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Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Call it "Dancing with the Cars.'' Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout exhibition was a 200-mph tango of two-car drafts on the newly-paved, super-fast Daytona International Speedway.

In a photo finish, Kurt Busch won a predictably wild NASCAR opener on the new $20 million racing surface, pushed to the front by defending Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray a few feet before the finish line. Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag first, but was subsequently black-flagged for dropping below the yellow line on the track trying to pass Ryan Newman at the finish line.

NASCAR ruled the finish Busch, McMurray and Newman. Five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.

"What an unbelievable experience,'' Busch said.

The race had set a record for lead changes (24) with 12 laps to go -- there ended up being 28. The two-car drafts were easily reaching speeds of 206 mph -- nearly 15 mph faster than last year's pole-winning speed for the Daytona 500.

Picking a dancing partner was nearly as important as having the fastest car. And "two-car breakaway" described the entire field. In an intense version of speed dating, Newman was pushed by Hamlin up until the final few feet while just alongside McMurray pushed Busch's No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge to Busch and Dodge's first Shootout victory.

"I went to the inside of Ryan Newman and I saw quickly a dart down to the bottom so I moved my car down to the bottom to avoid contact,'' Hamlin said. "I thought it was a great three-wide finish, but obviously, I used some pavement that we shouldn't have.''

Only 14 cars were still in the 75-lap exhibition with 24 laps remaining thanks to a handful of accidents caused when the two-car draft was just out of sync, a case of two left feet.

"There's plenty of film tonight for the highlight reels that's pretty much what we're filling up right now, SportsCenter,'' Kyle Busch said after his dancing, er, drafting partner, veteran Mark Martin, hit him from behind too hard and crashed them both out midway through the race.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

The Richard Childress Racing teams and Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines will pay tribute to the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt throughout Daytona Speedweeks.

All of the Richard Childress Racing cars, transporters and pit boxes will have No. 3 decals. Team members will wear a special RCR No. 3 hat on February 18, which marks 10 years since Earnhardt -- driver of the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevy -- was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines employees will wear a special ECR No. 3 hat for the duration of NASCAR Speedweeks, which begins with Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout 75-lap exhibition race and concludes with the Feb. 20 season-opening Daytona 500.

Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines is a joint venture launched in 2007 by Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., the race team started by Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa, in 1980.

"All of us at RCR and ECR are honored to pay tribute to Dale on this 10th anniversary," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines. "His legacy is still felt every day at RCR, ECR and throughout the world. We hope all of Dale's fans appreciate this salute to their hero and ours."

A tribute No. 3 decal has been on the No.. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick ever since Earnhardt's tragic death. The team changed the car number from 3 to 29 out of respect for the legend and it has never been on a car in the Cup series since.

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR

"So, you got any advice for me here coming up?'' Dale Earnhardt radioed to Andy Pilgrim while slowly driving caution laps around Daytona International Speedway, preparing for the final race restart with 21 laps to go in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Only two weeks earlier, the NASCAR icon had co-driven to a runner-up GT Class finish in the historic Rolex 24 at Daytona with the sports car champ Pilgrim (second from left above), who was now sitting with his girlfriend and Earnhardt's wife, Teresa, hooked up to the race team's radio in the couple's private motorcoach in the speedway's infield. A pair of motorcycle policemen had just arrived outside and were waiting to escort them all from the track after the race.

"When he said that to me, I just started laughing and thinking to myself, 'Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time NASCAR champion, is asking me, a road racer, what to do in the Daytona 500,' '' Pilgrim recalled. "I told him, 'No, man, I haven't got any advice for you, just keep doing what you're doing.' '''

"Okay, just wondering,'' Earnhardt good-naturedly replied, his words getting cut off by his spotter, who was alerting him the race was going green on the next lap.

"I told him, 'Cheers, talk to you later,' '' Pilgrim said. "And there was no more radio communication other than him cheering on and yelling for Michael (Waltrip) and (Dale Earnhardt) Junior.

"Then, 10 minutes later, he was gone.

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

IndyCar driver Danica Patrick confirmed her 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule Wednesday and will compete in four markets that she didn't visit last season in her stock car debut.

Patrick, who races full-time for Andretti Autosport in the IZOD IndyCar Series, will again run 13 Nationwide Series races -- the bulk of the schedule coming before and after her open-wheel commitments.

As expected Patrick will open the year in the Feb. 19 Nationwide 300-mile race at Daytona International Speedway, and will compete in the next three races on the schedule in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Bristol, Tenn.

After running the opening races of the IndyCar Series, Patrick then returns to the seat of the JR Motorsports' No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for summer races at Chicago and Daytona, then, for the first time, at the road course in Montreal, and the ovals in Richmond, Va., and Kansas.

Patrick will finish out the year in Fort Worth, Phoenix and the finale at Homestead-Miami, where she recorded her best start (fifth) and finish (19th) of 2010.

"I have a much different perspective heading into this season,'' Patrick said. "I know a little more of what to expect, and I'm not as out of my element.

