Amid swirl of emotions, Dillon keeps cool

Posted on February 16, 2014 by

Rookie shows poise of a veteran after push for the Coors Light Pole

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Atop the Fan Deck in the Daytona International Speedway infield, spectators pointed their cell phone cameras toward the exit of Turn 4. On the roof of a transporter, a television photographer tightened the focus of his lens squarely on Richard Childress. Down in the garage area, people shielded their eyes from the bright sun as they looked skyward, directing their gazes toward the track’s scoring tower, waiting for a certain red number to flash at the top.

On Austin Dillon‘s second qualifying lap, it happened. And when the No. 3 car moved into the provisional pole for the Daytona 500, an almost awestruck "oooohhhhhh" echoed through NASCAR’s most famous race track. The No. 3 wasn’t just back at the sport’s top level — it was in position to lead the field to the green flag in the sport’s biggest race.

Really, it shouldn’t have been a surprise — Dillon was fastest in a January test at Daytona that was shortened by rain to a single day, and cars owned by or affiliated with his Richard Childress Racing team dominated both qualifying practices on Saturday. The big stunner would have been if Dillon hadn’t contended for the pole, given the consistent speed he had shown on the 2.5-mile layout over more than a month. But that certainly didn’t lessen the impact of the No. 3 returning with such a flourish, for its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event since Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash here 13 years ago.

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"It was kind of emotional," Childress, Dillon’s grandfather, said after the pole was clinched, just as Richard Petty walked over to shake his hand. "It was really special to be able to come back and put the 3 up there on the pole. Now we’ve got a bigger job ahead of us."

Indeed, anything can happen in the Daytona 500, and a fast car doesn’t always guarantee success in the Great American Race. But all that is still a week away. Sunday’s front-row qualifying session was the culmination of all the groundwork laid to make the return of the No. 3 a success, something evident in the nervousness Dillon’s crewmen showed while waiting out the final few qualifiers — crew chief Gil Martin bore a visible wince, and there were audible sighs of relief after Martin Truex Jr. slid into second — and the whoops and hugs they exchanged after the first spot had finally been secured.

The coolest cat in the room was the 23-year-old Dillon, who during the entire ordeal seemed about as edgy as a Frisbee. Worn out by a few days of hustling back and forth between the big track and the Volusia Speedway Park dirt track, and having the benefit of a late draw in front-row qualifying, he slept in until past noon on Sunday, and then dozed through most of the Russell Crowe film "Broken City." He ate a wrap, walked out to the garage, chatted with Martin, put on his suit and jumped in his car. No sweat.

"We were pretty confident when we came down here for the test, and it was that fast right off the trailer," Dillon said. "We weren’t sandbagging much, we were just kind of giving everything we got from the beginning, and the car held on. … I guess the wind helped us a little bit, and everything has to go right. Your team works so hard to put everything together, and that last, final tune-up going into qualifying is so important. For me, it’s just not messing up — making sure I hit the shifts at the right RPM, and then holding a line."

There’s no rattling this kid, who last fall at Talladega when filling in for the injured Tony Stewart was third at the white flag before being caught up in a crash. Dillon has grown up around RCR, to the point where he used equipment in the race shop to put together science projects in high school. He’s grown up with the No. 3, having used it as his jersey number when playing in the Little League World Series, well before his championship runs in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. And he’s grown up around the Earnhardt legacy, even appearing alongside the "Intimidator" in Victory Lane.

No wonder then, when it came time for his money lap, he jumped up the board from 20th to first. No wonder when the cameras and microphones arrived, he handled all the questions with aplomb.

"He’s grown up in this. He’s grown up aground (the media) and seen Dale get swarmed and questioned," said Mike Dillon, dad to Austin and Ty Dillon, and RCR’s general manager. "It’s amazing to me — the biggest thing is, they really did pay attention growing up. I didn’t think they were. They’re your kids, you’re always busting their butts for something. I didn’t think they were paying attention, and they really were paying attention. I think he knew what was coming when he did this deal, and he wants it. He wanted to bring that number back. It’s been a number he wanted to run. He knows he’s got to perform, everybody expects that. But he expects that, too."

Richie Gilmore has also noticed it. The chief operating officer for Earnhardt Childress Engines — which supplies the power plants to RCR and its affiliated teams — was one of Earnhardt’s right-hand men during the heyday of Dale Earnhardt Inc., when no team was better on restrictor-plate tracks like Daytona. And he sees a little of the old driver of the No. 3 car in the new one.

