The 2011 season of NASCAR started out with a bang when rookie Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500. It ended with an electrifying duel between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards for the championship. Sandwiched in between was one of the most competitive seasons in recent history.
In late January of this year NASCAR officials announced a new championship points procedure based on a 43 to 1 concept. In other words the winner of a Sprint Cup race received 43 points with a one point descending deficit from second, 42 points, all the way to one point for the driver who finished 43d.
The season started with a photo finish between Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart with the margin of victory being 0.007 seconds. But Stewart says he knew that he had won before NASCAR relayed the official timing.
While there have been many drivers in the No. 80 car, including Dave Blaney, Joe Ruttman, Mike Bliss, Randy LaJoie, Carl Long, Ted Christopher, Mario Gosselin, Andy Hillenburg and Aric Almirola.
The recent announcement from Penske Racing that said that Kurt Busch would no longer be the driver of their #22 Dodge, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, effective immediately caught many observers a little off guard.
Only 83 days remain until the green flag waves at Daytona. The number 83 has seen spans of usage surrounded by long gaps of time where the number was used rarely, if ever.
As Chase Elliott blew out the candles on his birthday cake during his surprise party for his 16th birthday, he had just one wish in mind. He wished he could win the 44th running of the prestigious Snowball Derby.
Kurt Busch is no longer the driver of the No. 22 Dodge. The dismissal will be immediately and leaves the Penske organization without a driver for their highly sponsored stock car
84 days remain until the green flag drops on the Daytona 500 and that’s the number that’s the focus of today’s article. The number has seen relatively little use in NASCAR’s 62 year history; totaling only 220 starts.