"I've had a year to work with my team, and there is a comfort level that comes with returning to some of these tracks. It's obvious experience goes a long way in this sport. Thanks to everyone at Go Daddy and JR Motorsports that have been incredibly supportive throughout this process."

Joining Patrick at Daytona will be fellow IndyCar driver Milka Duno, who announced Wednesday she is entered in the Feb. 12 ARCA Series opener.

 

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Filed under: Tony Stewart, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR

More often than you'd guess, Tony Stewart calls up the YouTube video of his wild, death-defying crash in the closing laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. But not for reasons you might think.

In the short video clip, he watches his orange No. 20 get hit from behind on the massive Daytona International Speedway backstretch, turning it directly toward 200-mph oncoming traffic. As the rear of Stewart's Chevrolet catches air and starts to launch vertically, cars take evasive action.

That's where Stewart pauses the video. He even has a still photograph of this very moment (right).

Just as Stewart's car lifts off the ground -- seconds before he endures violent barrel rolls and smashes into a half-dozen cars -- the black No. 3 Chevrolet escapes through the smoke and frenzy unscathed. Its driver, Dale Earnhardt, heads to the front of the field to contend for the win. As usual.

"That's the part that bothers me the most,'' Stewart explained in an exclusive interview with AOL FanHouse, speaking in depth about that fateful Feb. 18, 2001 afternoon when NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

"It's like, if I could have just nicked him on the way by, would it have changed things just enough to keep his accident later from happening? There's no way anyone would ever wreck and think about hitting someone else believing it would do any good. I was along for the ride.

---

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years ago on Feb. 18, we lost Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR President Mike Helton used those very words that day - "we lost Dale Earnhardt" - in making the announcement that shocked and saddened people like no other death in American motorsports. It was a national tragedy - Earnhardt's photo appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek - and it reflected the fact that during his amazing career, the sport had grown from its regional roots into a major national sport, in good measure because of his exploits.

Starting today and continuing for seven days, FanHouse is proud to present a series entitled Ten Years After - The Untold Stories. Most of these stories about that fateful day or about Earnhardt's career have either never been told or are recalled in greater detail than ever before. In this story, FanHouse's Senior Motorsports Writer Holly Cain recalls that fateful day.

Peering through binoculars from a seat in the Daytona International Speedway press box -- seven stories above the famous track's finish line -- I watched driver Ken Schrader climb from his wrecked car and run a few feet over to Dale Earnhardt's crumpled Chevy at the conclusion of the 2001 Daytona 500.

It was the final lap, and their cars had collided and hit the turn 4 wall before coming to rest on the infield grass.

Schrader's urgent gestures to the safety crew and then his body language -- turning away from the wreckage -- was unusual for the normally controlled veteran.

I vividly remember the sickening feeling as I realized that Dale Earnhardt might be seriously injured.

I will never forget watching a then 26-year old Dale Earnhardt Jr. running down pit lane towards his dad's car a good half-mile away. The pure joy he experienced five minutes earlier as the runner-up finisher in the Daytona 500 -- his career best -- was replaced with anxiety and fear.

Once the rescue workers arrived at Earnhardt's famous black No. 3 and assessed the situation, it felt as if everyone was moving too slowly. The ambulance -- headed to the hospital just across the street -- left the scene -- and wasn't rushed. The wrecker was in no hurry.

Then, the telltale sign: track workers unrolled a large tarp. After a decade of covering the sport, I knew the tarp was used to cover and cloak race cars in fatal accidents.

 

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Filed under: Ken Schrader, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years ago on Feb. 18, we lost Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR President Mike Helton used those very words that day - "we lost Dale Earnhardt" - in making the announcement that shocked and saddened people like no other death in American motorsports. It was a national tragedy - Earnhardt's photo appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek - and it reflected the fact that during his amazing career, the sport had grown from its regional roots into a major national sport, in good measure because of his exploits.

Starting today and continuing for eight days, FanHouse is proud to present a series entitled Ten Years After - The Untold Stories. Most of these stories about that fateful day or about Earnhardt's career have either never been told or are recalled in greater detail than ever before. In this opening story, with the perspective of a decade gone by, FanHouse's Senior Motorsports Writer Holly Cain talks to Ken Schrader, who was the first person to Dale's car after the fatal accident.

After hitting the turn four wall and spinning down the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, Ken Schrader's car came to rest alongside Dale Earnhardt's famous black No. 3 in the infield grass as the rest of the field steamrolled by toward the checkered flag in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Frustrated that he was wrecked in the last corner of the last lap of the 500 and denied what looked like a sure top-five finish, Schrader unbuckled his safety harness, climbed out of his hobbled Pontiac and calmly made his way around the back of Earnhardt's car (above). He leaned into Earnhardt's window ready to commiserate with the seven-time champ on their misfortune but also to congratulate his good friend on Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s 1-2 finish in the Daytona 500.

