Denny Hamlin leads Budweiser Duel final practice
In the final practice of the Budweiser Duel, Denny Hamlin would lead the speed charts with a lap of 45.096 seconds.
Hamlin dominated the Sprint Unlimited last Saturday, dominating on his way to victory after a three-wide pass late in the race. Hamlin will look to win his Budweiser Duel as he will start 11th in the second of the two races that set the line-up for the Daytona 500.
Kasey, who starts 11th in the first Duel, was second fastest at a lap of 45.097 seconds. Michael Waltrip was third fastest, followed by the Roush-Fenway Fords of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Greg Biffle.
Front Row Motorsports’ Eric McClure was sixth as he looks to start his first Daytona 500, followed by Clint Bowyer, Brian Scott, Matt Kenseth and pole sitter Austin Dillon.
While the first practice session had a pair of wrecks, the second session ran clean.
The Budweiser Duels will take to the track at 7 p.m. EST tomorrow night. Fox Sports 1 will have the race live on television while MRN Radio will be doing the live radio broadcast.
Jimmie Johnson plans to race for win in Duel while being conservative
Jimmie Johnson, so far, has experienced a roller coaster ride during Speedweeks, and we’re not even to the Budweiser Duel. He didn’t start Speedweeks out like he would’ve hoped as he crashed into the inside wall off of turn four after getting loose while trying to make a move on Denny Hamlin for the lead. However, Johnson says he has learned from that experience.
“I learned a lesson and certainly learned about the car set-up some and how to avoid that from happening again,” he commented today. “So, I was bummed to be a part of that because I felt like starting dead last as we did and to work our way up to second and really get that bottom lane working and pulling along the guys behind us, that we had a very strong car and a great chance to win the Unlimited.”
Johnson says at the time, he was testing out the waters and seeing if he could get by Hamlin and test that move out before the end of the race and plan out an idea of what to do on the last lap.
“I’m not sure you’re going to want the lead until you come off of Turn 4,” he commented. “Somebody’s going to have a run, second car back or third car back and come up through there. So, I think there’s a chance for a lot of passing come Sunday.”Jo
After crashing out of the Sprint Unlimited, Johnson woke up early the next morning to run the half-marathon that Daytona hosts. Johnson’s goal was to beat his time from last year, which he beat by a full minute. He joked that it was “far better than the Unlimited; I actually finished.”
When it came to qualifying, Johnson would put the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet in the 14th position, therefore setting him up to start seventh in the second Budweiser Duel tomorrow night.
“We expected to be a little faster than that,” Johnson commented. “It’s just tough down here. You really have to take a lot of chances to produce speed and lap time and we’ve been neutered over the years and show-up in qualifying trim pretty much in race trim and make sure that nobody gets in trouble and everything is okay. We’ve got a great race car though. I think it’s going to race just fine.”
Johnson has opted to not do a lot of drafting practice, as he had done last year. Though the Hendrick Motorsports driver isn’t worried as he is bringing the same car that he drove on the restrictor plate tracks last year – with some updates. Johnson added that he plans to take a careful approach in the Duel because he wants to protect his car.
“We’re down to one car,” he commented. “We have other stuff at home, but we really don’t want to bring it down here. We like the car that’s sitting over there, ready for the 500.”
Despite wanting to be careful, Johnson doesn’t plan on riding around at the back as he feels the safest place is upfront leading or racing for the lead with guys that he trusts.
“We’ve raced for every lap and it’s paid off for us,” he explained. “We’ll keep that same mentality, but historically the Duels are pretty calm. Everybody has an agenda to save their race car and to be smart. And we really don’t see big crashes and multiple-car incidents in the Duels. So, we’re counting on that, as well. When the green falls, we’re going to go racing. We just need to make smart decisions and hope we get through the race with a good, straight race car.”
While the Duel has the same rules as it has before in setting the field for the Daytona 500, it will be run at night for the first time with the first Duel taking the green flag at 7 p.m. EST
“If the track stays hot like it has today, and we’re in the 80’s, a night race would bring more grip back and make the cars a little racier,” Johnson commented on whether the style of racing would change. “I feel more than anything, this track is pretty forgiving right now because of the asphalt they put down and the job they did was really, really strong. Night racing, knowing that we’re doing to be racing in prime time, that’s going to bring the energy up. Hopefully we have a strong attendance here and all that stuff will drive the energy up and potentially the risk factor.”
