Bayne, Woods Return to the Scene of Their Greatest Triumph
For Eddie Wood and the rest of the Wood Brothers team, this week’s trip through the old Turn Four tunnel at Daytona International Speedway will be more special than usual.
As he drives down into the tunnel and then launches up into the track’s infield, Wood will see the speedway for the first time since February, when Trevor Bayne delivered the Wood Brothers their fifth Daytona 500 triumph.
It was a popular victory for the team that hadn’t won a Cup race since 2001 but now has plenty to celebrate, especially with the recent selection of team founder Glen Wood as a member of the third class of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame.
“It’s always nice to go back to the place where you had your biggest moment,” Eddie Wood said. But as Wood and the team pop out of the tunnel and make the right-hand turn toward the Sprint Cup garage, the Daytona 500 victory will quickly be put away in the memory bank, and the focus will shift to the task at hand – preparing the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400.
The team’s Daytona 500-winning car is on display at Daytona, and the other restrictor-plate racer was wrecked at Talladega Superspeedway, so the crew will unload a brand-new Ford Fusion. Wood said he’s got a good feeling about the new car, especially after seeing the results of testing in the wind tunnel and on the chassis dynamometer.
“The car should be fast,” he said. “We’ve got a really good engine from Roush-Yates, and we’re ready to go.”
One big difference for Bayne and the Woods as they return to Daytona is that they’re no longer guaranteed a starting spot. Because they’re running a limited schedule they’ve dropped out of the top 35 in car owner points and therefore have to qualify on speed.
But Wood said the team won’t focus solely on qualifying.
“We have to make the race on speed, but we’re going to use most of the practice sessions to get ready to race. “We’re not going to sacrifice our race set-up for qualifying.”
Another big difference from the Daytona 500 is the way Bayne likely will be treated by his competitors. Heading into Speedweeks, Bayne had problems finding drafting partners willing to take a chance on a rookie with just one Cup start under his belt.
But his performances in the two restrictor-plate races since – at Daytona and Talladega – have changed that dramatically.
“It’s a known fact that Trevor is a good pusher,” Wood said. “And he’s earned a good bit of respect from the other drivers.”
The radio in the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion will be adapted to allow Bayne to talk directly to his fellow Ford drivers, and possibly a few others as well. And the team’s spotter, Chip Ross, is ready for a repeat of his Daytona 500 performance.
“He did a really good job in February,” Wood said. “Everything is still in place.”
Qualifying for the Coke Zero 400 is set to begin on Friday at 4:10 p.m., and the race is set to get the green flag on Saturday night at 7:30 with TV coverage on TNT.
Bobby Labonte Daytona Preview
LABONTE EYES OPTIONS FOR DEALMAKING AT DAYTONA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 29, 2011) – – Bobby Labonte raced for the win in the closing laps of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in February. Labonte pushed Trevor Bayne to victory and snatched a fourth-place finish after leading once for two laps in the season-opener. Now, Labonte returns with the No. 47 Kingsford Toyota Camry eager to claim his 22nd career victory.
“In February, we had an opportunity to win,” Labonte said. “We have that in the back of our minds as we return. We had a good run and a safe day. We were able to be in the right place at the right time. Everybody did a good job all around. We are looking forward to returning and we hope to have the same type of performance with better results.”
The 2000 champion’s last trip to victory lane took place ironically in Florida, but at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16th, 2003. He has 115 top-five and 200 top-10 career finishes to his credit with six of those top-five and nine top-10 finishes taking place at DIS.
“I came close to winning there a few times,” Labonte said.
To win at Daytona, Labonte is going to have to have the right partner since the two-car draft will come into play Saturday night. His team JTG Daugherty Racing team is technically aligned with Michael Waltrip Racing, but he’s keeping his options open for many reasons.
“I did that math and there’s three so that leaves an odd person out,” said Labonte, who is housed in the same facility with David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr.’s teams. “I don’t think there will be much difference this time at Daytona and you will see two-car drafting throughout the whole race – – not just toward the end of the race. Other than Daytona being narrow, Talladega (Superspeedway) was proof of how drafting will be. I’m sure the grip level will be similar. Sure, it will be hotter and it may make a little difference, but like I said, I’m sure you will see two-car drafting during most of the race.
“I think you have to have several options in case something happens,” Labonte continues. “We’ve got some ideas. You are not necessarily going to run with the same person for 160 laps.”
A strong finish is just what Labonte and his JTG Daugherty team needs following Infineon Raceway. A top-15 run was derailed when another car made contact with Labonte’s machine sending it hard into the fence resulting in a 38th-place finish.