"That’s probably the most amazing part, from being around him from the Truck championship to the Nationwide championship, just how cool he is," Gilmore said of Dillon. "Just sitting there every lap running for the championship last year in Nationwide, he gives you that same feeling that when I was around Dale. He was that calm guy. He always had the answer and the solution that would be all right. I told him after the Nationwide championship that he gives you that same feeling like an Earnhardt or a Jimmie Johnson. He just doesn’t get rattled."

Having a stout car certainly helped. Vehicles built by RCR swept the front row — the Furniture Row Racing team of Martin Truex Jr. is a Childress affiliate — and took four of the top 10 positions. Ryan Newman was fifth, Paul Menard was 10th and Brian Scott was 12th. Plate racing has been a priority at RCR since Earnhardt’s days, and that legacy lives on. The week after Thanksgiving, the team was testing at a General Motors proving ground in Arizona, with the work aimed squarely toward the Daytona 500.

How appropriate, then, that Sunday’s RCR assault on front-row qualifying was led by the No. 3 car. "I’m sure it’s emotional for all the fans, and fans of the number, but it’s got to be great for Austin," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has long since signed off on Dillon using his father’s former number. "… He’s going to have an awesome week, and he’s going to do a great job representing the heritage of that number and what that number means. So I feel real comfortable about it."

After the qualifying session had ended, when Dillon finally found his grandfather in the garage area, the two embraced in a vigorous hug. Childress was clearly moved by the moment, but kept his emotions in check — for now. "The emotion will fly if the 3 rolls it in there (next) Sunday," he said. "I won’t hold it back then, I promise."

As for Dillon? Sunday, as his qualifying lap approached, he was the one urging his grandfather to not be nervous. For all the emotion surrounding the No. 3, for all the attention it has and will receive this Speedweeks, the driver at the center of it all somehow seems able to just enjoy the ride.

"You want to perform with the No. 3, and everybody wants to see it perform, and that’s why my grandfather is always concerned. You want to go out there and run well," Dillon said. "It’s a long season. There’s a lot of ups and downs, and this is one of the top points, obviously starting off like this, so you want to carry that momentum going forward. But for me, I just have to stay grounded and have fun."

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Posted on February 16, 2014 by

Truex Jr. will lead the second Daytona Duel, start second in Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Martin Truex Jr. was only half-joking when he said he was right where he wanted to be: leading the field to green in the second of Thursday night’s Budweiser Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races.

That means, of course, that Truex was second-fastest in Sunday’s Daytona 500 time trials at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, second to Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

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Dillon won the pole for NASCAR’s most prestigious NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, and he’ll start from the front in Thursday’s first Duel race. In this case, Truex is content to play second fiddle.

The Furniture Row Racing team that fields Truex’s cars gets its engines and chassis from RCR. So, forget the notion of Truex trying to upstage the monumental story of the No. 3’s triumphant return to Sprint Cup racing after a 13-year absence. After all, Truex wants to make sure he continues to get top-quality engines from RCR.

"Definitely glad I didn’t knock the 3 off the pole," Truex said with a smile. "That’s all I’m going to say. We’ll wait until July to get ours."

With strong qualifying efforts that represented substantial improvement over January’s Preseason Thunder testing, the Roush Fenway Racing Fords of Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards will start on the outside of the front rows of the first and second Duel races, respectively.

"We came down here (in testing) and just weren’t as fast as we wanted to be and went home, did our homework and worked really, really hard,” said Biffle, who qualified third.

Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start behind Dillon and Biffle in the first Duel event; Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon will line up on the second row for the second race.

Earnhardt was the first driver to make a qualifying run Sunday, and his lap speed of 195.211 mph stood up until Biffle, the 32nd driver to make a run, knocked him off the provisional pole.

"I scuffed the side skirt just a little bit on the apron in Turn 2, trying to run tight on the line there, and that’s never good when you’re dragging anything,” Earnhardt said. "So that cost us a little bit of time.”

With Dillon and Truex locked into the front row for the Daytona 500, the Duel races will determine positions 3-32 on the starting grid for the Great American Race. Starting spots 33-36 fall to the fastest four cars from time trials not otherwise qualified and the last seven positions go to provisional starters, based on 2013 owner points.

