Daily Dish: Martin, DEI back to normal; 42 of 43 teams change engines
by Lee Spencer, The Sporting News
|
Sunday, 1 ET on FOX
Ordinal out of range Ordinal out of range |
Saturday, Feb. 19
After Mark Martin's car appeared to be headed for the junkyard following a wreck in the second 150 Duel on Thursday, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that his No. 6 Ford was nearly perfect again following Happy Hour on Saturday. The crew invested 120 man-hours repairing Martin's car before final practice for the Daytona 500. "The car is just as good as it was on Thursday," Martin says. "We did miss a day of tuning but that's OK. The engine is awesome. My team is awesome. They weren't going to build a car of this caliber just to pull another one (backup) off of the trailer. They knew this was the car I needed." But practice wasn't without incident. Martin had a run in Happy Hour with Kevin Harvick, who after causing Thursday's wreck is obviously in need of a trip to the optometrist. ...DEI VP of competition Richie Gilmore says all three cars are good to go for Sunday. "They're all happy but seem to be fighting a tight condition," Gilmore says. "The guy who can get his car the loosest tomorrow and can still drive it will win." Gilmore says that despite the teams' qualifying efforts, the cars ran so well during the draft during testing in January that he never anticipated problems in the 500. ...
Forty-two of 43 Nextel Cup cars changed engines before the final practice for Sunday's Daytona 500. Only the 00 Chevrolet driven by Kenny Wallace kept his original engine for the race. Wallace, who had to qualify on time and will start 21st, was still reeling with excitement on Saturday in anticipation of racing in the 47th Daytona 500. "Drivers have a tendency to take this opportunity for granted," Wallace says. "Not me. People don't realize this is the biggest race in the world. I'm more than excited. I have an awesome car." Wallace is driving the same car that Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced in the 2004 Budweiser Shootout. ...
Joe Gibbs was relieved that Jason Leffler and the No. 11 team easily qualified for the 500. Although Leffler spent a year in Cup in 2001 and has raced a total of 43 races, but the team is new and therefore had to qualify on time. "I was thrilled because Fed Ex had so many people involved this weekend," Gibbs says. "From a race standpoint, we hope having three cars out there will make a difference in the draft because in the past sometimes it's difficult for teammates to get together." Leffler will start 40th. --Lee Spencer
Friday, Feb. 18
The feud that wasn't is no more. Or so they say. Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson said Friday they had patched up their differences, though Harvick suggested there were no differences in the first place and that the media had blown it out of proportion, besides. Harvick dismissed questions that bad blood between the two reached back to last year. Yeah, well, Johnson said on Thursday that Harvick should be fired and/or busted by NASCAR, so they certainly weren't buddies before Harvick got into the back of Johnson in a Daytona 500 qualifying race leading to a multiple car wreck. Several drivers slammed Harvick for "bump-drafting" in a turn. Harvick was not without support — at least two drivers, Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray, defended him. Harvick said he wasn't bump-drafting but that Johnson slowed down. Harvick said that tape of the incident proves it was an unavoidable accident. After the accident, Harvick and Johnson received a stern talking to from NASCAR. The two then met privately for 20 minutes at Johnson's motorcoach. ...Rusty Wallace will run his final Daytona 500 in his backup car, but it doesn't seem to be much worse of a car than his primary, which was wrecked in the aftermath of the Johnson-Harvick wreck. Wallace has never won the Daytona 500, and there has been speculation, some of it fueled by Wallace, that he'd be back next year. He ended that speculation Friday. "I got in trouble with my wife waffling around the other day," Wallace told reporters. "I'm not going to do that anymore." --Lee Spencer
Thursday, Feb. 17
Kevin Harvick faced heavy criticism after he hit Jimmie Johnson, causing a big wreck in the second of two qualifying races Thursday. In an angry interview on television, Johnson suggested Richard Childress should fire Harvick and/or NASCAR should penalize Harvick. Mark Martin's car was destroyed, as was Rusty Wallace's and Joe Nemechek's. Those guys had choice words for Harvick, and it wasn't just the guys in the wreck calling Harvick out. "It was Harvick's option not to run him over," Michael Waltrip says. "If you're in the turn, don't hit the guy." Harvick and Johnson, who have had on-track incidents in the past, were called to the NASCAR trailer, but no fines were expected. Later, sources said, Harvick visited Johnson at Johnson's motorcoach. ...The quality of the new Goodyear tires was the buzz early in the day, when Goodyear officials announced 600 tires were removed from competiton. Added to 300 removed last week, that makes 900 tires deemed unfit. But there were no serious problems in either of the qualifying races, easing fears teams had that tires would be the deciding factor in Sunday's race. ...
