
“We’ve got a new nose on the car, new crew chief, new car chief, new engineering, we’ve added people to the air department and a new rules package which proved better for all our cars not just me. We needed something like that to reignite our opportunity.”
Biffle will have plenty of opportunity this week to begin a year of vindication. He was a top-10 driver in the three practice sessions he participated in, including third fastest in the third practice on Wednesday.
He qualified 20th during front-row time trials last Sunday in the No. 16 KFC Nashville Hot Ford, and would have started 11th in Thursday night’s first Can-Am Duel. But instead, he will actually have to start his Ford last in the field serving a penalty for changing a rear gear during Wednesday practice.
In past years, that would probably have meant a headshake and a “not again,” comment, but Biffle — at 46 the oldest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars — remains confident and optimistic. Asked about retirement and Biffle only smiled and shook his head. It’s not in the plans yet he insisted. There’s a title to win still.
All it takes is one victory to earn a position in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and Biffle has no doubts about expecting that.
He has 19 Cup victories and three top-five finishes in the final points standings, including that runner-up finish in 2005. But Biffle hasn’t won a race in two years — the longest span between victories in his 13-year Cup career.
Should — “when,” he would insist — Biffle earn a Cup title he would be the first driver in history to win all three of NASCAR’s major championships. He won the 2000 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the 2002 NASCAR XFINITY Series titles.
“We were optimistic over the offseason and then the first part of 2015 it was painfully obvious we were a long way off,” Biffle reflected. “It’s painfully difficult because I love success and that opportunity and when you know six weeks from now when I go to that race track, I don’t have a chance of winning. That is difficult.
“It takes a long time to climb that ladder back up. But when you have changes like we do between 2015 and 2016 that can shorten up that ladder a lot.
“Maybe we’ve caught up to the other teams. So we catch up, they have to adjust to a new package and we have new people and we’re hungry. That could level the playing field very quickly.”
For his part, Biffle looks extremely fit and acknowledged physical training is now an important aspect of his life and his racing preparation – it’s something he has devoted more attention to.
“I’m in better shape now than I was five years ago I can certainly tell you that and that’s something that won’t hurt in the car,” Biffle said. “I got my butt into the gym and started paying attention to what I eat. You get comfortable. … our sport is a lot different that other sports. But you have to be in some level of conditioning to do what we do.”
What Biffle most wants is to hoist the one NASCAR trophy that has eluded him. As he discussed his high expectations and fielded questions about the new-look team, Biffle truly looked as prepared and enthusiastic as he ever has.
Someone in the group of reporters asked him about being the “oldest full-time driver,” and Biffle smiled, looking unaware of that news.
For him, it’s really not a question of age or experience, but desire.
“It’s really just the enthusiasm,” Biffle said, pausing to really think about the subject. “Change is good in our sport, it re-energizes people. They want to work harder.”
RELATED: Can-Am Duel 1 results | Can-Am Duel 2 results
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A move by Jamie McMurray and a sudden lack of real estate for Jimmie Johnson will send Matt Kenseth from the front row to the back of the field when Sunday’s 58th running of the Daytona 500 gets underway Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) locked in the No. 2 qualifying spot in Coors Light Pole qualifying last Sunday. But a crash at the end of the second Can-Am Duel qualifying race on Thursday sent him, along with Johnson, Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger, to the infield care center.
None were injured. All were disappointed.
Kenseth’s team will be one of those rolling out a backup entry for Sunday’s race, a move that means he’ll have to drop to the rear for the car swap.
“I don’t know if starting in the back is as big of a deal as losing your car; that’s the second one we’ve lost this week,” said Kenseth, who also lost a car in Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited non-points race at DIS. “I think we’re probably down to our third-string car. This car was obviously really, really fast.
“I don’t know what they have in the trailer for the next car. That’s the worst part. Starting in the back … if you can’t get to the front in three and a half or four hours, you have an issue.”
With Kyle Busch leading and the leaders headed into Turn 1 for the final time, McMurray moved low, then shot high in an attempt to take the lead. But by then, Johnson was already moving up on the outside.
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“He never touched my quarter,” McMurray said of the incident with Johnson. “I don’t know if it was a disturbance in the air. … I really don’t know. It’s hard to tell looking at the replay what happened.
“I didn’t want anyone on the outside because if you got stuck on inside it was bad all around. I was trying to fake out the 18 to get to his outside. My car stalled out and I didn’t have anything. It was hard to break the plane of the car in front you especially running single file like we did tonight.”
Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) said McMurray “tried to put a move on the 18 and left the bottom in a hurry to come up and block my run. I was just out there.
“I could see with his aggression how fast he was coming up that our line was going to take me into the wall. I tried to check up and get out of there and it just didn’t work out and it took me up into the outside wall a little bit, turned me down across the field. Just a block that didn’t turn out, I was out there and unfortunately it just turned us around.”
Johnson, twice a winner of the Daytona 500, will be breaking in a backup entry as well when practice gets underway Friday. It shouldn’t be an issue, the six-time series champion said.
“The guys were real confident about our backup selection so I feel good about it,” he said. “I was asking what our strategy was here, if we needed to protect. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) of course wanted me to but he said, ‘Go race, we’ve got a great one sitting in the truck’ so we’ll take advantage of the next couple of practice sessions to dial this one in.”
Busch took the checkered flag as the race ended under caution, with McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) and Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing) second and third respectively.
Johnson, credited with a 13th-place finish, placed no blame on McMurray for the incident.
“Man, we’re racing,” he said. “It’s hard to put a lot of blame on somebody when you’re making split-second decisions.”
Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick were also involved in the late crash, but neither will be going to a backup car for Sunday’s season-opening race.