The seventh provisional spot, however, is reserved for the most recent past series champion, if needed.

All told, 49 drivers are competing for 43 positions on the grid. Morgan Shepherd, who at 72 is attempting to become the oldest driver to start the 500, must race his way into the field in Duel race No. 2.

Danica Patrick qualified 25th fastest but will start Duel race No. 1 from the rear of the field because of an unapproved engine change after Saturday’s practice. Tony Stewart (who qualified 35th) and Bobby Labonte (44th) also changed engines and will drop to the rear for the start of Duel races No. 1 and 2, respectively.

Those three drivers also must start from the rear in the Daytona 500, assuming they make the field.

MORE:

READ: Austin Dillon wins
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Posted on February 16, 2014 by

Dillon secures pole position in 500, Truex Jr. behind him in second

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It’s back — and in a big way.

With Austin Dillon behind the wheel, the No. 3 Chevrolet made a triumphant return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing during Sunday’s time trials for the 56th Daytona 500.

Shrugging off the pressure of driving a car he knew could be a Coors Light Pole winner, Dillon toured 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 45.914 seconds (196.019 mph), locking the No. 3 into the top starting spot in the number’s first appearance in the Cup series since Dale Earnhardt died after a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500.

The Coors Light Pole Award was Dillon’s first in 14 attempts and proved the ideal kickoff to his first full-time season in Sprint Cup racing.

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Dillon, 23, edged second-place qualifier Martin Truex Jr. (195.852 mph) for the top starting spot, but both drivers are locked into the front row for the Great American Race and will lead their respective fields to green in Thursday night’s Budweiser Duel at Daytona 150-lap qualifying races.

Both Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Truex’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy featured Earnhardt Childress Racing power under the hood. The front-row sweep was the perfect present for chief engine builder Danny Lawrence, who celebrated a birthday Sunday.

"We got him a 1-2 start at Daytona, so this is pretty awesome," Dillon said after clinching the pole. "You just try and stay focused, because everyone wants to see this number perform well. That’s what my goals are — to stay focused.

"It’s hard to celebrate, because I know this is just qualifying, but it’s great for (the team). You never know the next time you’ll be standing in this position again. So it’s awesome; just want to thank our family back home at RCR. They’ve done such a good job — fab shop, engine shop, everybody, my guys.

"It’s all them. I hoped I didn’t mess it up. We knew we had a fast car, and we brought it back, so it’s good."

After Clint Bowyer completed his two-lap run as the 49th and final driver to make an attempt, team owner Richard Childress, Dillon’s grandfather, raised a clenched right fist in triumph. Both Childress and Dillon were in Victory Lane when Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 for the only time in 1998.

"We wanted to put on a good show with the 3, and I couldn’t be prouder of everybody," Childress said. "(The pressure) is always on when you’ve got grandsons racing."

Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards qualified third and fourth, respectively, and will start on the outside of the front row in their respective Duels, which will determine the starting order of positions 3 through 32 in the Daytona 500.

Ryan Newman and Brad Keselowski were fifth and sixth fastest during the time trials.

For the first three quarters of the session, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the upper hand.

The first driver to make a qualifying attempt, Earnhardt ran 195.211 mph on his money lap — and waited. One by one, his rivals fired and fell back, until Biffle, the 32nd driver to post a time, cracked the 46-second mark and knocked Earnhardt off the provisional pole.

Earnhardt Jr., the 2004 Daytona 500 winner, wound up seventh.

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Posted on February 16, 2014 by Holly Cain

Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart plan for push to the front

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For a brief period just after Danica Patrick‘s early Daytona 500 qualifying run Sunday, she held a front row starting position. By the time the remainder of the 49 cars had completed their two-lap runs on the famous Daytona International Speedway high banks, she was 25th on the scoring pylon.

But even if she or Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Tony Stewart — who was 35th fastest — had won the Coors Light Pole position, per NASCAR rules they would still start the Feb. 23 race from the rear of the field because they had to replace blown engines in their Chevrolets on Saturday.

For last year’s pole-winner Patrick, it is a discouraging reality and difficult way to spend the next few days preparing for her third Daytona 500.

Her team owner Stewart, who will make his 16th Daytona 500 start, was more philosophical, taking the attitude that being relegated to the rear of the field is merely an extra obstacle to overcome — a more dramatic way to perhaps score his first victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.

