Right from the start of the practice sessions for the Budweiser Shootout, everyone in the garage area was talking about how loose the cars had felt on the track, as this was the first time that the COT would be run at Daytona. This no doubt played a small role in causing an accident during the Friday practice session that sent several teams to backup cars for the Shootout the following day. One has to believe that the loose feelings and the bump stops generated in the COT setup will no doubt play a vital role in today’s race, and many people believe that it’s inevitable that “the Big One” will occur at some point between mile one and mile five-hundred by the end of today.

Shortly after that accident that I was just talking about, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch made contact with one another, and as a result, decided to rekindle their feud that stemmed all the way back to last year’s Daytona 500. After a friendly visit on pit road by Busch, Stewart decided to admire Busch’s bodywork prior to entering the garage, and it’s since then been alleged that Stewart kindly introduced his fist to Kurt’s face. The result? Both drivers have been placed on a six-race probation by NASCAR, but one has to wonder if that will make any difference in the most prestigious race on the schedule.

Dale Earnhardt Jr then went onto win his very first race under the Hendrick Motorsports banner, albeit not a points race. That hasn’t stopped Junior Nation from going crazy with anticipation, though, as many of his fans now believe that the switch to HMS will reignite Junior’s on-track performance. After bringing home another checkered flag in the first Gatorade Duel and then finishing third in the Nationwide Series race, Earnhardt is a very heavy favorite to win today’s race and get his newly-found relationship with Hendrick off to an amazing start.

Also making headlines throughout the entire off-season was the move of Joe Gibbs Racing from racing for Chevrolet to joining the Toyota bunch. Most fans and critics thought Gibbs had gone off the deep end by even contemplating such a move, but the addition of Gibbs to the Toyota fold seems to be doing wonders for them already. After looking very impressive throughout the pre-season testing, Toyota has since gone onto finish 2nd in the Budweiser Shootout (Stewart), win the outside pole for the Daytona 500 (Waltrip), finish 1st & 2nd in the second Gatorade Duel (Hamlin, Stewart), finish 1st through 4th in the Craftsman Truck Series race (T. Bodine, Ky. Busch, J. Benson, D. Starr), and then finish 1st, 2nd, & 4th in the Nationwide Series race (Stewart, Ky. Busch, Vickers). The Toyota bunch is now being heavily viewed as the only potential threat to keep Hendrick Motorsports out of victory lane this afternoon.

The Gatorade Duels also made several other shocking revelations. Several cars expected to start in the Daytona 500 were left out in the cold thanks to NASCAR’s Daytona qualifying procedures, including the rides of Boris Said, AJ Allmendinger, Bill Elliott Sterling Marlin, Ken Schrader, and rookies Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve, amongst others. Elliott’s inability to make the race marked this year as the first time in 46 years that the Wood Bros organization failed to place a car in the Daytona 500. Villeneuve’s performance not only knocked him out of the 500, but also out of the no. 27 car for Bill Davis Racing altogether as a result of failing to produce financial backing from sponsors. He will be replaced by Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson beginning next week.  In an odd string of events, Kurt Busch transferred his car’s owner points over to Penske Racing rookie Sam Hornish Jr. to ensure he would get starts in the first five races of the season. Busch then suffered electrical problems during the first Gatorade Duel event, forcing him to rely on the “Past Champion’s Provisional” to earn his spot in the 500. This meant that the provisional was no longer available to Dale Jarrett, who failed to finish inside the top 35 in points last season and he would have to finish second amongst the “go or go-home” cars in the second Duel. The race started off rough for Jarrett as he sank to the back of the pack, but then car owner Michael Waltrip dropped from the front of the pack all the way to the back to give his teammate a boost. He pushed DJ all the way up to the third spot by the time a caution waved with only a few laps remaining. The push was enough, and despite finishing 9th in the race, DJ still qualified for his final run at the Daytona 500. The events leading up to such, however, has raised several questions surrounding the validity of the past champion’s provisional and the ability of a driver to transfer owner points to another car.

