Rookie John King wins Crash-Filled NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona
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[/media-credit]When the trucks hit Daytona International Speedway, they’ve been known to create a lot of sparks. This year was no exception as after three green-white-checkereds (GWC, rookie John King took the checkered flag.
“I’m a rookie – I’m not supposed to be here,” King said afterwards in victory lane. “This is unreal. This Red Horse Racing team is unbelievable. I don’t know what to say. This is a dream come true.”
A caution with seven to go for Parker Kligermann and others wrecking would set off the chain of GWCs. Kligermann wrecked after Dusty Davis and David Starr squished him in the middle, collecting Bryan Silas and Ross Chastain.
On the first GWC, it was Jason White leading them to the green, but Johnny Sauter taking the lead with help from Ron Hornaday, before dropping down inline on the bottom in front of White. Sauter looked to have the win in hand before a caution came out before the field took the white flag when Brad Keselowski wrecked. Clay Greenfield got into the back of Keselowski, turning him into Rick Crawford. Rookie Max Gresham was also collected in the wreck with significant damage.
On the restart, Sauter looked to have the win in hand again as he pulled ahead with help from King. However, coming to get the white flag, King turned Sauter into the outside wall, collecting Brendan Gaughan, Starr, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Nelson Piquet Jr., Chris Fontaine and Ryan Seig.
“It was substainable help,” Sauter said of the contact he got from King to send him around. “He’s obviously getting help from behind – that’s Bodine, typically known for driving over his head at these places.”
“I apologize to Johnny Sauter,” King said. “I shouldn’t have been there. I closed up real fast. … I couldn’t get off of him.”
The field then restarted for the final attempt at a green flag finish with King leading Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters and Joey Coulter. On the restart, Bodine and Coulter didn’t get a good start on the outside, causing them to drop back through the field as King pulled out to the lead with help from Peters. Coming to get the white flag while Coulter and Bodine were trying to mount a charge back to the front, James Buecher would turn Coulter into the outside wall. The contact would cause Coulter to go airbourne and make contact with the catch fence. Coulter were emerge from the crash with no injuries, while a track spokesperson reported two fans were injured but would be okay.
Coulter’s wreck would hand the win to King, who was making his eighth Camping World Truck Series start.
King’s Red Horse Racing teammate Timothy Peters would be credited with second for his third top-10 at Daytona.
“It was an action-packed night,” Peters said. “We were fortunate enough to keep our nose clean all night long. That right there is what it’s all about, seeing that boy right there celebrating in Victory Lane. That’s a special place. It couldn’t have been a better night for Red Horse Racing as a company, 1-2 finish, Todd coming in fifth.
“Can’t say enough about my guys, Butch Hylton, guys on pit row, Service Central, Tire Kingdom, Toyota Tundra, Joe Gibbs Engine. It was an awesome night tonight. These guys worked hard on our truck since we left Daytona last year. We got some momentum. It’s showing. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in year.”
Justin Lofton would be scored in third to score his first top-10 at Daytona.
“It was an exciting one,” he said. “I mean, we had a game plan of sticking to the bottom. Unfortunately our teammates were taken out halfway through the race. Team owner (Eddie Sharp) was spotting for me also. That definitely helps a lot. It was a really cool run. We had good pit stops all night. We played the right strategy. Eddie kept me calm. When they would get that run on the outside, I wanted to drive up there, but he kept me down. We found ourselves in the right place at the right time. I tried to push Timothy to get us in a better position.”
Travis Kvapil , who found out just a couple weeks before Daytona that he’d be racing, came home in the fourth position.
“All the credit goes to Robby Benton and the RAB racing team,” he says. “They brought me a solid Toyota Tundra tonight. We just kept it out of trouble. We knew we had a strong truck – just kept out of trouble, made the right moves at the right time. To come out of here with a top five finish makes me really happy.”
Jason White would round out the top five, followed by Todd Bodine, Chris Fontaine, Ward Burton, Ty Dillon and Clay Greenfield. Dillon was able to come home with a ninth-place finish after barely dodging the wrecks at the end.
“Going into tonight, we knew it was going to be a wild night and we just wanted to finish the race,” the rookie said. “We played it a little conservative – it hurt us a bit. Felt like I was a magnet tonight. We had a strong truck, could do whatever we wanted, and we’d make it to the end.”
The three wrecks at the end weren’t the only action for the night, as there was action for fans from top to bottom.