"There’s no silver lining in starting at the back of the 500," Stewart said when asked if there was any solace in at least having his teammate alongside to navigate through the field. "It’s not where you want to be, it’s not where our cars should be for sure. We’ve got better cars than that. (Saturday) was just an unfortunate deal. But I stand behind the Hendrick engine department one thousand percent. We’ve got the best engine department in the garage area and (Saturday) didn’t change that."

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Did Stewart appeal to NASCAR about the ruling, which essentially negates his or Patrick’s performance in Thursday’s Budweiser Duel qualifying races?

"Does it matter? Would it change anything?" Stewart said calmly. "Listen, if you can’t get to the front in 500 miles you’re not going to get there anyway so it doesn’t matter where you start."

Patrick agreed and was optimistic for race day, despite being unhappy with the circumstances.

"It’s defeating, it’s very unfortunate," Patrick said candidly, looking and sounding more resolved than her words would indicate. "It sucks to know that no matter what you do it doesn’t matter at all. I’m going to start from the back of the (Duel) and I’m going to start from the back of the 500, which I don’t understand.

"It’s a bummer, but what NASCAR says goes and I’m sure there will be times it is in my favor and other times, like this one, it’s not going to be. But it’s a speedway and if there’s ever a place to make it up, it’s on the speedway."

Patrick’s veteran crew chief Tony Gibson also tried to remain upbeat even if he conceded it makes for an uphill battle. He said he didn’t have the heart to tell Patrick that she had to start at the back, leaving that to SHR Vice President of Competition Greg Zipadelli.

"I’m still a little baffled on it and how that works," Gibson said. "But we’ll take our licking and go on. It is what it is and whatever their decision is we’ve got to roll with it. We’ll work hard and make our car good for the 500."

NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton explained the rule Sunday that puts Patrick, Stewart and Bobby Labonte — whose car also needed a new engine — to the rear of the starting grid for both the Duel and the 500-miler. The NASCAR rulebook allows for one engine change during Daytona Speedweeks, and that is between the Duel races and the Daytona 500. Anything else is an unapproved engine change, and the penalty for an unapproved engine change is to start at the rear of the race.

"We haven’t run into this very often," Pemberton said. "But it’s not new. This has come up. Years ago it might have been a different way but when we look at this, it is an extension of pole day and qualifying day, it’s really all qualifying.

"It’s as simple as that. The Duels are not (viewed) as a race, only an extension of qualifying."

The ruling raises questions of strategy, how Stewart and Patrick will approach their 150-mile qualifying races, whose finishing order sets the starting lineup for the Daytona 500. For these two SHR competitors, a win Thursday would be a confidence-builder and time of celebration, but it wouldn’t help their position on the starting grid Sunday.

Will they race hard for the win and chance wrecking their car and having to go to a backup? Or will they play it safe and hang back?

"There’s not a lot to gain for us," Gibson said. "Your sponsors expect you to be there and the fans want you to run. But we don’t want to wreck what is our best car either. Just kind of disheartening to know … whatever happens Thursday, we’re starting in the back. But that’s the nature of this beast and we’ll go on and make our sponsors and fans proud and try to win the Daytona 500."

It certainly makes Patrick’s Saturday night debut in The Sprint Unlimited more valuable, even if her night ended in a crash midway through the non-points race. Gibson was particularly pleased with what he saw.

"She was doing an awesome job," Gibson said. "She ran up front, got shuffled to the back, got back up front, ran in the middle, was racing two-wide and four-wide. That’s the kind of stuff she needed to be in to learn for this Sunday.

"So if you were to pull in early (in the Duel race), you don’t get that experience, you don’t know what your car is going to do. If you stay out, you take the chance of wrecking. We want the time on the race track to take that knowledge into Sunday."

Stewart, who is returning to competition in the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevy after being sidelined the past seven months with a broken leg, sounded confident in his Daytona 500 chances — despite still healing physically and now having the starting position setback.

"I guess I don’t have any feelings about (the grid penalty) because I feel like I’ve got a car that can go up and win the 500 anyway no matter where we start," Stewart said, offering a smile. "To me, whatever it is, it is. I guess I’m more worried about getting my car ready for Sunday and really don’t care where I start.

"They could start me a lap down and I don’t care. We could get back on the lead lap and win the race. I’m not going to spend my time worrying about why it is.