Folks, I’ve barely scratched the surface here with this post, as there’s been so, so much more that’s taken place in both the off-season and during the NASCAR speedweeks that has made this Daytona 500 the most highly anticipated that I can actually recall. This race is sure to live up to the expectations, and I’m extremely confident that it will give us plenty more to talk about come Monday morning!

Post from: EveryJoe

‘08 Daytona Not Shy on Drama

The victory marked “Smoke’s” third win in this event in the past four years, and it was Busch’s second consecutive year finishing runner-up. Perhaps even more impressive is the charge Toyota has made during this Toyota stretch by finishing 2nd last week in the Budweiser Shootout, then winning the second Sprint Cup Gatorade Duel and the Craftsman Truck Series season-opener on Friday, and then winning the Nationwide season opener. As for Earnhardt Jr, he stated that he was just happy to have gotten to participate in the race after failing post-qualifying inspection earlier this week (fines and penalties will be assessed later this week), and appears to be quite content with a third place finish. Stewart will attempt to become only the sixth driver in history to sweep both the Saturday and Sunday races at Daytona.

Complete Results (credit nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Nationwide Series Results: Daytona

2/9 – Michael Annett won the season opener for the ARCA Series at Daytona this weekend in only his second race for Bill Davis Racing.  Read More.

2/10 – Jimmie Johnson won the Pole Award on Sunday for the Daytona 500, with Michael Waltrip set to start on the race from the outside of the front row.  Read More.

2/12 – Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart have both been placed on probation by NASCAR for the next six races for incidents that occurred during practice sessions for the Budweiser Shootout last Friday. Nobody has yet come forward and confirmed allegations that Stewart punched Busch in the hauler, as NASCAR officials state that the penalties for both drivers are for their conduct on the track.  Read More.

2/12 – While many members of the NASCAR family spent their days off in Daytona on Monday and Tuesday by visiting places like Sea World or playing golf, Brian Vickers decided to take a shot at skydiving.  Read More.

Post from: EveryJoe

Wednesday Mid-Week Wrap

My, how things can drastically change in a three-year period. The 2004 Daytona 500 saw the usual restrictor plate duo of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart battle amongst each other for the majority of the second half of the race as they pulled away to a rather sizeable lead from the rest of the pack … except for the lapped car of Kurt Busch, then running in the no. 97 Sharpie Ford owned by Jack Roush. If you recall that race as I do, then you’ll be quick to remember that Busch had all of three options available to him … a) Attempt to get around both cars, which would leave him alone and without a drafting partner and still 40-some-odd seconds away from the leaders; b) push Dale Junior and hope that a caution eventually came out; or c) push Tony Stewart and hope that a caution waived. Busch chose option “C”, although it wouldn’t be enough to keep Stewart in front of the powerful DEI motor in Junior’s car that day.

So, what happened between February of 2004 and February 2008 that caused Tony Stewart to allegedly (has yet to be confirmed) punch Kurt Busch inside the NASCAR hauler last weekend? 2007’s what happened … and, it all started with the “Great American Race” last year. With Busch and Stewart battling back and forth, both clearly the dominant cars that day in Daytona, the two cars got tangled with 50 laps remaining, and ultimately took each other out of the race. Naturally, both drivers’ stubborn personalities forced them into placing blame on the other, and things just sorta took off from there.

After a series of incidents, things really escalated in June of last year at Dover when Stewart refused to make room for Busch on the track, eventually leading to yet another accident. Busch retaliated by trying to chase the #20 car down on pit road, and in the process nearly [inadvertently] hit Stewart’s jackman. Busch was levied a $100,000 fine and docked 100 points by NASCAR for the incident. At that time Busch issued statements comparing Stewart to the “Rosie O’ Donnell of NASCAR”, while ‘Smoke’ made several statements of his own talking about how hard Busch had tried to race him every lap that season and that he was adopting the philosophy that he was going to race other drivers the way they raced him. “It’s all about give and take,” Stewart said.

