EARNHARDT (ON BAD LUCK.): "I think we were good, I just had some bad luck. Every time I would get in the front, some bad luck would take me to the back. Something I would do or something else. But I had a great car; I could run up in the top five all night. I had a great car. My car was ready to go -- just had some circumstances kept moving me to the back." Image Credit: Hendrick Motorsports (2009)
A DAYtona In The Life Of Dale Jr.
Good driver, good car, great racing, bad day for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
With a little more than 75 laps to go, Dale Jr. commits an aggressive driving error that takes out ten cars while he was riding on the bottom of the track one lap down to the leaders. The only good news was that even though he was involved, he skated through the melee with no damage to his car.
Brian Vickers was also a lap down and saw Dale Jr. trying to sneak around him on the inside track position. Dale Jr. was pushed beyond the double yellow marker line and could not advance. On the way back on to the racing part of the track, Dale Jr. caught Brian Vickers’ bumper and spun him up the track in front of the field taking out about 10 cars including the best running car of the day driven by Kyle Busch.
Tom Cruise in the crowd before the race. He had the honor of driving the pace car to lead off the race. Image Credit: OSPHOTO via Twitter
Brian Vickers was interviewed after the wreckage was cleared and stated that he felt that Dale Jr. had touched him on purpose. “NASCAR should penalize him” stating that a driver was penalized earlier in the week during the Bud Shootout and the cost assessed by NASCAR was five (5) laps. How come he was not penalized?, asked Vickers.
The truth for Dale Jr. was not having a good time judging many things all race long … mostly in the pits.
Weather threatens to end the race early. Image Credit: dmentd82 via Twitter
The first judgment mistake that happened early in the race was that Earnhardt overshot his pit box. This caused Dale Jr. to have to go back around and pit out of sequence placing him at the back of the field upon the restart.
Raindrops are fallin' on my head ... Image Credit: nascargirls via Twitter
His second judgment mistake happened on the round of pitstops before the Vickers accident. There, Dale Jr. placed his car at a slight angle in the pitbox and had his right front tire on the line. The NASCAR official tried to warn the pitcrew but they changed the right front tire and the official had to penalize Dale Jr. one full lap.
This had Dale Earnhardt Jr. frustrated and working hard to make up his lap before the pending rain came over the track.
Image Credit: Tinaodarby via Twitter
The Daytona 500 Race ended on Yellow Flag/Red Flag Caution due to rain with 48 laps to go.
In an after race interview, Dale Jr. was heard saying, “Vickers should have held his ground” and “My pit sign is pink and everyone else’s is pink – next week we will probably make ours yellow and everyone else will make theirs yellow."
Dale Jr. ended up finishing in 27th position in a field of 43 cars - on the same lap as the winner.
A bad day for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the 88 AMP sponsored Chevrolet.
A good day for open-wheel ChampCar racing veteran AJ Allmendinger driving a Valvoline sponsored Dodge with a 3rd place podium finish in his first Daytona 500.
Matt Kenseth in a DeWalt sponsored Roush Fenway Ford won the race for the driver’s first win and team’s first ever win after 22 tries at Daytona, followed by Kevin Harvick in his Shell/Pennzoil sponsored George/Haas Chevrolet.
The Car of Tomorrow (CoT), sometimes called CoT or "Car of Today", is the car style for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Larger and boxier than the design it replaced, the Car of Tomorrow is safer, costs less to maintain, and makes for closer competition. /// The car was introduced in the 2007 Cup season at the Food City 500 on March 25 and ran a partial schedule of 16 races. The plan was to require all teams to use the new car in 2009, but NASCAR officials moved the date up to the 2008 season. Image Credit: NASCAR
COT (Car-Of-Tomorrow/Today) Nets Big Rewards For Rookie
This will be the real breakout year for the chassis design that is mandated for use by NASCAR.
Originally run as a test to standardize the chassis and outer skin of a NASCAR race platform back in 2007, 2008 was the first full year where the chassis was run at all tracks.
Standing at the precipice of the 2009 season, the green flag falls on the second full season using the COT this weekend, when NASCAR sets up shop on a 36-week run to November at the Daytona 500.
This is the year teams have all the knowledge of the car and because there are no real changes to the base chassis, attention is brought back to the performance of the drivers and teams. The COT delivers a lower cost chassis and allows new drivers to shine … especially if they are able to hook up with a seasoned and professional winning team.
