Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 16, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition X |
Welcome our New Presenting Sponsor, Race Face Digital! |
The Frontstretch Newsletter is presented by Race Face Digital, the ultimate entertainment platform for race fans and collectors to collect, buy, sell and trade digital MP4 collectible racing cards. |
What to Watch: Feb. 16-18 |
- Speedweeks continues with a full day of activity today at Daytona International Speedway. Qualifying for the Daytona ARCA 200 is at 1:30 p.m. ET today. That session will not be televised. TV coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET this afternoon with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From
Florida 250 qualifying on FOX Sports 1. That is followed by practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. Coverage of the Fresh From Florida 250 will begin with NASCAR RaceDay - NCTS Edition tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET. Race coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:45 p.m. ET. - Saturday coverage at Daytona will start with NASCAR Cup Series Happy Hour at 10:30 a.m. ET. That will immediately be followed by Xfinity Series qualifying. The ARCA Menards Series season opener, the Daytona ARCA 200 is scheduled to go green at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
That will be followed by NASCAR RaceDay - Xfinity Edition, then the Xfinity Series United Rentals 300. All of this is weather permitting. Sunday is the big dance, the Daytona 500. Big bucks and NASCAR immortality will be on the line. - At
Volusia Speedway Park, the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals wraps up with two more nights of racing for the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series. Action both tonight and Saturday night will start at 5 p.m. ET on DirtVision. - The World Series of Asphalt wraps up tonight with the Richie Evans Memorial, a 100-lap race for tour-type modifieds at New Smyrna Speedway. Saturday night's card has already been called off. Action tonight will start at 7:15 p.m. ET on FLORacing. - In Australia, the Repco Bathurst 12 Hours, running as a joint round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and
Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS, is this weekend. Qualifying is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. ET tonight and will be streamed on the GT World YouTube channel (for free) and Motorsport.tv (for subscribers). The Pole Shootout will be at 12:05 a.m. ET tonight. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN DAYTONA THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Daytona. |
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| Tyler Reddick Wins 1st Daytona Duel, Jimmie Johnson
Squeezes Into Daytona 500 Tyler Reddick was able to sweep past Kyle Larson on the final lap Thursday night to win Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 1 at Daytona International Speedway. Chase Elliott was second, then Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar and Erik Jones. |
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| Christopher Bell Scores Daytona Duel 2 Victory, Kaz Grala
Earns Final Daytona 500 Spot Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell took advantage of much too sharp of a move from teammate Denny Hamlin to swoop past to win Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 2. Austin Cindric was second, then Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek and Harrison
Burton. |
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| Jimmie Johnson, Kaz Grala Battle Their Ways Into Daytona
500 Field Jimmie Johnson and Kaz Grala raced their way into the Daytona 500 Thursday night, but neither driver had an easy go. Johnson recovered from a spin, while Grala lost the draft and got bailed out by a caution. |
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| JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod Suffer Heartbreaking Last-Lap Daytona
Defeats Ultimately, NY Racing LLC's JJ Yeley and Live Fast Motorsports' BJ McLeod were the two drivers who failed to qualify for the Daytona 500. They were right in the hunt until the final few feet, but came up short. |
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| Joey Logano, Michael McDowell Pace Daytona 500 Starting
Lineup With the Bluegreen Vacations Duels now complete, the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 is now set. |
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| Takuma Sato Running Indy 500 for
RLL Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Thursday that Takuma Sato will return to the team to race at the Indianapolis 500 later this year. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, NASCAR Media via Sean Gardner and Matthew Stockman of Getty Images and our own Phil Allaway. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising
lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Feb. 15 |
- Chris Hacker's family announced Thursday that Hacker
was involved in a serious car accident Wednesday while driving to Daytona when a tractor trailer crossed into oncoming traffic and hit Hacker's Ford Mustang. The full extent of Hacker's injuries are unknown, but he had to undergo emergency surgery.