Well, the incidents during the first half of 2007 took both drivers straight to NASCAR’s probation list, which they remained on until the completion of the calendar year. Of course, that means anything goes in ’08, especially with NASCAR’s new attitude in which they want to encourage drivers to be who they are. “Bring back the drama.” “This is the NASCAR everyone fell in love with,” they say. Well, they definitely brought the drama when they wrecked in Friday’s practice session for the Budweiser Shootout. It’s been talked about all over the web by now, so you don’t really need me to recap for you … but, I’m going to anyway.

After the two drivers got tangled yet again, Busch again chased Stewart down on pit road, banging the side of his car three times. Stewart retaliated by blocking Busch’s entrance into the garage, and as one my suspect, both drivers were immediately pulled from the track and summonsed to the NASCAR hauler. There have been numerous unconfirmed reports that Stewart slugged Busch in the side of the face while in the hauler, but as I stated – those allegations have not been confirmed nor denied. Adding to the mystery of it all is also the fact that NASCAR has not publically handed down any fines or penalties yet, just a warning (though penalties could still very well be on the way). The two managed to avoid each other on the track during the actual running of the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night, but one has to believe that their paths are likely to cross in a very nasty and vicious manner yet again at some point in the ’08 season … it’s just a matter of when. It’s not the first time that Stewart has punched another driver (ie, Brian Vickers) and it’s not the first time that Busch has been put in check by another driver (ie, Jimmy Spencer), so I’m sure there are plenty of arguments to be made for both sides – or, rather against both sides. I’m personally looking forward to seeing this saga unfold as 2008 progresses.

“DYN Imposes”: This week, Do You NASCAR also asks …

1) Who is at fault for the Kurt Busch / Tony Stewart feud? 
2) Should either of the drivers be fined and/or penalized for Friday night’s incident? If yes, which driver(s) and what should the punishment be?
3) Does a feud like this hurt NASCAR or help it?
4) What is/are the best one or two driver feud(s) so far this decade?

Post from: EveryJoe

The Stewart – Busch Saga Rages On

For details on this contest, please visit ronripple.com or simply click here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Amp’ed Up for 2008? Check this out!

Hendrick’s road to dominating the Daytona Speedweeks has not gone unchallenged, though, as the Toyota teams continue to come up just shy of topping the charts. Michael Waltrip narrowly missed the pole award and will instead start this Sunday’s race on the outside of the front row after turning a lap of 48.197 seconds. David Reutimann and Dave Blaney – also driving the Toyota Camry – also qualified inside the top 5, and Denny Hamlin rolled in eighth fastest. Saturday night’s runner up in the Budweiser Shootout, Tony Stewart, came across the line 12th quickest.

Despite the quick efforts by Hendrick Motorsports and the Toyota teams, though, only Johnson and Waltrip’s starting spots in the field are secure, with the starting order for the rest of the field to be determined by the results of the Gatorade Duel 125’s later in the week.

Complete Qualifying Results (credit nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Johnson Tops the Charts in Qualifying

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season officially got underway with the drop of the green flag Saturday night for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. Finally, after months of talking about whether or not Dale Earnhardt Jr would find success driving for Hendrick Motorsports. All the debate about if the Toyotas would be able to compete with the competition after adding Joe Gibbs Racing to the mix. And, all the doubts about the Car of Tomorrow being able to handle the monster speedway that is Daytona. Many question marks still linger, no doubt about it, but Saturday night’s Shootout gave us a small glimpse of what we might be able to expect in the highly anticipated 2008 NASCAR season, and the excitement level has raised to a whole new level as we gear up for the 50th running of the Daytona 500.

After an absolutely catastrophic weekend of practice heading into the Budweiser Shootout, the race itself actually had somewhat of a calm atmosphere to it. I spent the entire race just waiting to see if Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch would continue their Daytona feud and get into each other. I waited to see some of the guys that had to turn to backup cars completely lose the handling of their race cars. And, I waited to see if one of the Shootout virgins would make a bold move to get out front and cause a pileup behind him in the process. None of that happened. In fact, the only accident that occurred during the race as a result of actual contact between cars was when Jamie McMurray got into Denny Hamlin with 46 laps left on the ticker. Everything else that happened was the result of cut tires by Bill Elliot and David Gilliland.