Joey Logano, sitting in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota COT - Daytona 500 (Daytona International Speedway). Image Credit: Joe Gibbs Racing
This excerpted and edited from autosport.com -
Logano: Duel result earned respect By Matt Beer, autosport.com - Saturday, February 14th 2009, 13:41 GMT
Teenage rookie Joey Logano believes he proved a point with his fourth place finish in Thursday's Gatorade Duel, and thinks other drivers will now be more willing to work with him during tomorrow's Daytona 500.
Logano has replaced double Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing this season, the 18-year-old having wowed NASCAR when he won the Kentucky Speedway Nationwide Series race last year. ---- "I think we accomplished everything we needed to," said Logano. "Our main goal was to go out there and finish the race - that was more than we got in the Shootout. ---- When asked if he felt he had now earned the experienced drivers' trust, Logano replied: "Yeah, I think I have a little bit. It's just going to take time.
"I think this run (in the Duel) helped, getting up there at the end helped a lot. But yeah, that stuff just takes time."
He said he did not necessarily expect the established drivers to help him in the draft yet.
"I understand if someone wouldn't, there's an excuse not to," said Logano. "But at the same time, I feel like I'm getting treated fairly. I'm not getting dumped out there or anything like that.
With the Car-Of-Tomorrow running on a restrictor plate, a device that slows engines down from 900 horsepower to around 450, overall speeds at Daytona will be limited.
As a result, the 43-car field will run in tight formations along Daytona's 2.4 mile high-banked oval. Drafting will be at a premium and this is where a young driver can shine if he is able to tuck in with the right “partners”.
Welcome to this first real breakout year for the Car-Of-Tomorrow/Today!
Dario Franchitti's "Car-Of-The-Future" / Dodge Journey Charger - The latest big name open-wheel champion to jump into the waters of NASCAR. Image Credit: Freewheeling Daredevil at Daytona during Speedweeks 2008
Open-Wheel Talent At Daytona 500 In A Big Way
That's right, open-wheel racing talent will be represented at the 50th running of the NASCAR stock car season kickoff Daytona 500 in a big way.
Champions League is what we'll choose to call them here at The EDJE. It’s a league within a league and frankly, these drivers, and their skill coming to the most prolific and commercial of world autosport racing series, NASCAR, is long overdue.
The chasm that had existed in the culture between open-wheel and “stock” car racing series was a little like Television actors not respecting Feature movie actors or either not respecting Broadway actors and visa-versa.
Get over yourselves and do what you all do best – RACE!
Sign of the Times – This 50th anniversary Daytona 500 logo will be seen early and often in the countdown the 2008 running of the “Great American Race.” Image Credit: www7.justmarketing.com
Why is it that only two open-wheel racing team owners are fielding teams at NASCAR, and conversely, NO stock car team owners field teams at Champ Car World Series or Indianapolis Racing League?
Those drivers with recognizable names with ample open-wheel racing experience are as follows (past open-wheel champions in BOLD):
Did Not Qualify - AJ Allmendinger (2004 CCWS Rookie of the Year), Patrick Carpentier (1997-2004 CART, 2005 IRL), Jacques Villeneuve (1995 CART Championship, 1995 Indy 500 winner, 1997 F1 Championship)
Quailfied Car #/Position: Tony Stewart #20/6 (1997 IRL Champion), Casey Mears #5/9 ( 5 CART starts, with one top-5 finish, 3 IRL starts, no top-5 finishes/nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears ), Juan Pablo Montoya #42/15 (1999 CART Champion, 2000 Indy 500 Winner,F1), Sam Hornish Jr #77/19 (2001, 2002, 2006 IRL Champion), John Andritti #43/22 (1988 CART Rookie Of The Year [61 top-10s in 74 career races in CART], IRL), Robbie Gordon #7/26 (1992-1999 CART [106 starts], Indy 500 [10 starts] ), Dario Franchitti #40/40 (1997-2002 CART, 2003-2007 IRL, 2007 IRL Champion, 2007 Indy 500 winner)
Starting lineup for the 2008 running of the 50th Daytona 500. Video Credit: nadeau1064
This excerpted from ABC News -
An open-wheel invasion of NASCAR is in full swing for 2008. By TERRY BLOUNT - Feb. 7, 2008
Since NASCAR's early days, stars of open-wheel racing have occasionally stopped by to visit.
Things have changed. Now they're coming to stay.
The 2008 Daytona 500 will have at least three Indy 500 winners on the starting grid -- Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti. Jacques Villeneuve will make it a historic foursome if he qualifies.
