The Field Is Set For ‘The Clash’ 2017 At Daytona

via press release

Recently crowned seven-time NASCAR premier series champion Jimmie Johnson will join a star-studded elite field as NASCAR kicks off its 2017 season with The Clash at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017.

The annual season-opening event will be broadcast live on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 8 p.m. ET. The 75-lap race again will be split into two segments with a competition caution at lap 25 separating the segments.

“What better way to kick off the 2017 season than the sport’s brightest stars under the lights at Daytona International Speedway” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “Coming off a thrilling season finale at Homestead-Miami, we’re looking forward to continuing that momentum into Daytona. With bragging rights and no points on the line, the Clash will set the tone for what should be a season full of great racing and tough competition.”

“We’re bringing back The Clash at Daytona,” said Chip Wile, Daytona International Speedway president. “The Clash was a race name that has always been popular among both the competitors and race fans. We’re looking forward to bringing it back and building on the rich history of this thrilling and always unpredictable event that kicks off the NASCAR season.”

Unlike previous years, the starting field for the 2017 Clash at Daytona will not be a predetermined number of cars; rather, the field is limited to drivers who meet more exclusive criteria. Only drivers who were 2016 Coors Light Pole Award winners, former Clash race winners, former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full-time in 2016, and drivers who qualified for the 2016 Chase are eligible.

Eligible drivers are:


2016 Coors Light Pole Awards winners (14)
·         Greg Biffle, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr.


Former Clash Race Winners (2)
·         Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart


Former DAYTONA 500 Coors Light Pole Award winners (1)
·         Danica Patrick


2016 Chase drivers (3)
·         Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray

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Group Qualifying For Daytona - Good, Scary or Questionable Decision for TV?

Until I watched the qualifying process for the Xfinity Series race at Daytona, a restrictor-plate track, I wasn't sure what I thought about the group qualifying process that NASCAR instituted for this 2015 racing season.

Now that I've seen it, I can wholeheartedly say that it's bad enough that racing at Daytona is a crap shoot of luck with pack racing combined with poor decisions on anyone's part. That's part of the show IN THE RACE. And there's this need to put on a show during qualifying, because single car runs are not that appealing to the generic TV viewer.

That's the TV studio talking.

But when someone makes a bad call in one of the group sessions that impacts drivers that are fully capable of getting in the race, well, sure, TV gets more of the exciting wrecks that appeal to the casual TV viewer, but seems completely unfair to the drivers who get caught up in the noise of the wreck. I don't know what the right answer is to make qualifying more "exciting" to the casual viewer, but the probability of screwing up a contender from getting in the race seems to be a steep price to pay for any one team.

 Even though I am no expert, it looks like the groups need to be broken up into even more groups for smaller qualifying crowds, minimizing how many cars can be impacted when a driver makes a bad call in the pack. Just saying.

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Speed Channel's Daytona Coverage

For the 2012 Daytona 500 month, Fox's Speed channel has quite a bit of NASCAR coverage planned, including a piece on remembering Dale Earnhardt.  Overall, it's reportedly about 100 hours of television programming.

Speed's coverage will include 16 events from the track and 44 different shows from various studios.

First up, starting Feb 13th, is NASCAR Race Hub.  There will also be 8 Sprint Cup practice sessions, 2 qualifying races plus coverage of the Budweiser Shootout practices...

There will also be the ARCA race, the Camping World Truck Series events.

There's even a Dale Earnhardt special airing late, on February 17th.

Check out the TV coverage from Daytona from Speed Channel:

John Wes Townley Approved For Daytona

John Wes Townley's performance in the ARCA Daytona race on February 7th helped NASCAR make a decision. That decision is to approve John to be able to drive at Daytona in the Nationwide event.

John steps back into his car and is ready to compete on Saturday.

His stand in (Wouldn't that be a sit-in?), Travis Kvapil, is available to anyone needing a driver for the weekend folks!!