On lap seven, Paulie Harraka got sideways and shot up into Jason Leftler, taking him out, while Dakota Armstrong wrecked behind them.
“It’s just too good to be true,” Leftler said afterwards. “The truck was really good. The truck was fast. Kind of just sitting there, couldn’t get anybody to work with me that early in the race. It just happens. I don’t know what happened, the No. 5 (Harraka) just shot up into me. The next race is at Rockingham and there’s no question that I’ll be quick there.”
On lap 60, eventual race winner King moved up to the track, hitting Cale Gale, turning him and collected TJ Duke, Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner and J.R. Fitzpatrick.
“Can’t teach patience,” Skinner said afterwards. “You can’t teach people how to drive racecars; they obviously are great racecar drivers. I’m not going to blame Cale for that; I wish he would’ve just rode behind us. I was running half-throttle, the other veterans were running half-throttle; they were just running all over.”
“It’s just one of those things,” Gale said. “We got a little behind in a fuel window there, came back on track and were trying to move up. I don’t know what happened there. I tried to be patience. I was to the point of ‘Do I need to ride and wait it out?’. I guess it’s just our fault.”
Pole Sitter Miguel Paludo wouldn’t find much luck as with 30 laps to go, he would make hard contact with the inside wall after getting loose behind teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.
“That was a hard hit for sure, I lost my breath,” Paludo said. “All in all, it was a good day for us. Got the pole, led some laps. Just got loose up there; I had been loose all day. Just so proud of my guys, having all three Turner Motorsports trucks up there. We’re going to win some races this year.”
The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is in five weeks at Martinsville Speedway.
NextEra Energy Resources 250 Lap-By-Lap
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[/media-credit]At the end of the NextEra Energy Resources 250, it was rookie John King scoring his first ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win.
Lap 1: Miguel Paludo leads lap 1 with teammate James Buescher in toe.
Lap 9: Top 8 are single file as Paludo continues to lead Buescher around. From ninth on back, they are side-by-side.
Lap 17 – Jason Leftler, Paulie Harraka, Dakota Armstrong wreck – Paulie Harraka got sideways and shot up into Leftler with Armstrong wrecking behind them. Pit stops – Paludo the first truck off of pit road
Restart as Paludo starts on the inside with Joey Coulter to his outside
Lap 28 – the top four, Paludo, Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Jason White, are single file while the rest of the back runs side-by-side
Lap 35 – Top 15 are single file as Paludo continues to lead Buescher, Keselowski and White.
Lap 40 – Top 3 are single file (Paludo, Buescher, Keselowski) while White and Mike Skinner are side-by-side for fourth
Lap 42 Caution for debris…..pit stops….Paludo leads Buescher, White, Brendan Gaughan, Keselwoski and Hornaday
Restart on Lap 47 as James Buescher takes the lead after Gaughan gives him a good push on the outside. Buescher drops down in front of his teammate, Paludo.
Caution on Lap 50 as there is debris on the race track, which fell off of Armstrong’s truck. Some trucks choose to make pit stops and add fuel. Most drivers choosing to stay out as they are not in their fuel window, yet.
Restart lap 55 – Miguel Paludo now leads Buescher on the bottom as White runs third
Lp 60 – Top nine are single file, and then the field is double-file from 10th on back as Paludo leads Buescher, White and Justin Lofton
Caution Lap 62 – Cale Gale, TJ Duke, Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner wreck. John King moves up the race track into Cale Gale, collecting others behind them. J.R. Fitzpatrick also caught some damage as he’s going to need to replace the rad……..Pit stops: James Buescher first off pit road, followed by Miguel Paludo
Restart 32 to go as Buscher leads the field to green and jumps out in front with help from Brendan Gaughan.
31 to go Nelson Piquet Jr and Miguel Paludo finds their way back up the outside and slot down infront of Buescher.
30 to go Top five are single file – Piquet Jr, Paludo, Buescher, Brendan Gaughan and Travis Kvapil. Jason White and Joey Coulter run side-by-side for sixth.
24 to go Top-three Turner Motorsports trucks are single-file – Piquet Jr., Paludo, Buescher – while White is side-by-side with Gaughan for fourth. The top 10 are Piquet Jr., Paludo, Buescher, Gaughan, Kravil, White, Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, Coulter and Johnny Sauter.
