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Sprint Cup
JENSEN: Wild And Wacky Speedweeks
Matt Kenseth’s victory was about the only normal thing that happened in Daytona this weekend...
If there’s been a stranger Daytona Speedweeks than the marathon concluded in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, I’ve yet to see it.
Hmm, let’s see ...
• Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was won by John King, a 23-year-old Tennessee native who in his entire prior career had won just two races, both in late models. Outside of Red Horse Racing and his immediate family, he was virtually unknown in NASCAR.
• James Buescher was 11th going into Turn 4 on the last lap of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, yet somehow won when everyone in front of him wrecked.
• Speaking of wrecks, the unofficial count for the week: 21 cars involved in crashes in the Bud Shootout; seven in the Gatorade Duel; 28 in the Truck Series race; 37 in the Nationwide race; and 25 in the Daytona 500. Add it all up, and it’s 118 different cars and trucks damaged or destroyed. And that doesn’t even count a couple of wrecks in practice. All told, the damages probably ran north of $10 million.
• Danica Patrick was the center of attention when she won the NASCAR Nationwide Series pole. But she got crashed out of all three races she ran, once on the last lap, once on the second lap and once in mid-race. Welcome to the big leagues. It’s a long season, so best pace yourself.
• For the third time in his career, Jimmie Johnson got caught with a cheated up Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Daytona. Given that he finished 42nd in the Daytona 500 and likely will be hit with a substantial points penalty, Johnson already is in a deep hole.
• The Daytona 500 was supposed to start at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and end a little after 5 p.m. Instead, it started at 7 p.m. Monday and ended around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
• Then there was the little matter of Juan Pablo Montoya vs. the jet dryer. I’ve seen drivers hit the pace car, but never the jet dryer, which erupted into a huge, spectacular ball of flame and dumped jet fuel all down Turn 3. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, which was caused when something broke on Montoya’s car, sending him careening out of control. Huge props to the Daytona International Speedway track workers and the NASCAR staff for getting the surface repaired and allowing the racing to resume. It was a Herculean effort and they did a marvelous job salvaging the night. And, yes, that was Tide they were scrubbing the track down with.
• To add one last insult to injury, most of the Sprint Cup teams were stranded an extra night in Daytona, because Charlotte was fogged in early Tuesday morning and airplanes couldn’t land there.
Insane. There really isn’t any other word for it.
The least surprising part about Speedweeks? That a Roush Fenway Ford won the Daytona 500. The team’s cars were fast all throughout Speedweeks, with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle claiming the top two qualifying spots for the Daytona 500 and Matt Kenseth winning both his Gatorade Duel and, for the second time, the Daytona 500.
Fords have now won three consecutive points races at Daytona International Speedway, only the second time that’s ever happened, the first coming in 1999-2000, when Dale Jarrett won the 1999 Coke Zero 400 and the 2000 Daytona 500, and Jeff Burton took the 2000 Coke Zero 400.
Kudos to the Daytona and NASCAR staffs for persevering through enormous weather challenges over the final 48 hours of Speedweeks. Most of all, thanks to all the loyal NASCAR fans who toughed it out to see the first primetime Daytona 500. You guys and gals rock.
And the best part?
Cars will be back on track in Phoenix in three days.
See you then.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Hmm, let’s see ...
• Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was won by John King, a 23-year-old Tennessee native who in his entire prior career had won just two races, both in late models. Outside of Red Horse Racing and his immediate family, he was virtually unknown in NASCAR.
• James Buescher was 11th going into Turn 4 on the last lap of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, yet somehow won when everyone in front of him wrecked.
• Speaking of wrecks, the unofficial count for the week: 21 cars involved in crashes in the Bud Shootout; seven in the Gatorade Duel; 28 in the Truck Series race; 37 in the Nationwide race; and 25 in the Daytona 500. Add it all up, and it’s 118 different cars and trucks damaged or destroyed. And that doesn’t even count a couple of wrecks in practice. All told, the damages probably ran north of $10 million.
• Danica Patrick was the center of attention when she won the NASCAR Nationwide Series pole. But she got crashed out of all three races she ran, once on the last lap, once on the second lap and once in mid-race. Welcome to the big leagues. It’s a long season, so best pace yourself.
• For the third time in his career, Jimmie Johnson got caught with a cheated up Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Daytona. Given that he finished 42nd in the Daytona 500 and likely will be hit with a substantial points penalty, Johnson already is in a deep hole.
• The Daytona 500 was supposed to start at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and end a little after 5 p.m. Instead, it started at 7 p.m. Monday and ended around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
• Then there was the little matter of Juan Pablo Montoya vs. the jet dryer. I’ve seen drivers hit the pace car, but never the jet dryer, which erupted into a huge, spectacular ball of flame and dumped jet fuel all down Turn 3. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, which was caused when something broke on Montoya’s car, sending him careening out of control. Huge props to the Daytona International Speedway track workers and the NASCAR staff for getting the surface repaired and allowing the racing to resume. It was a Herculean effort and they did a marvelous job salvaging the night. And, yes, that was Tide they were scrubbing the track down with.
• To add one last insult to injury, most of the Sprint Cup teams were stranded an extra night in Daytona, because Charlotte was fogged in early Tuesday morning and airplanes couldn’t land there.
Insane. There really isn’t any other word for it.
The least surprising part about Speedweeks? That a Roush Fenway Ford won the Daytona 500. The team’s cars were fast all throughout Speedweeks, with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle claiming the top two qualifying spots for the Daytona 500 and Matt Kenseth winning both his Gatorade Duel and, for the second time, the Daytona 500.
Fords have now won three consecutive points races at Daytona International Speedway, only the second time that’s ever happened, the first coming in 1999-2000, when Dale Jarrett won the 1999 Coke Zero 400 and the 2000 Daytona 500, and Jeff Burton took the 2000 Coke Zero 400.
Kudos to the Daytona and NASCAR staffs for persevering through enormous weather challenges over the final 48 hours of Speedweeks. Most of all, thanks to all the loyal NASCAR fans who toughed it out to see the first primetime Daytona 500. You guys and gals rock.
And the best part?
Cars will be back on track in Phoenix in three days.
See you then.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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