Beyond Daytona, the focus for Johnson is obviously on the seventh championship, which would tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most all-time. The challenge this year will be different, though, with the new elimination style chase. Johnson feels that he has a good shot and knows that he will need to win during the chase.
“I feel good about us in looking at statistics and what we’ve done in the past and winning races in the Chase. That’s obviously a requirement now,” he commented.
Ben Kennedy tops practice for Truck Series Nextra Energy Resources 250
For the first time in the 2014 season, the Camping World Truck Series hit the highbanks of the Daytona International Speedway for practice. At the end of the first session, it was a rookie topping the charts.
Ben Kennedy put his No. 31 Florida Lottery – Whelen Chevrolet Silverado on the top of the speed charts with a lap of 46.676 seconds. Kennedy will be running the full 2014 schedule for Turner-Scott Motorsports as he steps into the truck previously piloted by James Buescher. Kennedy ran the K&N Pro East Series last year, having a solid season.
Ron Hornaday Jr. was second quickest as he once again teams up with TSM. He ran for the team in last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami. The plan for Hornaday in 2014 is a part-time truck series schedule with TSM.
“I’m ecstatic to be down here,” Hornaday commented. “It’s going to have fun simply being down here driving.”
Defending series champion Matt Crafton was third, followed by Joey Coulter and John Wes Townley.
Johnny Sauter was sixth, followed by Ryan Sieg, Joe Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Jeb Burton.
For Michel Disdier, the practice didn’t go as planned as he blew a motor early in practice. Brennan Newberry also ran into problems as his hood flew up, resulting in damage to the roof of his Silverado. He will be going to a back-up truck.
The Nextra Energy Resources 250 will take place on Friday night as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series opens their 2014 season.
A.J. Allmendinger tops practice while Kligerman ends up on roof
The first practice for the Budweiser Duels got under way and it wasn’t without excitement as the session was highlighted by two big wrecks.
A.J. Allmendinger would top the charts with a lap of 45.096 seconds in his JTG Daugherty Racing car. Brian Vickers was second, followed by Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne and Michael Waltrip.
The first took place when rookie Cole Whitt (pictured) got into the wall due to a flat tire. Brian Vickers went to move slightly down to avoid Whitt, though got caught on Casey Mears’ bumper and made heavy contact with the turn three wall.
“We still got a lot of racing left to do and I hate it for these guys,” Vickers commented. “They put a lot into that car. The 26 – I don’t know if he just lost it or whatever….and then it got me into the 13. I can’t really say as I don’t know whether he had a flat tire or not. Unfortunately it ruined a good car for us.”
“Something went through the nose,” Whitt stated. “We actually have a hole right there through the front. I didn’t even know…didn’t even feel it till I got into three there. I hate it for the guys.”
A piece of Vickers’ hood flew off and would pierce itself in to the nose of Jeff Gordon’s car.
“The whole thing happened so quick,” Gordon commented. “I had only made half a lap. As the field went by, I asked Alan if we wanted to be in the middle of this. Somebody had gotten into the wall and looks like the 55 went to avoid him and came across the 13. I just tried to avoid them and this was stuck in my hood. We’ll go fix that damage.”
Vickers will go to a back-up while Whitt’s team and Gordon’s team will repair their cars.
A second wreck then took place in the second half of the session when Matt Kenseth would kick sideways after contact with Joey Logano, causing Logano to go sideways into Trevor Bayne, which caused Bayne to get into Parker Kligerman.
“It all started when everyone was merging,” Kenseth said. “It got tight as we went into three and we lost a lot of speed. We got off four and he came up to the back of me and I lost a little, saving it. He then got into me and that triggered it.”
“I thought the 20 was going to the bottom and we caught him there and we got hooked,” Logano commented. “It’s partially my fault. I was working too hard there. It is also one of those racing things – I thought he was going and he didn’t. It’s unfortunate that a lot of cars got torn up.”