"I always like my chances here. You can’t look at record books and say we have a great shot at it because we’ve never done it before. But you can’t win 19 races here and not win the big one at some point in the deal. I don’t have any reservations about where we start. It’s no drama to me, just focusing on what we have to do to go fast."

MORE:

READ: Austin Dillon wins
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qualifying race lineups

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Zack Albert

Bristles at charge that comments were sexist

DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. — They stood about 20 paces apart, thanks to a pre-race
arrangement that placed the 18 cars in numerical order on the grid
before a fan vote determined the starting lineup.

It meant that Richard Petty, owner of car No. 9 driven by Marcos Ambrose, stood in tantalizingly close proximity to the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 of Danica Patrick on Daytona International Speedway‘s pit road.

There was no mending of the fences,
but no pointed exchanges, either — an anticlimax before Saturday
night’s Sprint Unlimited for the two figures in the NASCAR garage who
had been so intertwined in the news over the last several days. Both
smiled for pictures with fans before the engines fired, but neither one
acknowledged the other despite the logistical circumstance.

Petty, NASCAR’s all-time wins leader and an inaugural Hall of Fame
inductee, drew scrutiny last weekend at an auto show in Toronto for his
frank assessment of Patrick’s chances of winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
race, saying it could happen "if everybody else stayed home." Saturday
at the track, Petty remained entrenched with his opinion and bristled at
the notion his remarks were sexist.

"What’s unfair is the
sexist part," Petty told reporters. "If her name had been Danny, OK,
nobody would have said anything about it. So y’all are bringing up the
sexist part of it, not me."

He added, "It was definitely not
sexist, OK? Hey look, I’ve been married 55 years to the same woman. So I
am not a sexist by any ways. I love women."

Patrick —
entering her second full season in the sport’s top series — took the
high road during Thursday’s NASCAR Media Day, allowing the comments from
stock-car racing’s King to roll off her back.

"You know,
people have said things in the past and they will say things in the
future," Patrick said Thursday. "I still say the same thing and that’s
that everybody is entitled to their own opinion. People are going to
judge what he said and I’m just not going to."

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Posted on February 16, 2014 by Nascar

Busch uses skillful moves to save himself from wrecking

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was, for the most part, a typical Kyle Busch performance. The only things missing were the celebratory bow, the trip to victory lane and the trophy.

Busch didn’t win. But not for a lack of trying.

In what has become somewhat commonplace, Busch ran strong, made another stunning save when his car broke loose near the front of the pack, and then rallied for a third-place finish in Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway.

“I really don’t know how it all started,” Busch said of his save, which came during the third and final segment of the 75-lap non-points event. “I was up top following (Joey) Logano, or he was coming up in front of me. I kind of tried to go back low and get a run off the bottom of the track to pass him and I got clipped and instantly spun out.”

Once his car broke sideways, it was a “lot of brake, lot of gas, downshifting, everything in between,” he said.

"It always takes about two times to get it kind of squared back up. Once I got going on the apron, I didn’t even know where straight was on the steering wheel. I was floating my hands, kind of letting the thing find center by itself. Sometimes you’ve got to let the car do its own job, too."

Accidents had already trimmed the 18-car field considerably — half the starters were wiped out in a Lap 36 incident on the frontstretch that halted the race for nearly 11-and-a-half minutes. Getting to the front didn’t require passing a lot of cars.

That his car had been damaged in the spin-and-save, however, increased the difficulty, if not the possibility, of Busch doing so. Subsequent pit stops allowed his Joe Gibbs Racing crew to make repairs. Surgery might have been necessary, but Band-Aids were the only items available.

“The nose is pushed way up,” Busch said of the damage. “I was walking by it when it was on its way to the (height) sticks; the nose was up about an inch and a half. The rear tailpiece was half drug, which actually may be an advantage to get rid of that piece; (it) slows it down.

“Other than that, just the nose being up, man, kills it so bad. It just slows it down so much. We pulled some packer on one of those pit stops we came in late, tried to get it back down some. I don’t know whether it helped or not. I never felt the splitter touch again."

He was eighth on the restart after his incident, then a bit higher up in the running order after two more drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcos Ambrose, decided to call it a night.

The final restart began with five laps remaining — Busch sixth and teammate Denny Hamlin just ahead. Hamlin, strong all night, made it all the way to the front with two laps remaining. Busch got to third but no further.

