Daily NASCAR

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: 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, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona International Speedway workers repaired a small portion of the race track late Thursday night after a routine track inspection by engineers revealed a potential problem spot reminiscent of track surface issues that interrupted this year’s Daytona 500.

Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig downplayed the repair Friday morning, calling it “precautionary.” The spot, located in Turn 2, was patched with a “strengthened epoxy” about 1-foot by 4 1/2-feet long.

It is located about three feet from another patch that was put on the track to repair the potholes that red-flagged the February race for an hour and 42 minutes. The file photo at right hows the mid-race repair work.

“We had the luxury of time, personnel and we had the materials,” Braig said. “It was more like normal track maintenance.

“It has our full attention and we’ve got everything from cameras focused on it to our safety crew looking at it. When there are cautions on track or any delay in the schedule we’ll be out there checking and double-checking.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — By the time rain halted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice Thursday night, a half dozen race cars sat hobbled in the garage while teams furiously prepared back-ups.

It was a wild first day out here at Daytona International Speedway thanks to a combination of an extremely slick track, unusually warm and humid weather conditions — even by Florida standards — and the largest restrictor plate ever used on this famous 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne were among those involved in practice session accidents. All but Edwards will use back-up cars in Friday afternoon’s qualifying for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 here.

“I guess when we come to the superspeedway, we should prepare our back-up cars more than the primary,” said an exasperated Hamlin, who was hit from behind by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, triggering a five-car accident that also collected Reed Sorenson, Robert Richardson Jr. and Stewart with just less than an hour remaining in the evening session.

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by Holly CainI hope you’ll join me for a FanHouse Motorsports exclusive live chat with two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart from the media center at Daytona International Speedway at 2 p.m. Friday, the day before the Coke Zero 400.

The annual Independence Day classic comes at the traditional halfway point of the season, and after a slow start, Stewart has been coming on strong, with five top-10 finishes in the last six races, including second last weekend at New Hampshire.

Tony is still looking for his first win, but Ryan Newman, his hand-picked teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing, took the checkered flag at Phoenix.

Tony has joined me for FanHouse exclusive chats before, such as in 2009 during Speedweeks at Daytona, when we talked about a wide range of subjects ranging from personal preferences to the state of the sport.

It’s going to be a big weekend of racing, and I hope you’ll help kick it off with me at 2 p.m. Friday when we spend some time with the popular river of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet.

Tony Stewar Live Chat

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