Because NASCAR trimmed the field by three cars to 40, the driver council was cut to nine this season. Stewart fractured a vertebra and lay in the sand alone for 90 minutes waiting for his group to find him and get him to a hospital.
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Earnhardt won the first qualifying race Thursday night for the Daytona 500 to earn a starting spot on the second row for NASCAR’s biggest event. He has come heartbreakingly close in his 17 previous tries and spoke last month of his desire to add that win to his resume. It’s like watch an IROC race every week.
What Stewart will be missing is the start of what is expected to be a dramatically improved season with plenty of storylines.
A number of those reside at Kyle Busch Motorsports, the defending series championship winning team after Erik Jones made a run to the title in 2015.
“Man, I can sleep well this week finally”, he said last Sunday after locking up his first career Daytona 500 start.
The drivers will all be using a new rules package that they pushed for during a new era of increased communication between NASCAR and its participants.
“Referring to Alan Gustafson, his crew chief who also served in the same role for Gordon, Elliott said, “(He) has done such a good job of welcoming me.
As NASCAR tried a variety of different packages, the drivers were vocal in the desire for less downforce.
Young drivers are certainly making their presence known.
The hope is that the racing will be more entertaining this year. The Truck Series will also have a new “caution clock” in which a yellow flag will fly for a competition caution if 20 minutes of continuous green-flag racing pass.
“Whether this is my last race or not”, Richardson said, “this is a good way to go out”.
“On Sunday, NASCAR will invite fans on Twitter to race in the first-ever Hashtag 500 for a chance to win authentic memorabilia from this year’s Great American Race”, Twitter’s blog post about the partnership read.
Stewart’s Daytona 500 career has included some near wins. He didn’t win, however, which probably cost him a shot at the title.
He was eliminated after Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him at Martinsville.
Waltrip went 462 races without a victory before winning the 2001 Daytona 500. Now, five years later, they look to be in position to do it again.
The overhaul includes elaborate, corporate-sponsored fan entrances, more than 1,400 high-definition televisions and more diverse food and beverage options.
NASCAR will not issue punishments via a class system like it does for technical infractions.
The change gets away from the independent contractor model that had been used since NASCAR’s inception in 1948.
BK Racing holds two of the 36 charters available from NASCAR that guaranteed spots in the field each race. The six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was fastest in the practice session – by a lot. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are hard to predict and generally beyond our control. “I’ll still be that sponge this year, but I at least have that baseline this year to go off of”.
Some of the sport’s biggest names, such as Jeff Gordon, have retired or are edging toward it, such as Tony Stewart.
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The Chase formats in the two lower series will feature seven races each and two elimination rounds before the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway like the Sprint Cup boys and girl. He made the show because the next fastest Open Driver in the field, Matt DiBenedetto raced his way into the show.