“With only six or seven cars … there at the end, you can dive bomb each other, you can switch around and all that all you want,” Busch said, “just because there’s not a big pack of cars where you’re going to get swallowed up and back to 30^th if you do something wrong.

“It was interesting there at the end … I don’t know that we’ve ever had so few cars at the end.”

MORE:

READ: Austin Dillon wins
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Posted on February 16, 2014 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will start Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1

Daytona Duel No. 1

Pos	Car	Driver	Team
1	3	Austin Dillon #	DOW Chevrolet
2	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford
3	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet
4	88	Dale Earnhardt. Jr.	National Guard Chevrolet
5	17	Ricky Stenhouse. Jr.	Nationwide Insurance Ford
6	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford
7	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford
8	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford
9	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota
10	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet
11	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Toyota
12	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet
13	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet
14	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger/USO Chevrolet
15	36	Reed Sorenson	Golden Corral Chevrolet
16	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stops Ford
17	30	Parker Kligerman #	Swan Energy Toyota
18	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet
19	55	Brian Vickers	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
20	26	Cole Whitt #	Speed Stick Gear Toyota
21	95	Michael McDowell	K-Love Ford
22	98	Josh Wise	Curb Records Ford
23	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	300 Rise of an Empire Toyota
24	23	Alex Bowman #	Dr.Pepper Toyota
25	77	Dave Blaney	Plinker Arms Ford

Daytona Duel No. 2

Pos	Car	Driver	Team
1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Chevrolet
2	99	Carl Edwards	Fastenal Ford
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford
4	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
5	27	Paul Menard	Peak/Menards Chevrolet
6	33	Brian Scott(i)	Whitetail Chevrolet
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet
8	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet
9	7	Michael Annett #	Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers Chevrolet
10	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota
11	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express
12	42	Kyle Larson #	Target Chevrolet
13	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
14	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet
15	51	Justin Allgaier #	Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
16	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Hillman Racing Chevrolet
17	66	Michael Waltrip	BlueDEF/AAA Toyota
18	35	Eric McClure(i)	Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Ford
19	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet
20	34	David Ragan	CSX – Play It Safe Ford
21	32	Terry Labonte	C&J Energy Services Ford
22	52	Bobby Labonte	Phoenix Construction Chevrolet
23	83	Ryan Truex #	Borla Exhaust Toyota
24	93	Morgan Shepherd(i)	SupportMilitary.org Toyota

MORE:

READ: Austin Dillon wins
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READ: Daytona Duel 150-mile
qualifying race lineups