Logano added that when it comes to making moves like this, “it’s all an educated guess on what’s going on around you. you try to figure out who has runs and who doesn’t and try to figure it out.”
Following the contact from Bayne, Kligerman would flip on his roof, riding against the front stretch catch fence and wall.
“I want to thank all our guys that build safe racecars,” Kligerman said afterwards. “They’ve worked hard at building a great, quick racecar and I was almost at that point where I’d put it away. It looks like the 22 is just being overly aggressively and it sucks because this is just practice, it’s not the last lap of the Daytona 500. It’s odd. These guys are supposed to good and they can’t run solidly while us guys can run three-wide in truck practice cleanly.”
In the aftermath, Ryan Truex, Paul Menard and Dave Blaney were also collected.
“We were actually running in the draft and running well,” Truex said. “I was pretty happy with it. I checked up when I saw the 22 move. I got hit from behind and that’s all I can do. We didn’t deserve that. The 30 was on top of me there; I had a good view of his rear tire for a while there. We have to race our way into the Daytona 500 so we’ll pull out the back-up and hope to get in.”
“I couldn’t see what started it,” Blaney commented. “Going into the tri-oval behind Ryan Truex, he checked up and then I checked up and cars were all over the place.”
Kligerman, Logano, Truex and Menard will be going to back-up cars. Bayne will repair his racecar while Kenseth didn’t sustain any damage.
Blaney, unfortunately, does not have a back-up car and his car sustained too much damage to repair.
“Going down the backstraightaway, I told myself that I don’t need to be out here right now. we don’t have a back-up,” Blaney commented. “At this point, we’re done.”
Daytona International Speedway officials are working on repairs to the track fencing. There were some holes that were made in the fence in the wreck as a result of Kligerman’s car up against the fence.
Enfinger Explains Remarkable Daytona Victory
Grant Enfinger notched his third career ARCA Racing Series victory on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway after holding off Frank Kimmel and Clay Campbell in the late stages. Enfinger explained exclusively to me after the victory what the win meant and how big it was to help him advance his career.
“Definitely the biggest win for my career.” Enfinger told me after his memorable victory. “This win obviously ranks up there (among my greatest wins), but I don’t know if it has sank in yet. Speedway racing is much more of a team involvement and being at the right place at the right time compared to short track racing.”
During the early stages of the Lucas Oil 200 there was a multitude of cars involved in the ‘big one’ on the front stretch. Luckily, Enfinger was ahead of the incident, but he described to me what he could see.
“I saw the wreck happen in my mirror early in the race.” Enfinger explained to me. “That’s why track position and qualifying is important at Daytona, it just cuts away your chances of getting caught up in the big one”
Enfinger was challenged the entire event by Dylan Kwasniewski and Chase Elliott – both rising stars in NASCAR. He explained to me what it was like to contend with Elliott and Kwasniewski.
“No different then racing with any of the other top ARCA drivers, they just have the best equipment out there.” Enfinger expressed to me about racing with Elliott and Kwasniewski. “Luckily, Team BCR game me a car that could beat them.”
Despite battling with Elliott and Kwasniewski for the majority of the event, Enfinger was forced to fend off Frank Kimmel in the final laps to capture the huge win.
“I knew Frank (Kimmel) would try to make something happen, if he could, but at the same time he (Kimmel) is a clean driver, and we’ve never had issues before.” Enfinger told me. “It just all worked out.”
Enfinger and BCR are attempting to run the entire ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards 2014 season, but funds are keeping them from reaching that goal.
“BCR team owner Howard Bixman is trying to get us to every race (this season).” Enfinger explained to me. “Great partners like Casite/Motor Honey, Advance Auto Parts, WURTH USA, and Stanley Industries are helping greatly”
Enfinger will return to track at Mobile Speedway, his home track and the site of his first ARCA Racing Series victory next month.
“I already felt good about Mobile, but this (win) gives confidence to everyone on our team (heading to Mobile).” Enfinger told me about his chances heading back to his home track.
Congrats to Enfinger on the remarkable Daytona International Speedway victory, and a HUGE thanks to him for doing the interview.
