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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, NASCAR

Like a Marine recruit getting a haircut, the Daytona International Speedway track surface is being stripped to the sand as the repaving of the 2.5-mile speedway wrapped up its fifth week.

Working under the hot Florida sun, workers using heavy machinery continued to strip the asphalt from turn four while also putting new asphalt down on the frontstretch and backstretch. The first two layers of asphalt have been placed on these stretches.

Meanwhile, graders work to smooth the under-surface in turn three and put down asphalt primer, moving into turn four as the asphalt was removed there.

Also removed this week was the concrete patch (shown at right) that was installed in turn two following this year's Daytona 500, which NASCAR had to red-flag twice for repair work after the track surface in that turn began to break up.

Fans who are coming to the race next year and also want a piece of the old asphalt have until midnight Sunday to order tickets in a special offer that includes a piece of the old track with a ticket purchase.

Lane Construction, which has paved other International Speedway Corp. tracks, is expected to complete the work by Jan. 1. Speedweeks 2011 kicks off next Jan. 29 with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The 53rd annual Daytona 500 is Feb. 20.

The company expects to use about 50,000 tons of asphalt to repave the speedway, which has more than 1.4 million square feet of track surface.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, NASCAR

The folks at Daytona International Speedway are getting ready to dig up some asphalt and find gold.

As workers began to take down the fence (right) around the high banks and do other preliminary work before the first repaving of the 2.5-mile speedway in more than 30 years, the facility's management also made plans to save enough of the old asphalt to meet the souvenir demands of fans and drivers alike.

Fans who showed their passion after Dale Earnhardt's historic 1998 Daytona 500 victory by digging up the infield turf may be interested to know that they can soon buy a piece of the track itself.

After winning the Coke Zero 400 Saturday night, Kevin Harvick set the tone when he said in victory lane: "I don't care so much about the trophy; I want some of the pavement from the start/finish line ..."

This is the asphalt of every Daytona 500 Earnhardt ever ran, as well as every dramatic moment of the last 32 years, including Richard Petty's sixth and seventh victories, and all of those by Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and every other winner since 1979.

 

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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 Busch collided with Elliot Sadler to force extra time -- a green-white-checkered finish.

Harvick, the Sprint Cup points leader, took the lead from 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.

Kevin Harvick Wins Crash-Filled Coke Zero 400 at Daytona originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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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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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 one hour, 42 minutes. The file photo at right shows 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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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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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Calling it a "historic moment" for Daytona International Speedway, track president Robin Braig announced Saturday that NASCAR's famed 2.5-mile oval will be repaved for the first time in 32 years immediately following the July 3 Coke Zero 400 race weekend.

Although there were plans to repave the track eventually, the time line was accelerated after potholes formed during the running of this year's Daytona 500, bringing out extended red flag periods while the track was fixed with concrete patches.

"This is the Daytona 500, this is our Super Bowl, we just can't risk this again,'' Braig said. "We were going to do it anyway, we just moved it up and there's only one window to do it.''

A team of engineers was brought in to evaluate and analyze the track surface following the Feb. 14 Daytona 500.

"It's their recommendation we repave immediately and we anticipate turning the track back over to Goodyear (for tire testing) by Jan. 1,'' Braig said.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With new rules increasing horsepower, loosening oversight and adding up to three overtime periods, NASCAR drivers are more hesitant than usual to make any predictions about Sunday's 52nd running of the Daytona 500.

"I'll be honest, I really don't know what to expect,'' driver-owner Tony Stewart said Saturday after his win in the Nationwide Series race.

"I mean, I assume it's going to be something similar to the qualifying races. But, you know, with having the full field, obviously you're gonna have a lot more good quality cars that are right."

Stewart's win Saturday gives him 15 at NASCAR's most famous track, Daytona International Speedway -- only Dale Earnhardt (34) and Bobby Allison (16) have more victories.

"There's one I haven't won, and that's the Sunday show,'' said Stewart, who will start sixth in his No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet.

"So, you know, I would trade a couple of races, I'd let anybody pick which ones they want to trade out, I'd trade any one of 'em for a Sunday race for sure.''

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- All Danica Patrick wanted this blustery Saturday afternoon at NASCAR's most hallowed track was experience without expectation. So to that end, she may consider her NASCAR debut successful, even if her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevy finished the day a twisted wreck and her first NASCAR finish was officially 35th place.

After driving a careful and conservative early race, Patrick was collected in a 12-car accident that sent a fourth of the field to the garage on lap 68 of the 120-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The "story" of Speedweeks, Patrick chose to compete in the Nationwide Series race despite having only a few hours of practice in the car -- energized and encouraged instead by a sixth-place finish in a lower-level ARCA Series race last weekend.

She started 15th on Saturday, but opted for a more cautious strategy, falling back to the rear of the field to watch and learn. Unfortunately for her, the view was too good. Josh Wise and rookie Colin Braun collided several cars in front of Patrick and she was unable to dodge a track full of spinning cars.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR officials indicated Wednesday that the sanctioning body would be making a change to its green-white-checkered flag rule to be implemented for Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150s qualifying races for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Under the proposed policy change, NASCAR would allow for multiple green-white-checkered restarts as long as the race leader had not taken the white flag to signal the last lap. Currently, NASCAR has allowed for just one try at a green flag finish.

In Saturday's Budweiser Shootout, a wreck happened on the first of the two laps run under the green-white-checkered policy, so the race was called and the cars ran a lap and a half finishing under caution. With the new rule, the race would get another try at a green flag finish as long as the white flag hasn't been shown.

"I wouldn't say it's a complete result of what happened in the Shootout,'' said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp. "But you never like to see a race end under caution.''

 

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