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Staff Report

Austin Dillon wins first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Speed	-Fastest	-Next
1	3	Austin Dillon #	DOW Chevrolet	45.914	196.019	0.000	0.000
2	78	Martin Truex. Jr.	Furniture Row Chevrolet	45.953	195.852	0.039	0.039
3	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	45.961	195.818	0.047	0.008
4	99	Carl Edwards	Fastenal Ford	45.986	195.712	0.072	0.025
5	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet	45.987	195.707	0.073	0.001
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	46.084	195.296	0.170	0.097
7	88	Dale Earnhardt. Jr.	National Guard Chevrolet	46.104	195.211	0.190	0.020
8	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet	46.144	195.042	0.230	0.040
9	17	Ricky Stenhouse. Jr.	Nationwide Insurance Ford	46.153	195.004	0.239	0.009
10	27	Paul Menard	Peak/Menards Chevrolet	46.173	194.919	0.259	0.020
11	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford	46.179	194.894	0.265	0.006
12	33	Brian Scott(i)	Whitetail Chevrolet	46.207	194.776	0.293	0.028
13	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	46.235	194.658	0.321	0.028
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet	46.240	194.637	0.326	0.005
15	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	46.253	194.582	0.339	0.013
16	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	46.253	194.582	0.339	0.000
17	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	46.255	194.574	0.341	0.002
18	7	Michael Annett #	Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers Chevrolet	46.255	194.574	0.341	0.000
19	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	46.262	194.544	0.348	0.007
20	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota	46.267	194.523	0.353	0.005
21	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Toyota	46.272	194.502	0.358	0.005
22	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	46.278	194.477	0.364	0.006
23	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	46.291	194.422	0.377	0.013
24	42	Kyle Larson #	Target Chevrolet	46.294	194.410	0.380	0.003
25	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet	46.301	194.380	0.387	0.007
26	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	46.312	194.334	0.398	0.011
27	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger/USO Chevrolet	46.366	194.108	0.452	0.054
28	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	46.373	194.078	0.459	0.007
29	36	Reed Sorenson	Golden Corral Chevrolet	46.376	194.066	0.462	0.003
30	51	Justin Allgaier #	Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet	46.436	193.815	0.522	0.060
31	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stops Ford	46.455	193.736	0.541	0.019
32	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Hillman Racing Chevrolet	46.456	193.732	0.542	0.001
33	30	Parker Kligerman #	Swan Energy Toyota	46.489	193.594	0.575	0.033
34	66	Michael Waltrip	BlueDEF/AAA Toyota	46.529	193.428	0.615	0.040
35	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet	46.544	193.365	0.630	0.015
36	35	Eric McClure(i)	Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Ford	46.655	192.905	0.741	0.111
37	55	Brian Vickers	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	46.681	192.798	0.767	0.026
38	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet	46.706	192.695	0.792	0.025
39	26	Cole Whitt #	Speed Stick Gear Toyota	46.744	192.538	0.830	0.038
40	34	David Ragan	CSX – Play It Safe Ford	46.795	192.328	0.881	0.051
41	95	Michael McDowell	K-Love Ford	46.804	192.291	0.890	0.009
42	32	Terry Labonte	C&J Energy Services Ford	46.842	192.135	0.928	0.038
43	98	Josh Wise	Curb Records Ford	46.860	192.061	0.946	0.018
44	52	Bobby Labonte	Phoenix Construction Chevrolet	46.999	191.493	1.085	0.139
45	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	300 Rise of an Empire Toyota	47.249	190.480	1.335	0.250
46	83	Ryan Truex #	Borla Exhaust Toyota	47.282	190.347	1.368	0.033
47	23	Alex Bowman #	Dr.Pepper Toyota	47.447	189.685	1.533	0.165
48	93	Morgan Shepherd(i)	SupportMilitary.org Toyota	47.483	189.542	1.569	0.036
49	77	Dave Blaney	Plinker Arms Ford	DNS		45.914	47.483

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READ: Austin Dillon wins
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Posted on February 16, 2014 by Staff Report

Explaining how setting the field for the Great American Race works

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unlike any other auto racing qualifying procedure. Drivers have multiple opportunities to qualify for the season-opening race, as opposed to the usual format of one qualifying session per event.

The first chance comes via Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole Qualifying, which will be held Sunday, Feb. 16 on FOX. The other chance is the Duel at Daytona, two 150-mile qualifying races held on Thursday, Feb. 20 on FOX Sports 1.

Below is a breakdown of the Daytona 500 qualifying procedure:

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Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole Qualifying

• Each team may run two consecutive laps with the fast lap setting the qualifying time. The two fastest qualifiers earn starting positions one and two and are the only guaranteed positions, filling the front row for the Daytona 500 and pole positions for the two qualifying races.

• The Duel at Daytona, two 150-mile qualifying races, will determine starting positions for the Daytona 500 beyond the front row. In the event of cancellation, the field will be set according to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book.

Duel at Daytona

• Those cars earning odd-numbered positions from qualifying will be assigned to the first Duel race. Those cars earning even-numbered positions from qualifying will compete in the second race.

• The starting positions for each Duel race will also be based on qualifying times.

Daytona 500 lineup

• The two fastest qualifiers set starting positions one and two.

• The highest 15 finishers in each Duel race — excluding the already locked-in front row — will earn a spot in the Daytona 500, and fill positions 3-32.

• Based on their finishing position in the first Duel race, the top 15 will line up on the inside row (odd-number starting positions).

• Based on their finishing position in the second Duel race, the top 15 will line up on the outside row (even-number starting positions).

• Positions 33-36 will go to the four fastest cars from qualifying that have not already earned a spot.

• Position 37-42 will be provisional positions, and go to the highest six cars in 2013 owner points that have not already qualified via the Duel or Coors Light Pole qualifying.

• The 43rd starting position will be assigned to any car owner who has the most recent eligible past NASCAR Sprint Cup champion who did not make the field by any other method, providing the driver had competed in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. If the 43rd position remains unused it will be assigned to the next highest car in 2013 owner points not already locked into the field.