So, now that you know what we didn’t see, here’s what did happen. The Toyotas of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Dave Blaney looked very strong throughout the race, and even Michael Waltrip’s car early on. In fact, the only cars that ever looked like they may be faster than the trio of Camri’s were the cars belonging to Rick Hendrick, who had all four of his teams in the race. With 38 laps to go, the restrictor plate duo of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr finally hooked up and took control of the race. Earnhardt had actually been up at the front of the pack since he led his first lap in a Hendrick car back on lap 6, but Stewart had to work his way up all the way from the back where started the race as a result of Friday’s incident with Kurt Busch, and it took him quite some time to work his way to the front of the field. Meanwhile, Junior’s new teammates – Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson – had lagged toward the back of the field all night long. After being collected up in the big accident that took place during the practice runs, both drivers had to turn to backup cars to run in the Shootout. The problem was that their backup cars were actually cars that were used to run at Darlington and Richmond in 2007. After making significant changes to the car at the end of the first race session and during the first caution in the second session, though, the numbers 24 and 48 quickly started moving toward the front.

With 32 laps left – just six laps after Stewart and Junior initially hooked up – Gordon and Johnson caught up to the two race leaders and Junior pulled away from Stewart to run with his new teammates. Dave Blaney and Reed Sorenson fell in line behind Stewart, and we spent the next several laps watching Smoke try and lead a charge to pass the Hendrick dynasty, which he finally did.

After a late-race caution, the green flag dropped once more and it was a shootout to the end with only a few laps remaining. Junior and Stewart ran neck and neck with Johnson pushing the 88 car and Gordon pushing the 20. When Gordon pulled to the middle of the track and started to drop back in the field, Junior appeared to have the advantage over Stewart, who was now being pushed by Denny Hamlin … and, it stayed that way as Junior brought home the checkered flag – leading a record 47 of the 70 laps – and Stewart came home in second. Though there were no points involved and it won’t go down as an “official” race win for Earnhardt, he gave Junior Nation plenty to rejoice about and plenty to hope for in 2008.

Race Results (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Junior Sets the Pace for ‘08

With the drop of the green flag on the 2008 NASCAR season just hours away, this year’s Budweiser Shootout is already grabbing headlines all over the racing world. After the first practice session many fans had already suspected that things could turn ugly in this one rather quickly with the way the drivers were complaining about the handling of the cars. The main gripe was focused around the fact that the car formerly known as the “Car of Tomorrow” was extremely loose raising alarms for several teams since this is the first time the COT is being run at Daytona.

On the sixth practice lap yesterday, the teams’ worst fears came true when the no. 07 Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer made contact with the no. 12 Dodge of Ryan Newman. The contact sent Newman spinning down the backstretch and collecting the cars of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, David Gilliland, and Bill Elliott along the way. Also involved in the accident were former teammates Carl Edwards and Mark Martin who collided after avoiding the initial spill.

The damage sustained by the 8 teams involved in the accident were severe enough to cause them to all call on their backup cars for tonight’s event. As if that weren’t bad enough, though, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch decided to rekindle their fiery feud from last season shortly after the track reopened from the accident. Stewart and Busch made contact down the backstretch, and it was just enough to send Kurt spinning into the wall and Stewart spinning onto the apron. As the cars made their way down pit road, Busch banged the side of the no. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camri three times, instigating Stewart to block Busch’s entrance back into the garage area. This feud began at last year’s running of the Daytona 500 when they made contact while running 1-2 on the track, essentially taking them both out of the race.

The two drivers were immediately called down to the NASCAR hauler and then called in for a meeting at 5:00 am this morning. NASCAR official, Jim Hunter, reported to nascar.com that there have not yet been any fines or penalties issued, and the punishment for the two drivers remains to be determined, if any. “This is the NASCAR everybody fell in love with,” he said. So, the stage has been set for what is sure to be one of the most interesting and memorable Budweiser Shootouts in recent memory.

Post from: EveryJoe

Stage is Set for 2008 Budweiser Shootout

2/6 – NASCAR has announced that racing legend Junior Johnson will drive the pace car at this year’s Daytona 500.  Read More.