Having Indy 500 winners at Daytona is nothing new. Even 45 years ago, four men who would win Indy competed in the Daytona 500 -- A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Troy Ruttman and Parnelli Jones. But two of them -- Jones and Rutherford -- hadn't accomplished the feat at the time.
The 1981 race was the last time two men with Indy 500 wins on their résumés -- Rutherford and Foyt -- competed in the Daytona 500.
In the past, the big names of Indy were just passing through, racing in NASCAR's biggest show as a little sidelight before heading back to the open cockpit.
And for the most part, they were Americans who sounded the same (well, sort of) and didn't have hard-to-pronounce names. They just happened to spend most of their racing careers in a different discipline.
They could make more money and gain more fame by concentrating on Indy cars. Frankly, the idea of racing full time in NASCAR was laughable.
2008 Daytona 500 Pace Car - Image Credit: z06vette.com
Who's laughing now? Indy-car racing did everything possible to destroy itself over the past decade with two competing leagues and constant feuding.
The open-wheelers are here now because it's the place to be. The men who won the past two Indy 500s -- Hornish and Franchitti -- will race full time in Sprint Cup. Neither will race in the 2008 Indy 500.
Montoya coming to Sprint Cup last year was just the beginning. ---- Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier are Canadians who plan to race full time in Cup this season.
Cup will have four foreign-born drivers competing for the first time. Montoya is Colombian and Franchitti is a Scotsman.
They are bringing attention to the sport from people and places that never cared in the past. But there's also an element of NASCAR's old guard that doesn't like it. ---- NASCAR officials have embraced a "return-to-its-roots" theme for the 2008 season to try to regain the trust of the old-school fans. Obviously, the open-wheel invasion doesn't help sell that concept.
Most of the veteran drivers don't care. The open-wheelers are just other guys they have to beat.
"To me, it makes no difference," said Ryan Newman, Hornish's teammate at Penske Racing. "I was an open-wheel driver [sprint cars] when I came in. I just wasn't an IndyCar driver.
"The bottom line is they're drivers, they're competitors. I don't care whether they're male or female, open-wheel drivers or late-model drivers from the local short track. They will learn if they deserve to be here. In the car owners' and sponsors' eyes, they feel that they are." ---- This is an uphill climb on an icy slope. It's unlikely any of them will enjoy the type of success Montoya had last year when he finished 20th in the standings. Montoya won the road race at Sonoma and had six top-10s.
For now, Montoya is in a league of his own among the open-wheel newbies. ---- Talent isn't always enough. Carpentier and Villeneuve don't have guaranteed spots in the field, racing in cars that never have come close to winning.
Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion, does have a guaranteed spot. He swapped points with teammate Kurt Busch. But Hornish is part of a new third car at Penske with a new crew, an almost certain recipe for struggle.
Franchitti is going to an organization (Ganassi Racing) that hasn't won an oval-track race in five seasons. ---- "It was a tough decision to make," Hornish said. "But I got to a point in my career where I decided this was the next challenge. ---- Money tops the list. NASCAR is their best option for cashing in while they can. Villeneuve and Carpentier are 36. Franchitti is 34. Time is running out.
Another reason is safety. NASCAR has become a much safer form of racing compared to open-wheel cars. Franchitti was lucky to escape unhurt from two terrifying airborne crashes last year en route to the IndyCar Series championship. ---- "I know it's going to be hard," Franchitti said. "But every year since I started racing, I've always asked myself one question at the end of the season: 'Do I still want to do this?' Being in NASCAR is what I really want to do." Reference Here>>
UPDATE - Post Race Results For "The Champions League" (the league within a league) -
50th Daytona 500 Finish – Video Credit: Mikey2448
The race was won by Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish's teammate on the Roger Penske Racing team. So the race was won by an open-wheel racing series team owner.
Order of finish for those who have open-wheel racing experience:
EARNHARDT (ON BAD LUCK.): "I think we were good, I just had some bad luck. Every time I would get in the front, some bad luck would take me to the back. Something I would do or something else. But I had a great car; I could run up in the top five all night. I had a great car. My car was ready to go -- just had some circumstances kept moving me to the back." Image Credit: Hendrick Motorsports (2009)
Tom Cruise in the crowd before the race. He had the honor of driving the pace car to lead off the race. Image Credit: OSPHOTO via Twitter
Weather threatens to end the race early. Image Credit: dmentd82 via Twitter
Raindrops are fallin' on my head ... Image Credit: nascargirls via Twitter
Image Credit: Tinaodarby via Twitter