MORE:

READ: Austin Dillon wins
Daytona 500 pole

READ: How to qualify
for the Daytona 500

WATCH: Massive wreck
in Sprint Unlimited

READ: Daytona Duel 150-mile
qualifying race lineups

Posted on February 15, 2014 by

Junior’s night ends following late contact with Ambrose that puts No. 88 car into the wall

RELATED: Sprint Unlimited results

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — That darn bent steering.

"He bent the steering in my car," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "I couldn’t steer very good."

NASCAR’s most popular driver said it with a wry half-smile, after contact with Marcos Ambrose put the No. 88 car into the frontstretch wall and ended Earnhardt’s pursuit of a victory in the season-opening Sprint Unlimited exhibition at Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt repaid the Australian with a side-to-side bump as both cars rolled down the backstretch, and then headed to the garage to park his Chevrolet a handful of laps from the finish.

Bent steering? Please.

"Nah, we were just having fun," Earnhardt confessed. "And his car was already torn up, so it didn’t get hurt any worse than it already was. He was trying to go, and I know he was trying to do what he thought he needed to do, and so was I. … But we were just having fun. No big deal. I wasn’t trying to spin him out or nothing. His car was pretty tore up, so was mine. I like Marcos. We get along good."

The accident ended a strong bid that saw Earnhardt lead the 75-lap race with 12 circuits to go, backing up the speed he had shown by topping the board in practice one day earlier. But on a night defined by mechanical mayhem — reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson sailed into the wall early, and contact between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano resulted in a nine-car wreck that whittled an already exclusive field down to just nine vehicles — Earnhardt was hardly immune.

Earnhardt was drafting ahead of Ambrose and began searching for lanes around the cars in front of him when the Richard Petty Motorsports driver moved to the outside. The resulting contact pinched Earnhardt into the wall, crumpling the right side of the No. 88 car to the point where it was too damaged to continue.

"Just miscommunication," said Earnhardt, who finished ninth. "I didn’t know he was there. Been in the same situation before. It’s nothing new."

Earnhardt originally said the wrecked vehicle was his backup car for the Daytona 500, but his Hendrick Motorsports team later confirmed it was not. Ambrose, who was able to stay on the track and finish seventh, was effusive in placing the blame on himself.

"Just feel bad for Junior," he said. "I feel really sorry for what happened there. I was just trying to help him, really. I was just trying to give him a push, and I’m not sure if he moved to side-draft me and came back across. Unfortunately, it ruined his night and really ruined mine, too. So yeah, we’ll take our lumps here. Sorry to Junior Nation. I didn’t mean to do it. I’ll try to help him in the 500."

Ambrose also understood the reason behind the post-crash bump.

"It’s OK," he said. "Junior’s a great guy, and he’s been great to me in the sport, and I’ve never had any hard feelings with him. It was unnecessary to get in the fence in the first place, so no drama. I’ll try to find him and apologize a little bit. Hope he’s not too mad."

He certainly didn’t seem it in the garage area, as his crew scrambled around his wrecked car. "We had a good car, and were just having some fun," Earnhardt said. As crazy as the race was, he added, he liked the fact that drivers could get runs on one another. But openings in the draft apparently close up quicker than they used to — perhaps one reason behind the big wreck, sparked when Kenseth came down into Logano — and the side-draft poses more of a challenge.

What does that portend for the remainder of Speedweeks?

"It’s going to be lots of wrecking," Earnhardt said, "because of the way these cars side-draft, and you get stalled out beside each other and you sort of get packed up around each other, and the guys behind you are either going to push you or go around you. It’s just going to cause a little bit of trouble, and we saw it tonight. But this race has always been expensive, so it’s no real surprise what we saw tonight."

The Great American Race could be different, though, because of its daytime green flag. "The Daytona 500 will be a great race, because it’s hot, greasy, and more of a challenge on the handling package," Earnhardt said. "You’ve got to drive the car more, and it’s a bigger challenge when you run these races during the daytime."

It certainly looked like a handful Saturday night, when Earnhardt’s crash capped a series of accidents and left Ambrose looking to apologize in person.

"I’m going to try and find him later on if he wants to talk to me," Ambrose said. "But yeah, it’s just what happens here in a race that only counts to win, and we’re all trying to push to the front. And unfortunately, it was just a bad day."

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