It’s also important to remember RCR has had very good cars at Daytona in past years. Standing in his way now is a lineup as formidable as Howie Long, Marcus Allen and the 1983 Raiders.
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Larson was involved in a multi-car accident in the second practice session, a pileup that occurred after Ty Dillion cracked an oil cooler between Turns 1 and 2 at Daytona International Speedway. The main competition comes from Daytona’s favorite son – two-time 500 victor Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. A lot of guys start preparing for this race as soon as the season ends from past year. “Coach wants to win everything”. Drivers can race in the Daytona Coors Light Pole Qualifying, in which teams run two consecutive laps with the faster lap used as the qualifying time, or the Duel at Daytona, two 150-mile qualifying races. Afterward, Earnhardt raved about his vehicle – nicknamed “Amelia Earhart” because he feels unbeatable in that speedy Chevrolet. Ty Dillon, who finished third last season behind Buescher and ’14 champ Chase Elliott, seems like the obvious choice. “We didn’t have the cars to do it”.
While the competitors nearly universally applaud NASCAR for putting such a focal point on safety, numerous drivers believe there’s more work to be done in at least one specific area – infield grass.
Elliott, the 20-year-old son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, could have his hands full in his first 500. The other qualifiers and starting positions will be set in the qualifying races. Moments before the green flag, thinking about my annual go-to Duels strategy of hanging out with the pacing, panicked bubble teams during the second race, I turned to my editor and said, “This will be a breeze tonight, won’t it?”
“I wish I wouldn’t have had breakfast”, McDowell said laughing. “‘Don’t worry about where I’m at”. “I can’t tell you what it means to make the Daytona 500”. Don’t give the lead up no matter what. “We’re not going to run (on Saturday), so all we have to do now is get ready and make sure everything is ready to go for the 500”. “You just got to be selfish'”. “Fans must watch the live race broadcast on FOX and/or follow @NASCAR on Twitter to receive custom hashtags to Tweet with for a chance to win 10 special giveaways”.
“Last year, unfortunately, we knew that next month we weren’t going to show up to the race track and win”, he said.
Here’s the race’s finishing order.
It wouldn’t be unheard of for Elliott or Blaney to earn an upset win. Lee Petty (1958 championship, 1959 Daytona 500), Richard Petty (1972 championship; 1973 Daytona 500), Cale Yarborough (1976 championship, 1977 Daytona 500), Jeff Gordon (1998 championship, 1999 Daytona 500) and Dale Jarrett (1999 championship, 2000 Daytona 500) accomplished the feat.
The best plate racers have separated themselves from the field, and those usual suspects are typically the ones in contention. But “Smoke” has suffered through a 77-race winless streak, and he hoped that new crew chief Mike Bugarewicz could help him go out on top. “Or when you’re at the gym on the treadmill, and you’re trying to secretly race the person next to you”.
There may not be a weekend that NASCAR fans look forward to more than the Daytona 500. But McMurray’s auto stalled out when he got to Busch’s bumper.
Daytona has since installed more than 8,500 feet of energy-absorbing “soft walls”. He broke his right leg and left foot in a crash the day before the 500 and missed 11 races. Joe Gibbs Racing. Like Hamlin, Edwards has won plenty of big races, but is still searching for his first Cup championship.
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Still, he refuses to go into Sunday thinking the famed track owes him anything. If you’re like me, you know the bare minimum about NASCAR. “I think certain things just come back through cycle”, Busch said. At the time, their biggest concern was the direction of the on-track product.