Source: ARCA Racing.com,

1997 Dale Earnhardt Hood For Auction

Want a piece of a Daytona 500 raced car? How about a piece of a car that Dale Earnhardt drove? What about a piece of the car that Dale Earnhardt wrecked?

If you've done the math, you know I'm talking about the black Monte Carlo that Dale Earnhardt drove in the 1997 Daytona 500. The one he got back in and finished the race in when he realized the wheels were still on it!

After the race, the hood of the car was signed by Childress & McReynolds. The hood stayed in RCR until it ended up in the private collection Charles Ross, who's amassed a great deal of Earndardt stuff. Wha? Someone has more Sr. stuff than I do?

Now Ross is auctioning off the hood along with the rest of his 'stuff' from his collection.

He's using Go Motor Bids to do it and they will be auctioning off his collection, a piece at a time.

At the moment, the auction is up to $5750, but it's still got a week to go. I bet it gets up there a little bit more than that before this is all over.

Go check it out over at GoMotorBids and have some fun!

Image from GoMotorBids home page.

Owners Points and the Bubble after Daytona in July 08

Just for grins, I slapped in the first place car of Kyle Busch and he's got a 1300+ point advantage on 35th. He ain't in no danger of falling below the 35th even if he drives backwards the rest of the year.

The No 55 Toyota is in 28th and was looking at a good finish last weekend, but he got street swept in the last lap wreck.

The No 77 Dodge has the 35th spot all to itself and unless something really stupid happens to that team, AND the No 66 car runs every week, he's in no danger. With Kyle Petty out of the field, there's no real competition for the 35th spot* and dare I say it may just remain this way for the rest of the year. There aren't enough cars running full time to make it interesting. Yet another side affect of the economy? Probably.

If there's any fight to be had, it's between 33rd to 35th.

RANK	+/-	CAR	OWNER	POINTS
1	--	#18	Joe Gibbs	2686	1316
28	--	#55	Michael Waltrip	1508	138
29	--	#44	Michael Waltrip	1502	132
30	--	#22	Bill Davis	1500	130
31	2	#7	Robby Gordon	1484	114
32	-1	#41	Chip Ganassi	1475	105
33	-1	#01	Teresa Earnhardt	1436	66
34	1	#00	Rob Kauffman	1382	12
35	-1	#77	Roger Penske	1370	0
36	--	#66	Joe Custer	1300	-70
37	1	#84	Dietrich Mateschitz	1170	-200
38	-1	#96	Jeffrey Moorad	1165	-205
39	--	#78	Barney Visser	1133	-237
40	1	#10	George Gillett, Jr	1117	-253

*OK, that was mean.

Driver Point Standings After Daytona July 2008

Restrictor plate racing took it's toll and then some, but regardless of the venue, the same 'ol drivers were up there fighting for the lead positions, barring a few spins off of front bumpers, driver switches for a nasty flu and just some other things.

Despite spinning on the last lap, Jeff Gordon didn't lose any spots, Burton lost one and Biffle and Stewart lost three spots from their own situations.

The big spot climber was Matt Kenseth, moving up 4 spots into 9th.

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	Bubble Diff
1	--	Kyle Busch	2686	541
2	1	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2504	359
3	-1	Jeff Burton	2484	339
4	--	Carl Edwards	2437	292
5	--	Jimmie Johnson	2319	174
6	--	Jeff Gordon	2249	104
7	--	Denny Hamlin	2240	95
8	2	Kasey Kahne	2177	32
9	4	Matt Kenseth	2166	21
10	1	Clint Bowyer	2159	14
11	-3	Greg Biffle	2153	8
12	-3	Tony Stewart	2145	0
		CHASE FOR THE SPRINT CUP - BUBBLE
13	-1	Kevin Harvick	2143	-2
14	3	David Ragan	2043	-102
15	1	Brian Vickers	2033	-112

As you can see, at the moment, from about 7th (Denny Hamlin) on back, it's a tight race for that 12th position. Anyone have a bad day and it's out of the top 12, just like that.

