Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

So much for the suspense.

After weeks of leaks and days of announcements and eye-rolling spectacle from NASCAR track promoters, the sanctioning body finally revealed the full 2011 Sprint Cup schedule Tuesday.

Thanks to the steady stream of announcements from individual tracks, there were no real surprises.

Most notable for the marquee Cup Series is a new venue for 2011 — Kentucky Speedway — which will host its first Sprint Cup event, a night race on July 9. The Chase for the Championship will begin in Chicago (Sept. 18) instead of New Hampshire, which will host the second Chase race instead.

Speedways in Atlanta and Los Angeles will only hold one Cup race instead of two, while conversely Kansas Speedway was awarded a second date in the summer (June 5) to complement its Oct. 8 Chase race.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a test of survival as much as pure horsepower or tactical brilliance, Kevin Harvick held off Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon to win NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Almost two-thirds of the field were eliminated from contention in a 19-car pile-up with 12 laps remaining that red-flagged the race for 19 minutes and 34 seconds just after the clock struck midnight on the East Coast.

And just as the few survivors from that “Big One” were coming to the white flag to settle it among themselves on the final lap, Penske racing teammates Sam Hornish and Kurt Bush collided with Elliot Sadler to force extra time — a green-white-checkered finish.

Harvick, the Sprint Cup points leader, took the lead from his Richard Childress racing teammate Clint Bowyer on the ensuing restart, and held off a furious charge by Kahne and Gordon, who was looking for his first win in over a year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five. And even after Harvick took the checkered flag, cars were wrecking behind him.

“Every time I looked up it seemed like a crash was going on,” said Kahne, whose runner-up finish was a career best here.

“I’m starting to get used to the fact that every race we go to is basically bumper cars at 190 mph,” added Gordon, who moved into second place in the points standings.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — He did it for his fans. He did it for his dad’s fans. But ultimately Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s emotional victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway did the most for himself.

There was a collective pause among the thousands in the grandstands and millions tuned into the television as Earnhardt drove the No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet across the finish line in the Nationwide Series race — the car’s blue-and-yellow retro paint scheme a tribute to his late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., who drove the No. 3 to six of his seven championships before he was killed in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

As Earnhardt made his victory lap Saturday, absorbing and cherishing the crowd’s emotion, his crew chief and first cousin, Tony Eury Jr., put his head into his hands and cried openly on pit road. Then his dad’s former team owner and best friend, Richard Childress, met him in the victory circle for a congratulatory hug and to assure him his dad would be proud.

Proud not because Earnhardt won another race — he’s won eight of them on Daytona’s high banks — but because he took the tougher road and prevailed.

Proud because he voluntarily took on the heavy burden of driving “his father’s car” and even with all the unfair expectations and heightened emotion heaped upon him in the last nine years, he prevailed.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Light but persistent rain showers forced NASCAR to cancel Sprint Cup Series qualifying Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. The starting field will be set according to the owners points standings giving championship leader Kevin Harvick the pole position for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.

Four-time reigning Cup champ Jimmie Johnson will start alongside Harvick on the front row, with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon rounding out the top-five.

The bad weather wiped out an impressive qualifying run by Sam Hornish Jr., whose Dodge was fastest among the 12 cars that got on track before the rain. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second fastest. But with a Nationwide Series race set for later Friday evening and more rain in the forecast, NASCAR called opted out of the qualifying session. Hornish will start 30th and Earnhardt, 13th.

“For us, we didn’t have a lot of speed in qualifying trim, so this will make it a little easier at the beginning of the race to get going,” said Harvick, whose No. 29 Shell Chevrolet had been only 22nd quickest in final practice.

“Our car drives well though and we’re definitely looking forward to racing.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a nearly hour-long news conference Friday morning, NASCAR Chairman Brian France suggested, among other things, that major changes may be coming to the Sprint Cup Series’ Chase for the Championship.

France said he’s still happy with the 10-race format and re-setting the points for the final playoff push, but, “if there are some high impact changes we can make, we’re in a position to do that.”

He wouldn’t divulge what exactly is being considered.

“We like having a playoff moment when there’s a lot on the line in any one moment,” France said. “But you have to balance that with the body of the work.”

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