Schrader took one look into the cockpit and instead immediately started motioning frantically for emergency workers to rush to Earnhardt's aid.

Schrader's reaction is an enduring moment.

His gestures and body language broke the news that stopped the hearts of NASCAR fans around the world.

"I'm like, that (crash) was a pretty big deal, I'll climb out and go talk to Dale -- we were the only two cars in the middle of the grass and no one was there yet, so I just checked on him,'' Schrader explained to FanHouse recently in a rare and candid interview about that fateful day.

"I never thought (he might be dead). There was no instinct or anything, no gut feeling.''

"It was just tough seeing what I saw because I walked up there and took the window net down and thought he'd be happy to see that Mikey (Waltrip) won the race, but pissed off because he wrecked.

"I got caught off-guard with what I saw.''

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sure, Chip Ganassi's driver lineup looked unbeatable: three Indy 500 champions, a Daytona 500 winner and the reigning sports car season champs. But in the always grueling, unpredictable and increasingly wild and woolly Rolex 24 at Daytona, it takes more than talent. It takes luck, preparation and in Sunday's case, great tenacity to win.

Reigning Grand-Am Series champ Scott Pruett took the lead from his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, 2008 Indy 500 champ Scott Dixon, with 45 minutes left in the twice-around-the-clock race on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course, then held him off on a re-start with one lap to go to give Ganassi his fourth Rolex 24 win in the last six years.

Ganassi is the first owner in racing history to simultaneously own the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and Rolex 24 trophies -- something people are already affectionately calling the "Chip Slam.''

"I don't drive the cars, I don't change the tires and I don't work on the engines,'' Ganassi said, modestly acknowledging the accomplishment. "I'm just the guy that gets to stand up here and talk about it. It's a lot of other guys that do the hard work.

"A win here does not reward you at the next race. We had a great day today and tomorrow we're on to the next race.''

The first four finishers were separated by less than four seconds after 24 hours of what was one of the most competitive races in the event's 49-year history. It was the fourth overall and ninth class win for Pruett, who co-drove with Memo Rojas, second-generation IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car veteran Joey Hand.

"We were very optimistic, but did we know we'd win? No,'' Pruett said about his last stint in the car after chasing his teammates for much of the race. "But Joey (Hand) did a great job making up time. We knew we had a strong car and were just looking at our options.''

 

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Filed under: A.J. Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nineteen hours into the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Juan Pablo Montoya held a meager five-second lead over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Memo Rojas and the Michael Shank Racing Ford driven by Max Papis.

As the sun came up over the famous Daytona International Speedway high banks Sunday morning, six of the marquee Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototypes were on the lead lap -- the top five separated by only 15 seconds with five hours remaining in the twice-around-the-clock race through the 3.56-mile road course.

Wolf Henzler has the No. 67 TRG Motorsports Porsche in front of the GT production class -- an inspired drive, considering the car started at the rear of the 50-car field after its pole-winning qualifying effort was disqualified for a technical violation.

Ganassi, who became the first owner to win three consecutive Rolex 24 races from 2006-2008, saw his teams have some minor problems in the opening hours of the race, but they emerged from a fog-induced early morning caution period to prove themselves as he class of the field again. Some of the closest calls came between the Ganassi team cars -- both featuring a Who's Who list of racing stars.

Montoya is co-driving with Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and two-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon. They are competing against Ganassi's full-time Grand-Am Series entry driven by reigning series champs Scott Pruett and Rojas, along with IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car driver Joey Hand.

Without exception, drivers characterized the early laps of the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona as wild and adventurous and it has proven to be one of the most action-packed offerings in the race's 49-year history.

 

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Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Other Racing Series, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The reigning NASCAR and IZOD IndyCar Series champions highlight a star-studded field for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Grand-Am Series' season-opener at Daytona International Speedway this weekend.

But it's one of sports car's more traditional names, Porsche, that both five-time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson and two-time IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti will be chasing when the green flag drops at 3:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday.

German Jorg Bergmeister will start the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche from the pole Saturday in the twice-around-the clock event that has again attracted a Who's Who list of auto racing greats.

Three Indy 500 winners, defending Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray (above left) and a potent mix of current and former NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula One drivers are giving it a go against the best sports car drivers in the world on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course.

Johnson and McMurray are trying to join Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt as the only drivers to win a Daytona 500 and Rolex 24 crown. Johnson will co-drive with former series champs Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 GAINSCO Chevrolet and will start 10th in the marquee Daytona Prototype class. They were fastest in Friday's final practice.

McMurray is part of an two-car wonder lineup for three-time Rolex winner Chip Ganassi Racing. He'll co-drive the No. 02 BMW with three IndyCar Series champs, Scott Dixon, Franchitti and open-wheel-to-NASCAR convert Juan Pablo Montoya (above, center, chatting with Memo Rojas). They will start fifth among the 18 prototypes .

The other Ganassi car features defending Grand-Am Series champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas along with Ganassi's newest IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car veteran Joey Hand. It will roll off third.

 

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