2/6 – NASCAR has also announced that the 24 Daytona 500 champions that are still alive will all Grand Marshall this year’s race.  Read More.

2/6 – Freightliner Trucks will be the primary sponsor on the DEI no. 8 Chevy this year in the Nationwide Series.  Read More.

2/7 – The 73-year-old James Hylton had previously announced that he would enter his name for the Daytona 500 to run alongside Carl Long for E&M Motorsports, but those plans fell through and Hylton is not on the Daytona entry list.  Read More.

2/7 – NASCAR President Mike Helton has stated that NASCAR does not plan on placing an age restriction requirement for the Sprint Cup Series anytime soon, and should any rule pertaining to such come into effect in the future, plenty of advance notice will be given.  Read More.

2/7 – A recent media poll released on Thursday has Jeff Gordon slated to win his fifth Cup Championship this season with the final points standings closely resembling that of last year.  Read More.

2/7 – TRG Motorsports has signed Line-X Spray-On Truck Bedliners as the primary sponsor for the no. 7 truck of Andy Lally at Daytona on Friday.  Read More.

2/7 – It’s been reported that NASCAR could possibly be interested in purchasing the NHRA Series following 2008.  Read More.

2/7 – Yates Racing has finally signed the first primary sponsor for either of their Sprint Cup teams this season. Freecreditreport.com will sponsor the no. 38 Ford of David Gilliland through the first 7 races of the season.  Read More.

2/8 – Kurt Busch has drawn the pole position for this year’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona on Saturday.  Read More.

2/8 – Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon will sponsor the no. 70 Chevy Impala of Jeremy Mayfield this year at the Daytona 500.  Read More.

2/8 – Elliott Sadler has launched his new driver website at www.elliottsadler.com.  Read More.

2/8 – The Miller Lite Brewing Co. has wagered $25,000 in Las Vegas that the no. 2 Miller Lite car driven by Kurt Busch will finish ahead of the no. 9 Budweiser car of Kasey Kahne in the points standings this year with the proceeds to be donated to the Kurt Busch Foundation. The current line at the Palms’ has Busch favored to finish 8 spots ahead of Kahne by season’s end.  Read More.

2/8 – Coke Zero has taken the new role of Title Sponsor of the Sprint Cup Series’ July race at Daytona. The race has historically been known as the “Pepsi 400”, but PepsiCo. has decided to focus their NASCAR sponsorship funds to Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Read More.

Post from: EveryJoe

Saturday Morning Quick Fix

2/4 – Tony Stewart was awarded a “Brickyard” ring by IMS boss, Tony George, this past week at the Indiana Statehouse for winning the 2007 Allstate 400 in Indianapolis. Read More.

2/4 – Sam Hornish Jr. and wife, Crystal, had their first child. Addison Faith Hornish was delivered this past Monday, though originally not expected until February 10th. Read More.

2/5 – Cintas Corp. has signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports beginning in 2008. Cintas will now be the official uniform supplier for all three of the Evernham Sprint Cup teams as well as associate sponsors, including the primary sponsorship role for Patrick Carpentier at Atlanta in the Spring.  Read More.

2/5 – Goodyear has recently announced their own diversity program that will provide high school students the opportunity to explore various career paths in NASCAR. The program will award at-track experiences, internships, and (6) annual scholarships. Read More.

2/5 – Hendrick Motorsports has signed Adrian Fernandez to drive the no. 5 Lowe’s Chevy this April for the Nationwide Series race in Mexico City.  Read More.

2/6 – A 60-year-old man recently suffered a heart-attack and died while completing his fourth lap of the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Daytona.  Read More.

2/6 – Gillett-Evernham Motorsports has hired former CEO of Lending Tree and former amateur driver, Tom Reddin, as the company’s new CEO.  Read More.

2/6 – Jimmie Johnson attended the White House this Tuesday to meet with President Bush for the annual meet & greet that the President has with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. Read More.

Post from: EveryJoe

Wednesday Mid-Week Wrap