Hacker will make a full recovery from his injuries, but will be hospitalized in South Carolina for a couple of weeks.
- Front Row Motorsports announced Thursday a "renewed and strengthened" relationship with Ford Performance over multiple years. That relationship entails a major change. They are now in an alliance with Team Penske instead of RFK Racing. The relationship is considered to be a "Tier 1" program, meaning that Front Row Motorsports and Team Penske will collaborate on projects to improve the new Dark Horse-based Mustang's performance. - In NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice Thursday, Niece Motorsports' Johnny Sauter was fastest overall with a lap at 190.444 mph. The lap was .027 seconds faster than TRICON Garage's Tanner Gray. Rackley WAR's Ty Dillon was third, then McAnally-Hilgemann Racing's Daniel Dye and Christian Eckes. Since the
majority of the session was spent in drafting packs, the speeds recorded are not necessarily the most representative of who is truly going to be quick in qualifying later today. There were no red flags during the session. - In ARCA Menards Series practice, Cook Racing Enterprises' Marco Andretti was fastest overall with a lap at 185.185 mph in his Chevrolet. Andretti was
one-thousandth of a second faster than Patrick Emerling. Willie Mullins was third, then Kris Wright and Dale Quarterley. Unlike Truck practice, ARCA speeds are a bit more representative of potential qualifying pace. This is because qualifying for ARCA is done in small groups. Our own Mark Kristl broke down the format at Frontstretch last week. - In World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series action, Nick Hoffman put the pedal to the metal Thursday night. He had to use the inside line to slide past Chris Madden
on the final lap to win the feature. Madden was second, then Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Daulton Wilson. - At Volusia Speedway Park Thursday night, Mat Williamson charged from fourth on the final restart with five laps to go to take the lead three laps later. From there, he held on to win the second night of Super DIRTcar Series action as part of the DIRTcar Nationals. Anthony Perrego was second, then Larry Wight, Jimmy Phelps and Erick Rudolph. |
This is a sampling of the 11 videos that went live on our YouTube channel Thursday from Daytona International Speedway. For more coverage from Daytona, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell in order to be notified of future posts. |
Frontstretch Folio: Daytona 500
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series opens up the season with the 66th Running of the Daytona 500. TV coverage is scheduled to begin with NASCAR RaceDay at 11 a.m. ET Sunday on FOX Sports 1. Coverage moves to FOX with Part No. 2 of NASCAR RaceDay at 1 p.m. ET, while
race coverage starts at 2:30 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled to fly around 3 p.m. ET. Radio coverage will be provided by local MRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90). Weather is going to be an issue Sunday as rain is in the forecast. If any changes to the schedule are made this weekend, we will keep you up to date at Frontstretch.
Records and Facts
Last year's Daytona 500 saw Kyle Busch put himself in position to potentially win the race. A spin for Daniel Suarez
brought out the caution and sent the race into overtime. On the restart, Team Penske's Joey Logano swept past Busch for the lead, but JTG-Daugherty Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was able to draft past on the backstretch just before a big wreck broke out in turn 3 to set up a second attempt. On the second attempt, Stenhouse got a little too far in front, allowing Logano to get
back past. However, just as another big wreck was breaking out in turn 1, Stenhouse eased back out in front. The video evidence showed the Cottonelle Chevrolet to be in front at the time of caution, earning Stenhouse his first Daytona 500 victory. Logano ended up second, followed by Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher. Alex Bowman was
fifth. Among active drivers, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson each have three victories. Hamlin's three wins all came in the Daytona 500, while Johnson has two Daytona 500 wins. Stenhouse and Austin Dillon have two Daytona wins a piece, one each in February and the summer. Nine other drivers have a Daytona victory in the
field. All-time, Richard Petty has seven Daytona 500 wins (the most recent of which occurred in 1981) and ten overall wins in point races, most of all drivers. Cale Yarborough has nine wins, followed by David Pearson with eight. Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.5-mile oval, 200 laps (500 miles)
Banking: 31 degrees
Frontstretch: 3,800 ft, banked 18 degrees in tri-oval, 6 degrees in chutes Backstretch: 3,400 ft., banked 3
degrees Grandstand Seating: 101,000
Pit Road Speed:
55 mph
Pace Car
Speed: 70 mph
Opened: 1959
Website: http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DAYTONA Twitter: http://twitter.com/DAYTONA Pre-Race Schedule: Practice No. 1: Friday, Feb. 16, 5:30 - 6:25 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 Happy Hour: Saturday, Feb. 17, 10:30 - 11:25 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 Phil
Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade
Photography.