Traditionally, this has been Tony Stewarts time of year to kick it in gear (I don't mean buying into new teams or leaving his own), but you have to wonder if that's having any affect what so ever on him... more than likely, I'd like to think it's not. But that's me. I've been wrong before... once I think.

Tuesday Speed Tests at Daytona

In the morning session this Tuesday, Dale Earnhardt Jr led the pack followed by Michael Waltrip, Brian Vickers, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart.

The afternoon session saw Ryan Newman top the charts followed by Ragan Smith, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick and Dario Franchitti.

For the complete lists, check out nascar.com.

Wednesdays' Testing

Kyle Busch, in his new ride for JGR Toyota, topped the charts in both morning and afternoon testing in the draft testing that took place today. (Yea, I don't think they'll have any issues coming up to speed in the new make.)

Check out the details of who ranked where at nascar.com

Monday's Speed Tests

The first session of preseason testing opened Monday at Daytona International Speedway, and two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson was the fastest of the 25 cars on the track during the morning and afternoon sessions.

He was followed in the morning session by Casey Mears, Jacques Villeneuve and A.J. Allmendinger. The afternoon session saw Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger and Jacques Villeneuve. (See nascar.com for the speed charts)

Keep in mind that NASCAR does not allow draft practice so it was single car runs today.

Dale Earnhardt Jr apparently surprised everyone by being there because he's testing next week and with the potential of no team mates being present, he wanted to touch base with his posse while they were at the track this week.

See Fox Sports for details.

NASCAR Daytona Test List

What will NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow look like on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway?

The world will find out beginning January 7 as NASCAR Sprint Cup teams take part in preseason testing at the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway.

This Fox Sports link has the list of drivers expected to compete at the first session, which takes place January 7-9, and the second test, which is scheduled for January 14-16.

Daytona 500 Speed Channel Coverage

For the latest on the schedule of coverage from Speed Channel, check out:

nascar

Stewart and Hamlin have yet to Talk

From what I hear, Stewart had an open invitation to Hamlin to call in on his Sirius Satellite show on Monday, but Denny apparently could not make it.

Stewart, according to articles, still seems to be pointing the finger in Hamlins direction, though he is not being so harsh about it now, and has declared his love for Denny, "Like a little brother", that is.

Here's what pickles me: Stewart says it's Hamlins fault.
Stewart says that for the 3 laps previous, he was catching him faster and faster in the mid part of the turn. (A clue maybe?)
Stewart says he could not stop, without gettig hit. (Though everyone else was able to avoid the sheet metal introduction between the 11 & the 20. Steel enima?)

And Tony keeps reiterating that Denny can be a better team mate! Does Tony want brake lights installed on the 11 car??

I just am not sure that when you punt the leader of the race, that it's not the 2nd place's car fault, but that's just my opinion.

SceneDaily

Stewart and Hamlin at Daytona

With Denny Hamlin leading the pack for 10 laps, on lap 14 of the race, it looked like Tony Stewart got a run on Denny and in passing him, snagged his fender and into the wall they both went, taking them both out of contention.

In ensuing interviews, Tony Stewart railed on Denny saying "The 11 car decided to stop in turn 4 in front of 42 other cars. He tried wrecking me earlier this week and finished us off tonight. Hamlin doesn’t know the definition of team right now."

In a subsequent interview with Denny Hamlin, Denny said he wasn't doing anything different than any other lap, as he was getting tighter as the laps went on.

So Tony Stewart, yet again, drives through another car with tire issues, (Hey Denny, call David Gilliland... you can be in the same club!!), and blames the other guy. Dude, I know you're good, but you have got to put a restrictor sole on your driving shoe and quit driving through people.

But then, it's never his fault, is it?

UPDATE: Here's the NASCAR.com article about the incident: nascar

Weather for Pepsi 400

So far, it does not look good, per the weather channel as they are predicting for Friday through Sunday, a high of 89 degrees, and scattered thunderstorms. Grr.

www.weather.com

A Reminder: Eury Jr is Back

Starting with this weekends Daytona race, Tony eury Jr is back on the war wagon for Jr.