Coke Zero 400 | Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | Race 18 of 36 | Sunday, July 6, 2014
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (July 7, 2014) – Cole Whitt and the No. 26 Al’s Liner / Scorpion Window Film Toyota Camry team finished 34th at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Â Rain showers plagued the 2.5-mile superspeedway throughout the weekend to limit practice, abbreviate qualifying, and bring an early end to the scheduled 400-mile race. Â Despite the limited track time to prepare for the event, Whitt raced inside the top 25 throughout most of the afternoon before being caught in a 26-car pile up on lap 98.
Rain showers on Friday afternoon abbreviated qualifying to just one 25-minute session, and as a result Whitt rolled off 17th as the highest-qualifying rookie. Â Early in the race, Whitt reported that his car handled well, but appeared to work better on the topside of the racetrack than the bottom. Â Dropping back to the 33rd position by lap 20, Whitt was working a strategy to ride around for a few laps while the competition settled in. Â Whitt moved back inside the top-20 by lap 60, and was running in the 24th position on the lap 97 restart. Â Just one lap later, Whitt was in the midst of tight competition as ‘the big one’ broke out and collected over half the field. Â With nowhere to go, Whitt sustained major damage to the front end of the No. 26 Al’s Liner / Scorpion Window Film Toyota Camry. Â The damage proved to be too severe to continue and forced Whitt to retire from the event just laps before the skies opened and rain once again soaked the 2.5-mile speedway. Â With the race called nearly 50 laps before the scheduled distance, Whitt was scored with a 34th-place finish.
“You just never know what’s going to happen at Daytona International Speedway,” commented Whitt. Â “We had a strong car with our Al’s Liner / Scorpion Window Film Toyota Camry; we were just waiting for the right time to make our move. Â We were able to avoid the first ‘big one,’ but when that 26-car pileup broke out, there just wasn’t anywhere we could go. Â It’s somewhat normal to see big pileups at Daytona and Talladega, but that one took out over half the field. Â We got in Kyle Busch there near the end of the wreck and accidentally got him turned over on his roof, so I’m really glad he was okay. Â It’s a shame that so many teams went home with torn up race cars, but it’s just a product of the racing here at Daytona International Speedway–it’s part of the reason that fans come to watch and that people tune in on television. Â I’m really grateful for all that hard work that my BK Racing team put into preparing our car and hate that we’re taking it home so badly damaged. Â Despite the wreck, I still think we had a solid weekend and learned a lot that will help us at Talladega [Ala.] Superspeedway in the fall.”
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will make their first visit of the season to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next Sunday afternoon, July 13. Â FOX Sports 1 will provide coverage of all the action on the track with practice (11:30 a.m. EDT) and qualifying (4:30 p.m. EDT) on Friday, July 11. Â Coverage will continue on Saturday, July 12, with two additional practice sessions at 9 a.m. EDT and 11:30 a.m. EDT on FOX Sports 1. Â The Camping World RV Sales 301 will be broadcast live on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio beginning at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 13. Â Fans can visit BKRacing.com, or follow the team on Facebook (facebook.com/BKRacing2383) or twitter (@BKRacing_2383) for the latest news and updates.