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The opening weekend of the 2011 NASCAR season is in the books.  We saw spectacular finishes, a lot of action, and even some controversy.  So from Friday’s wild Truck Series race, all the way through Sunday’s incredible finale, was Daytona what you’d hoped for?

After Thursday’s Duel races, I can’t lie, I was afraid we might be in for a very boring 500.  The tandem drafting created a completely new style of superspeedway racing, and there really was no telling what kind of finish we’d see.  But if Saturday’s Nationwide Series race was any indication, we were going to be in for a treat on Sunday.

The Truck Series races at superspeedways are always full of drama and action, and the Friday night premiere did not disappoint.  We saw our first close finish of the weekend with Michael Waltrip just sneaking by Elliott Sadler for the win, and we also had our first controversy.  It was discovered after the race that the spoiler on Waltrip’s truck had laid down, due to a part malfunction.  NASCAR is taking the pieces back to the R&D center, and if any penalties are levied, expect them to be announced Tuesday.

Saturday’s NNS race kept the streak of close finishes going, with T0ny Stewart beating Clint Bowyer back to the line by only a few thousandths of a second.  And while Cup drivers dominated the show, it’s nice to see that the current top five in NNS points is Landon Cassill, Reed Sorenson, Jason Leffler, Ricky Stenhouse, and Trevor Bayne.

As for the Daytona 500, it was a shame that we had so many wrecked race cars, but the finish was unbelievable.  It was fantastic watching the #21, with a retro paint scheme, go to victory lane with young Trevor Bayne at the wheel.  The Wood Brothers have so much history in the sport, and it was fun to watch that team celebrate a Daytona 500 win and add another chapter to their story.

Who’s ready for Phoenix?!

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Flashing his dimples, and looking even younger than his 20 years, Trevor Bayne grinned broadly, laughed and fidgeted as he conducted his first news conference as the youngest Daytona 500 winner in history.

One day after celebrating his 20th birthday Bayne drove the legendary No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to victory Sunday in NASCAR's biggest race -- sharing the honor with the team's previous Daytona 500 winning drivers, A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Tiny Lund and David Pearson. Bayne wasn't even born when Pearson claimed the Wood Brothers' last Daytona 500 trophy in 1976.

Explaining how grateful he was for the opportunity, thankful for his good fortune and appreciative of his team's efforts, the good-looking, well-spoken Bayne sounded as mature and poised behind the microphone as he was behind the steering wheel in holding off three series champions and a handful of other veterans on the last two laps of Sunday's race.

The Knoxville, Tenn., native's biggest smile, however, seemed to come when he found out that his Twitter account expanded from 6,000 followers to 16,000 by the end of the race. And, he modestly conceded, he was going to need a friend to drive his Ford truck home. Seems that while most of Bayne's competitors flew in private jets to the race, he drove his Ford F150 pickup truck from Tennessee to Florida.

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s shoulders may well have borne 500 miles worth of expectations this week at Daytona.

Marking 10 years since the death of his legendary father in NASCAR's most important race, Earnhardt Jr. served as the central beacon of a sport remembering the passing of one of its most legendary drivers.

The sport's most popular driver also has been the most talked about non-factor for most of the last three seasons and has seen his share of changes in the Hendrick Motorsports program around him. A new crew chief -- Steve Letarte -- was in his ear.

Sunday, none of it seemed to be a distraction as Earnhardt sliced his way through the field time and again to find the front -- and occasionally lead -- one of the most unusual Daytona 500s in recent memory.

However, the chaotic nature of NASCAR's season-opening beast, a race marked by the most cautions and lead changes in the event's 53-year history, finally caught up with Earnhardt moments from the end.

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Reutimann, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For all the talk of a new track surface, a different style of racing and promises of the "wildest" Daytona 500 ever, Sunday's much-anticipated NASCAR season-opener still ended up like so many of those that have preceded it -- decided in the final laps.

Making his first-ever Daytona 500 start, 20-year-old rookie Trevor Bayne held off Carl Edwards, David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte to earn the venerable Wood Brothers Racing team its fifth Daytona 500 victory and first since NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee David Pearson's win in 1976.

"Am I dreaming? Is this real? I don't even know where to go,'' a stunned Bayne exclaimed to his team on the radio as he crossed the finish line and drove his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford to victory circle, where he was too young to even drink the traditional celebratory champagne.

The race lived up to its billing, easily setting records for caution flags (16) and lead changes (74 among 22 drivers), but in the end it was a a great show of poise heading to the checkered flag that made Bayne the youngest winner of NASCAR's most prestigious trophy - one day after he celebrated his 20th birthday.

A five-car accident at the front of the field with four laps remaining in the 200-lap regulation period set up the first of two green-white-checkered overtime periods and all but eliminated several of the strongest cars, including Ryan Newman, Regan Smith and Clint Bowyer, who exchanged the lead in the closing 15 laps.

Robby Gordon's spin on the first restart sent cars scrambling, and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet was collected in the melee, setting up the final two-lap shootout among Bayne and the veterans.

 

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Filed under: David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The racing may look different at Daytona, but the big crashes are still around.

Less than 30 laps in to Sunday's Daytona 500, contact between a former Daytona winner, Michael Waltrip, and another car he owns set off a 14-car melee in turn four. Waltrip nudged David Reutimann into a spin on the race's 29th lap to start the incident.

Earlier in the race, Waltrip spun Kyle Busch on lap six -- an incident that managed to miss the rest of the pack.

"They make a quick move and it just spins them out," Waltrip said. "I've been doing this all week and I haven't spun anyone out. I'm involved in both of them and I don't know what I could have done different."

The crash collected several of the race's likely contenders, including reigning five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as well as his teammates Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin.