17 to go White has brought that outside line to line-up with leader, Piquet Jr., to battle for the lead
16 to go Caution as Miguel Paludo makes hard contact with the inside wall coming out of turn 4. Piquet Jr. weaved slightly back and forth, Paludo went to move to not hit him and lost the track. Chris Cockrum hit the debris, putting a big hole in the left front corner. As the incident happened, White took the lead so he is the new leader
Restart 10 to go as White and Piquet Jr. are side-by-side for the lead
9 to go White continues to lead as Piquet heads up so its now Buescher and Sauter side-by-side for second
8 to go White and Buescher are side-by-side for the lead as the whole field is two-by-two
7 to go White and Sauter lead as Hornaday and Buescher are side-by-side for third
Caution 7 to go Parker Kligermann got sideways and spun, collecting Bryan Silas, Ross Chastain, David Starr – Dusty Davis came down as Starr slightly moved up, squishing Kligermann in the middle and sending him around. Jason White leads Johnny Sauter, John King, Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, Brendan Gaughan, Joey Coulter, Justin Lofton, Travis Kvapil and Timothy Peters.
Green-White-Checkered will be the name of the game as drivers try to conserve as much fuel as possible.
Green flag comes out and its Jason White and Johnny Sauter side-by-side for the lead
In turn 1, Johnny Sauter to the lead after help from Ron Hornaday – Sauter drops down in front of White and takes the lead.
Caution comes out as Brad Keselowski, Max Gresham, Rick Crawford wreck. Clay Greenfield gets into the back of Keselowski, turning him down the track into Crawford. The field did not take the white flag so there will be another green white checkered.
Green flag……Sauter and John King pull ahead coming out of turn two
Caution: John King turns Johnny Sauter into the outside wall, collecting Brendan Gaughan, David Starr, Joey Coulter, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Nelson Piquet Jr., Chris Fontaine, Ryan Seig. The incident came together in combination when Sauter came up to block while King tried to figure out what to do with the run that he got after being pushed by Todd Bodine. They did not take the white flag so there will be a third and final attempt at a green-white-checkered……..King, Bodine, Peters, Coulter
Green flag……The top four are single file down the backstraightaway with King leading over Peters.
Caution comes out as Buescher turns Coulter and sends him up into the catch fence on the final lap, giving John King the win.
Rookie King wins first NCWTS race at Daytona
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[/media-credit]Rookie John King survived three green-white-checker flag restarts and won Friday nights NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
King turned race leader Johnny Saunter around on the second green-white-checkers restart, igniting a multi-car crash behind them. NASCAR had to red-flag the race to clean up the track.
The race ended under caution on the third attempt after another multi-car crash. Joey Coulter slammed into the outside wall, lifting off the ground, hitting the catch fence and then back across the track.
This was King’s first NASCAR victory in just eight starts.
Teammate Timothy Peters finished second, giving Red Horse Racing a 1-2 finish in the series opener.
Justin Lofton finished third, Travis Kvapil fourth and Jason White finished fifth.
Race No. 2 – 54th Annual Daytona 500 Daytona International Speedway, February 26, 2012
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[/media-credit]Happy Birthday to Me!
This year’s Great American Race happens to fall on my quarter-century milestone, and what a better way to spend my birthday than with some 200 mph high octane pack racing! My living room will be transformed into a pit of NASCAR fans on Sunday afternoon, but could never rival the ‘stadium-seating’ that was brought in during my brother’s collegiate days in the Delta Sigma Phi house at Clarkson University. This was hands-down the coolest Daytona 500 party I was ever able to (and will probably ever) attend, however I am excited for this year’s racing season to formally kick-off on Sunday.
In an effort to expand the sport’s following I’ve decided to share my Daytona 500 this Sunday with some non-NASCAR/non-racing fans. My living room will be full on Sunday of half die hard’s and half newbies; the die hard’s pleading their case on why each of their drivers are the best and cheer for. Nonetheless, it will be exciting to watch the action in my living room and exciting to see the pack duke it out for one of the most prestigious crowns in all of motorsports.
Bud Shootout Recap
Just like each restrictor plate race, last weekend’s Bud Shootout turned out to be a roll of the dice. It’s either feast of famine with these races, and I (just like most fantasy players) ended up on the short end of the stick when the dust settled last Saturday Night.
My Dark Horse pick wasn’t really a Dark Horse because he does have 2 wins at Daytona, but like I said last week, the criteria for entrance to the Bud Shootout doesn’t yield many Dark Horses in general. Jamie Mac found the front quickly last week in the first segment, reaching the point just four laps in. He showed that the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet would be a contender all night, leading a total of 5 times for 11 of the 75 laps. My misfortune came on the final lap of the Bud Shootout last week when McMurray was collected in a multi-car incident, which sent the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon for a wild ride on his roof, netting McMurray a 16th-place finish when all was said and done.