“We could have walked away with a respectable finish, but we got taken out just by racing, which sometimes just happens,” Labonte said. “One thing about us, I’ve got a great group of guys and everybody has kept upbeat. They are working real hard to be better than we are. We’ve had better days. It’s just a tough sport, sometimes you have good days and some days you have bad days.”
Live coverage of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway airs on TNT beginning at 7:30 pm. ET. MRN and Sirius XM will also air the event.
Michael Annett: From Brake Pedal to Full Throttle for Rusty Wallace Racing
Michael Annett, driver of the No. 62 Pilot Flying J Toyota for Rusty Wallace Racing, is moving from stepping hard on his brake pedal at the Nationwide road course race last weekend to the upcoming full throttle action of Daytona International Speedway in this weekend’s race.
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[/media-credit]And on his way, he just happened to score the best finish of his season so far, seventh place on Wisconsin’s 4.048 mile Road America course.
Annett was Rusty Wallace Racing’s top finisher, earning his second top-10 finish and the team’s fifth top-10 finish for the year.
“It was definitely unexpected and I consider myself a survivor of that race,” Annett said. “We were down in the 20’s in the timing charts and I felt if we kept the fenders on the car and stayed on the track, we’d have a chance for a top-15 and then get to the end, and maybe have a chance for a top-10.”
“And we did and it was definitely exciting and good for our whole team.”
In spite of getting a top-10 finish, Annett still does not consider himself an accomplished road course racer.
“I definitely don’t consider myself a road course racer, but pit strategy and steering clear of trouble on the track brought us to another well-deserved top-10 finish,” Annett said.”My crew chief, Rick Viers, made some great calls, and working our way around the mayhem during the three attempts at a green, white, checkered there at the end was to our benefit.”
“We’ve got a great group of guys assembled for our No. 62 team, and their hard work really paid off this weekend,” Annett continued. “We made smart moves throughout the race, and bringing home a car with no damage and a seventh place finish is pretty awesome.”
“I’m excited to give Pilot Flying J and Rusty Wallace Racing another top-10.”
As excited as he was, Annett admitted that he was disappointed for his teammate Steve Wallace, who had what looked to be a potential winning car. Wallace was caught up in an accident later in the race and finished 26th.
“I definitely knew that he deserved a better finish than what he got,” Annett said of Wallace. “He had a really good car and he is a really good road racer. He surprised me this weekend I’ll be honest with you.”
En route to the road course race this weekend, Annett also celebrated another milestone, his 25th birthday.
“I flew on a plane from Concord Airport to Wisconsin for my birthday,” Annett said. “We landed and my mom went to a very good Italian restaurant in Elkhart Lake and her, myself and Reed Sorenson had pasta and pizza and cheese bread.”
“We were all full and then she whipped out an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert,” Annett continued. “It worked out very nice.”
After his birthday celebration and his great top-10 run, Annett was also very excited for his best friend Reed Sorenson’s victory at Road America.
“As soon as he finished, I pulled up next to him to be the first to congratulate him,” Annett said. “I ran down to Victory Lane and congratulated him there too.”
“He told me the odds would have been a thousand to one for him to win that race,” Annett said. “Better yet, me finishing seventh was even longer odds than that.”
Annett is now ready to move from pumping the brake pedals to running full throttle on the high banks of Daytona. While he has high hopes, he is not so fond of the two-car tandem draft that has become the norm at the superspeedways.
“To me, I enjoyed the chess match being in the big group in the draft, with the driver making the decision about what line to be in and where to be,” Annett said. “I really do not like the racing the way it is now. I don’t like relying on someone else to have success and that’s where we are right now.”
“I am fortunate enough that I have a teammate and we work really well together,” Annett continued. “Going to Daytona we have the same plan to work together. I don’t like it but having a teammate is fortunate going into it.”
While Annett felt that he had some control at the road course, he most certainly feels that it is just a roll of the dice at Daytona.
“I am looking at a top-10 finish to keep this momentum going,” Annett said. “But it’s always a crap shoot at Daytona.”
“I got taken out on lap 15 at Daytona this year and in the last few laps of Talladega,” Annett continued. “It’s really a crap shoot but we definitely have the potential to have both cars in the top-10 at the end. We’re going into the weekend planning on that.”
Annett heads to Daytona in the 10th position in the Nationwide Series championship point standings. He has a win at that track from back in his days with the ARCA Racing Series.