 

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

(AP) -- A look at drivers competing in the 2011 Daytona 500, in order of starting position:

No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

DRIVER: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

BORN: Oct. 10, 1974

HOMETOWN: Kannapolis, N.C.

CREW CHIEF: Steve Letarte

SPONSOR: Mountain Dew/AMP Energy/National Guard

NOTES: NASCAR's most popular driver won the Daytona 500 pole, then wrecked in practice on Wednesday. Now, he'll start Sunday's race at the back of the field. Earnhardt was a non-factor on the track for the fourth consecutive year in 2010. Earnhardt finished 21st in points. With teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon also struggling, owner Rick Hendrick shook up most of the four-car team. Will another new crew chief and a shop change be enough to overhaul Junior's fortunes?

No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

DRIVER: Jeff Gordon

BORN: Aug. 4, 1971

HOMETOWN: Pittsboro, Ind.

CREW CHIEF: Alan Gustafson

SPONSOR: Drive To End Hunger/DuPont

NOTES: After a winless season, Gordon was one of three drivers shuffled at Hendrick Motorsports. He moved out of the 24/48 shop into the building now known as the 5/24 shop. The four-time series champion is paired with crew chief Gustafson.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR has made another change to cars for the Daytona 500, this one because temperatures are expected to reach 80 degrees Sunday during the season-opening race.

Sprint Cup officials say teams can add an extra inch to grill openings, allowing more air to flow to engine-cooling radiators.

The change was made following the final practice session Saturday and should help drivers keep their engines cooler at speeds nearing 200 mph around Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

NASCAR made three changes earlier in the week, reducing the size of the horsepower-sapping restrictor plates, adding a pressure-relief valve to cooling systems and reducing the size of grill openings. The moves were made to slow downs cars after speeds topped 206 mph.

The 43-car field will take the green flag at about 1:15 p.m. ET.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks and other supplemental copy have been inserted by AOL.

 

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Filed under: Penske Racing, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Brian Keselowski was still sitting in his race car on Daytona International Speedway's pit road well after the checkered flag when his little brother Brad leaned in for a hug and a congratulatory word. It wasn't a victory, but the Brothers Keselowski provided the unquestionable feel-good story of Thursday's Daytona 500 qualifying races.

Driving a barely-sponsored, five-year-old race car, Brian Keselowski will make his debut in the Daytona 500 Sunday, thanks to the kindest shove he ever received from the little brother he used to wrestle as a kid.

After spinning early in Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifier, Brad Keselowski, 27, fell to the rear of the field and had to drive his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge back up through the pack.

On his way, he dropped the famous Penske Racing "Blue Deuce" in behind Brian, 29, and literally pushed -- and willed -- his big brother's wayward No. 4 Dodge forward during the second half of the race. Brian finished fifth, Brad seventh, and for the first time in their lives, they will have the opportunity to compete against one another in NASCAR's Super Bowl.

"Oh, my God,'' an emotional Brian Keselowski said after climbing from his car. "He's got to be the best pusher here. ... I've watched him push others for the past three years and to push me into the Daytona 500 today. .. ''

"I'm gonna ask Roger (Penske) to help him out with a little better motor,'' Brad Keselowski joked afterward.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Media Watch

It's a safe bet that you won't be seeing Darrell Waltrip holding hands with Tony Kornheiser and singing "Kum Ba Yah" anytime soon, not that you were likely to anyway.

But the chances got even more remote when, during his show, "Pardon The Interruption," Kornheiser said Tuesday he had spoken to someone who said there was a "60 percent" chance that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had qualified and won the pole position for Sunday's Daytona 500 with a car that was not up to code and that NASCAR officials had looked the other way.

Needless to say, Waltrip, a FOX race analyst, took umbrage with Kornheiser's off the cuff statements and said so during a conference call to promote Daytona coverage Thursday.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams were packing up their equipment from Sunday's Daytona 500 pole qualifying session, NASCAR officials issued a technical bulletin aimed at keeping the cars from the 206-mph, two-car drafts that dominated Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout 75-lap non-points race.

"I thought it was cool at the beginning, medium in the middle and when they hit 206, I wasn't thinking of the race anymore, I was thinking what we needed to do in the next couple days,'' NASCAR Vice President for Competition Robin Pemberton said of Saturday's race,

In response to the increasing speeds and two-car breakaways, NASCAR has regulated the front grille opening on all the cars to 2 1/2-inches by 20-inches and it will install a pressure relief valve in the water cooling system. Pemberton said the idea is to decrease the temperature that the engine water will boil. Some cars could run water as hot as 290-300 degrees. Pemberton would like to get that temperature down to 250 degrees.

Cars shouldn't be able to run in the two-car pack for a sustained period of time for fear of overheating, thus making it less likely they will reach speeds upwards of 200 mph like they did Saturday night.

Although NASCAR did not change the size of the carburetor restrictor plate, Pemberton said that remains an option and didn't rule out other technical changes in advance of the Feb. 20 season-opening Daytona 500. Officials are looking to see what the racing is like in the Gatorade Duel 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday. They issued the technical bulletin Sunday so teams will have a chance to make the necessary changes before NASCAR Speedweeks resumes with a practice session on Wednesday morning.

"The speeds are high because everyone did their job,'' Pemberton told reporters in a nearly abandoned Daytona garage late Sunday afternoon. "The track with the paving, Goodyear, the teams have done a great job and now we're (NASCAR) in the fold and trying to reel some of that back in. And we have the support of the race teams.

"There's a lot of pressure here,'' he continued. "I can't even begin to tell you the pressure from a large group of people that are expecting us to get it right (for the Daytona 500).''

 

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