CUP: Daytona Wednesday Notebook (UPDATE 8)

Sprint Cup

CUP: Daytona Wednesday Notebook (UPDATE 8)

Pair of Daytona 500 practices complete as teams move into final days of Speedweeks...

Mike Hembree | Posted February 20, 2013 Daytona Beach, FL

Kasey Kahne has run particularly strong the last few weeks. (Photo: Getty Images)

Other Speedweeks 2013 Notebooks
TUESDAY, FEB. 19
MONDAY, FEB. 18
SUNDAY, FEB. 17
SATURDAY, FEB. 16
FRIDAY, FEB. 15
THURSDAY, FEB. 14

[WEDNESDAY 4:08 pm ET]

KAHNE RISES – Kasey Kahne led Wednesday's final Sprint Cup practice with a speed of 197.737 miles per hour, edging Greg Biffle, who ran 197.702. Also in the top five were Jeff Gordon, pole winner Danica Patrick and Carl Edwards. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran 35 laps in the practice session after his team replaced an engine in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Junior, who blew the motor in the day's first practice, was 17th in the second session.

[WEDNESDAY 3:36 pm ET]

SHOWDOWN ENTRIES – Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Michael Waltrip, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Denny Hamlin are among the drivers entered in the April 25 Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway. The race, which also includes Virginia area Late Model drivers, is a fundraiser for the Denny Hamlin Foundation and the driver's Cystic Fibrosis Research Lab. The race is a part of RIR's Sprint Cup weekend.

Michael Waltrip led the first of two Wednesday practices for the Daytona 500 with a speed of 198.347 miles per hour. (Photo: Getty Images)

[WEDNESDAY 1:38 pm ET]

WALTRIP NO. 1 – Michael Waltrip led the first of two Wednesday practices for the Daytona 500 with a speed of 198.347 miles per hour. Driving a Toyota promoting a fund to assist the community of Newtown, Conn. in the wake of the December school shootings there, Waltrip led an adventurous practice session that included a crash involving Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman and a blown engine by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Following Waltrip on the speed list were David Ragan, Tony Stewart, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch.

[WEDNESDAY 1:04 pm ET]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is looking for additional sponsorship. (Photo: Getty Images)

JUNIOR'S ENGINE EXPIRES – Wednesday's first practice ended on a sour note for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the engine in his Chevrolet failed. "It's just part of racing," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We'll put a new one in, start from the back tomorrow (in 150-mile qualifying race) and run up through there." Junior was scheduled to start sixth in the first Duel 150 qualifying race.

[WEDNESDAY 12:57 pm ET]

NAME GAME – The Firecracker race name is back at Daytona International Speedway. Sponsor Subway and the track announced Wednesday that the July 5 Nationwide Series race at DIS will be named the Subway Firecracker 250. "Firecracker" was in the name of the track's summer Cup race from 1959, its first season, through 1988.

[WEDNESDAY 12:15 pm ET]

Carl Edwards was involved in an incident just 15 minutes into Wednesday's first practice. (Photo: Getty Images)

RUH, ROH – It took just 15 minutes for the first incident of the day, as Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman made contact on track, with Edwards drifting up into Newman and sending the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet around. Mark Martin, who previously was wrecked in Sprint Unlimited practice and the race, got some minor cosmetic damage.

“My car came around and I don’t know if it was the air on Carl’s car or what,” said Newman, who called it an aero situation. The crash occurred in the first of today’s two practice rounds in anticipation of tomorrow’s Duel 150 qualifying races for the Daytona 500.

[WEDNESDAY 11:58 am ET]

Jimmie Johnson is still working on his Spanish-speaking skills. (Photo: Getty Images)

NUMBERS, NUMBERS – A track with the long and rich history of Daytona International Speedway builds up a mass of statistics and numbers over the years. A few for the Daytona 500: 20 – most races led (Richard Petty). 780 – most laps led (Petty). 21 – most wins by a manufacturer (Chevrolet). 170 – driver leading the most laps and not winning (Fireball Roberts, 1961). 16 – most times completing all 500 miles (Bill Elliott).

[WEDNESDAY 11:35 am ET]

ALL ABOUT THE LANGUAGE – With the NASCAR audience becoming more diverse and drivers with a variety of backgrounds participating at all NASCAR levels, English is no longer the only language heard in garages.

This is particularly true in the news media environment. Several Hispanic reporters are in Daytona Beach for coverage of the 500. One congratulated Jimmie Johnson Wednesday on his Spanish.

Johnson, smiling, replied, "I can order a beer and a taco (in Spanish); that's about it," he said.

[WEDNESDAY 9:16 am ET]

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage is alive again at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

INTO THE HOMESTRETCH – The final – and biggest – segment of stock-car Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway begins today with two rounds of practice for Thursday's 150-mile qualifying races and Sunday's Daytona 500.

After two wild nights for lesser divisions on the makeshift .4-mile short track on the DIS backstretch, focus today returns to the 2.5-mile oval, with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices scheduled at noon and 2:30 p.m.

Weather is expected to be pleasant, with partly cloudy skies and almost no chance of rain. In fact, the the weather forecast for the rest of Daytona 500 week is very good, with highs on race day expected to be in the mid-70s.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Hembree

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