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Quotes to Remember: Bluegreen Vacations Duels
compiled by Phil Allaway
"Great way to start off the weekend. This thing is a beast. It's a great way to kick off the brand-new product. Go out and get some Hard Tea, have a good time tonight. I know we are." - Tyler Reddick, winner of Duel No. 1 "it feels good. These plate races, man, I don't know what to
think of 'em. Me and Adam Stevens, my crew chief, we have a running joke, I say these races are 100% luck. I know that's not true, but it seems like we've been struggling to get to the end of it. I know I've been a common denominator in a lot of the wrecks. Feels good to do everything well today." - Christopher Bell, winner of Duel No. 2 "It was a really strong effort by everyone on
the Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Obviously we had good pace in qualifying and had a really strong car and great execution in the race. I wish things would have played out differently in the last five laps. We were able to get back up to the front and had some good runs and we got a couple Fords up there in the top-five. Overall, I am just poised to get to the 500 and see what we’ve got for the long race." - Austin Cindric, finished second in Duel No. 2 "I was a little further back than I wanted to be. We did a good job with our cycle and got ourselves out there, but there weren’t a lot of Fords with me. I was on my own there and the Chevy gang came and got by us and the Toyotas were coming and there’s no defending it. We just didn’t have enough numbers in this race and that was just by luck. That kind of cycled us a little bit too far back and I
thought I could maybe push the bottom row and get going, but just kind of ran a little bit short." - Joey Logano, finished seventh in Duel No. 1 "I just have such a better appreciation for what many have gone through to race in. I was so fortunate for so many years to not have to worry about getting in on speed for a variety of different reasons. "Last year went well. We got in on speed. To go through that just now, literally have it come down to the last hundred yards of the Duel, that wasn't in my playbook. "I'm glad I prepared as I did. I'm glad the team was ready. We had a very fast car. Unfortunately with the crash that took place that I was
caught up in, pitting, just had us in an awkward position at the back of the field, the last car in either lane. Just tough to make something happen. "Coming through [turns 3 and 4], there was almost a wreck again. JJ [Yeley] chose one lane, I chose the middle lane. The middle lane prevailed by the time we got to the start/finish. Just as simple as that." - Jimmie Johnson, finished 12th in
Duel No. 1 "I'm just coming down from it. That was so much more stressful than it needed to be for us. For a little while we looked to be in good shape. Yeah, we had some trouble there. Pit road we weren't able to stay with the draft. "Just really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports.
They worked so hard the last 24 hours to get the car ready to race today. Some trouble yesterday. Really cool to be able to get it in the show for them. Real big opportunity for me. Excited to be here on Sunday again." - Kaz Grala, finished 12th in Duel No. 2 "I’m OK. By the replay it just looks like awful pushes in terrible spots. That’s usually how these wrecks happen. Three times
in a row here I’ve been right-reared by someone else’s awful push, so I’m getting pretty sick of it. I don’t get it, so just a shame we have to be the one with a tore up race car when it’s someone else’s issue." - Ryan Blaney, finished 18th in Duel No. 2 (Crashed out) Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via James Gilbert of Getty Images.
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![Kyle Busch Crashes Out Of Duel 2: "You Just Roll Out A Backup, Try To Do It [Go For The Win] Again"](https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/MTUwNjA2Nw==/original/fde8708e948044d0ba5b12f0342c96cd.png)
