It's official. The 2011 NASCAR racing season is upon us. As our pre-show, the Budweiser Shootout whetted the appetite for what's to come next week and, let me tell you, it is VERY promising. The track was resurfaced over the off-season and the grip is now amazing. Couple that with the new ethanol engines and car style changes (gone are the ugly, cow catching front splitters) and you've got some great racing coming! Speeds for the shootout were clocked over 206mph at their highest point, with an average speed over 196mph. THAT'S FAST!
It would appear that the winner of this year's Daytona 500 is going to have to find the right dancing partner to hook up with, be OK to set in the second or third spot and then wait patiently to pounce at the absolute last moment. The new car styles also seem to allow driverss to hook up together for longer periods of time before overheating begins. Instead of only being able to go around bumper-to-bumper for a couple of laps, these guys were lasting for several laps, with just a quick jut out for their engines to breathe before they tucked back in line. "Co-opertition", according to DW (cooperation and competition).
Unfortunately, poor Kasey Kahne, who's driving the #4 Red Bull car this year until he takes over Mark Martin's spot on the Hendrick Motorsports Team next year, had some trouble with his car and was out pretty early in the race. After the first 25 laps, there was a 10 minute break for all cars to come to pit row and make any adjustments they wanted. The second/last segment was 50 laps long. Pretty quickly after the break, Regan Smith's #78 came down to try to claim a piece of real estate that Carl Edward's #99 and pole-sitter Dale Earnhardt Jr's #88 were competing for, causing a wreck that also collected Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and last year's Rookie of the Year Kevin Conway. Two laps later, newly married Kyle Busch's #18 got loose in front of drafting partner Mark Martin (#5), taking them both down. With 28 laps to go, the newly svelte Tony Stewart (#14) did the same thing to Michael Waltrip's #15 that Mark did to Busch, causing Michael's car to trim the infield lawn.
As the lead changed constantly (I believe the final tally was over 24, a new record), there was a breakaway of two 2-man teams racing towards the finish. Denny Hamlin's #11 was pushing Ryan Newman's #39 towards the front while they raced side-by-side with Jamie MacMurray's #1 (last year's Daytona 500 winner) pushing Kurt Busch's #22 (Pennzoil is now Busch's main sponsor) towards the checkered flag. At the last minute, Hamlin dashed down to the bottom of the track to try to overtake Newman at the finish and succeeded, crossing the finish line first. However, since he advanced his position by crossing below the yellow line (a major no-no at Daytona), he was banished to the back of the lead lap, falling from first to 12th.
All of this racing gets me VERY excited for what's in store next Sunday. The Daytona 500 starts at 1pm EST on Fox February 20th. But, for more racing fun before then, you might want to check out the Gatorade Duel on Thursday, February 17th on the Speed Channel. The final spots for the Daytona 500 will be decided here. I'll definitely be there for Sunday's race. Let's go racing, boys!
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