Dale Earnhardt Jr looks from the garage before practice for Sunday’s Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Only five drivers are part of the club with three or more Daytona 500 wins: Richard Petty (seven), Cale Yarborough (four), Bobby Allison (three), Dale Jarrett (three) and Jeff Gordon (three).
Advertisement
Figure on the usual suspects: Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman.
“The vehicle is awesome”, Earnhardt said.
This auto is something special, Earnhardt said.
“I just tried to take it in and enjoy that moment”. Earnhardt has finished in the top-3 at five of the last six Daytona 500s and 8 of 16 overall. “That’s all Greg (Ives) wants to do”.
And really, there never was debate whether to utilize Amelia once more. Still, his Wood Brothers Racing team got him back on the lead lap and he was in position to work with Logano to make a late run at Earnhardt.
That decision has thus far made them look all the wiser. Earnhardt said. “You can’t be buddying up, oh man, let me help this guy a little bit get by this guy for a couple laps”. I didn’t know if we were going to make it across the line or what was going to happen. A good CamAm Duel performance earned himself a Top-10 start, and he has had one of the faster cars all week. “I think it will stay that way”.
Said Austin Dillon: “The No. 88 vehicle is unreal fast”.
Until proven otherwise, though, Earnhardt remains the favorite. “Or when you’re at the gym on the treadmill, and you’re trying to secretly race the person next to you”.
In vehicle years, Amelia is rather old.
JGRs lone defeat during Speedweeks came in the first qualifying race, with Earnhardt passing Hamlin easily for the victory. We still have 500 miles to go tomorrow. The fleet of cars built for Daytona and Talladega are almost identical; the only difference is Amelia’s shelf life. It’s just fractions. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done I’ll be honest with you.
Elliott, part of a new youth group moving into NASCARs elite series, isnt alone in having to prove his mettle during the biggest race of the year. Some teams bestow cars with names immediately, as an identifier beyond just chassis numbers.
Other instances happen more organically. He won two races and earned a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs.
“We hit”, said Elliott, who notched his first win at a restrictor-plate race. Also, despite chaos seemingly breaking out every other lap at Daytona, she has been running a mostly clean week, with her new sponsor Nature’s Bakery ending up in the Top 10 for the week in her team’s CanAm Duel. She sort of fits that mold of courage and determination that you need as a driver.
And as I wrote in that piece, don’t bet the farm on it, and here’s why: I’ve been wrong many, many more times than right when it comes to picking these sorts of things. He went a decade between Daytona 500 victories (2004-14), and bemoaned the tandem drafting the track produced not too long ago. Unveiled two days before the Sprint Cup’s season-opening Daytona 500, the guidelines deal with on- and off-track infractions.
Advertisement
“It’s something I’ve dreamt of as a kid, something I’ve always wanted to accomplish and something a lot of people have expected me to be able to accomplish since I joined this sport”, Busch said of the championship.