My Winner Pick last week is the guy that can “see the air” on the Superspeedways (despite the fact that he hasn’t won in 3 years). Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a fan of the way the racing has morphed back to the pack at Daytona, “I like it better. The closing rate is a little fast. Guys will go flying backwards and forwards. I think we made a lot of great improvements don’t get me wrong. I think we have really made a lot of great improvements and I have more of my destiny in my hands in this type of racing.” said Jr. following his Bud Shootout efforts.
Despite being a bit more comfortable behind the wheel on Saturday Night, Dale Jr couldn’t make it through a lap 55 incident that collected his No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet. Jr. finished 20th and I finished the weekend looking like a buffoon.
Daytona 500 Picks
With complete disregard for claiming to know what I am talking about, I’ve decided to make my picks a little bit differently this week…
It is probably not a great idea because of Ford’s complete dominance of Daytona 500 practice and qualifying sessions, but I would like to have a little fun this weekend for my birthday and also bring in some outside help in making my picks.
Because of my rocky start last week, and the complete craps-shoot it is to choose a driver to win a restrictor plate race, I’ve decided to make my picks based off a total random draw. My picks this week will be based off my girlfriend’s random draw of playing cards (0-9), and I will provide historical data and insight as to why that driver stands a chance to take the Checkered Flag on Sunday Afternoon.
So using Price is Right rules, I will have my girlfriend Casey select four cards at random, and the closest driver (by car number) to the cards selected (without going over of course) will be the drivers I will pick this week for Matty’s Picks.
Here’s a photo of the draw:
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Dark Horse Pick
Via random draw (and a pre-determined list of possible Dark Horses and Winners), Casey selected the 10 of Spades (0) and the 6 of Diamonds. So on the nose for the Dark Horse this week is a Roush Fenway Racing driver that everyone can agree on as a Dark Horse, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Not much Sprint Cup history here for my Dark Horse pick, as Stenhouse will make just his second start in the Sprint Cup series on Sunday, but based off his practice speeds, it looks like Casey didn’t do too bad picking my Dark Horse this week.
Last year’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion didn’t stretch his points lead when it came to the three races on Superspeedways in 2011, (8th at Daytona in February, 38th at Talladega in April, and 28th back at Daytona in July), but his practice speeds for this year’s Daytona 500 have been nothing to frown at. He was 12th quick in the first practice session, 14th in the second, his highest mark on the leaderboard came in the third practice session, and his most recent efforts landed him seventh in the sixth session earlier today.
I’m not emptying my bank account on Stenhouse for Sunday’s race, but with his Roush-Fenway FR9 Ford Fusion looking strong in practice, I will not count him out just yet.
Winner Pick
Casey selected the Ace of Clubs and the Deuce of Spades when it came down to my winner pick, and via Price Is Right rules, (with no driver in the No. 12 car) this would bring us to the No.13 of Casey Mears. I’m not sure that Mears is shown on anyone’s list of ‘Winner Picks’, so I will bypass that pick and head for the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet of Tony Stewart.
Now how can I be mad at the random draw of the No. 14 car this week? Coming off a second-place (closest finish of the Bud Shootout by the way) in last Saturday’s race at Daytona, and a win in the first of the two Dual races Thursday, what is there not to like? Yes, I know he’s not in an FR9, but really, what is there not to like about this pick?
Smoke will be making his 14th start in the Great American Race on Sunday, a race that has evaded him 13 times before. Despite being winless in the big dance, Smoke has tallied an impressive 16 victories at the World Center of Racing including:
3 – Sprint Cup wins in the July race
3 – Bud Shootout Wins
2 – Gatorade Dual Wins
2 – International Race of Champions (IROC) Wins
6 – NASCAR Nationwide Series Wins
This Stewart-Haas racing team is so confident in their chances that after his win on Thursday, Stewart came across the radio and said “Keep it clean, please“. Spotter Bob Jeffrey added “Don’t put anything on our race car. That’s going to be the Daytona 500 winner.”
Seriously, what’s not to like about this? He’s starting third on Sunday and has a race record that rivals anyone in history…
That’s it for this week. I’d like to thank Casey for her help with my picks this week and until next time, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!