Jeff Burton is one of the smartest and most well-spoken drivers in Nextel Cup. He's also one of, if not the, funniest. On Thursday, he was in the media center waiting for his press conference to begin while audio of Michael Waltrip's press conference was piped in from the separate press box. The press box and the media center are connected by an audio wire, so reporters in each room can ask questions of drivers in the other. Burton took the microphone and introduced himself as a reporter from Raleigh. He then told Waltrip he had been talking to the IRS, and that the IRS was investigating Waltrip. There was an uncomfortable silence — Waltrip didn't know what to do or say. He had bought it. Eventually Burton let Waltrip in on the joke. "That's the first time you've ever not known what to say," Burton told Waltrip. "I wish you'd shut up, I'm hungry." --Matt Crossman
|
Photo Gallery... Also... |
Wednesday, Feb. 16
Despite Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s seventh-place finish in the Budweiser Shootout and 39th-place qualifying effort, DEI competition director Tony Eury Sr. says there's no reason for concern. Eury added the organization "pinpointed the problems in the engine" and have continued working over the past week testing different combinations to boost horsepower. "We may not run well in the practice, we may not run well in the 150s, but we know the 500 cars are better than the Shootout cars," Eury says. "We're not down on ourselves real bad. We just know we need a little tweaking. The guys at the shop are working day and night, and we know what the problem is. They've found it, and we know the cars are better than what we had at Talladega. The wind tunnel numbers are better. We're not giving up." Michael Waltrip climbed to seventh fastest in the first practice. "My car's great," Waltrip said between practices. "I wished I could just leave it the way it is." Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the DEI contingent with 12th-fastest time in second practice. ...There were complaints following the Budweiser Shootout that the level of aggression was over the top, especially from drivers who were slammed from behind going into the corners. There is a distinct line between bump-drafting — when drivers draft so closely down the stretch that the driver from behind hits the front car to shove it forward to pass another line of cars. Ricky Rudd doesn't expect the same shenanigans from the top 39 drivers. "From the guys that are locked in, I think you'll see bump-drafting, but I don't think you'll see the desperation moves that were made the other night in the 150s," Rudd says. "I think the guys that are not in the field, they got to do it." Rudd starts fifth in the Duel 1. ...
|
EXCLUSIVE FOX SNEAK PEEK
From some of FOX television's best and brightest, click on the links below for exclusive clips.
|
Richard Childress announced a program on Wednesday that will resurrect the No. 3 — at least as a show car — to celebrate RCR's 20th anniversary with General Motors. But Childress added that RCR won't be running the No. 3 any time soon, even though Dale Earnhardt still sell the third-most souvenirs in the garage. --Lee Spencer
Tuesday, Feb. 15
Boris Said, Jason Leffler, Mike Skinner and John Andretti were all locked into the event on time. This year, Nextel Cup time trials guarantees that the top 35 teams in points are eligible to start, but these four drivers are from new or resurrected teams. Skinner, now a Craftsman Truck regular, is one of only three drivers to win the 500 pole as a rookie (1997). He is running a limited schedule for Bill Davis in Cup. Said is also expected to run a handful of races, but would like to expand his list. Leffler and Andretti, who plan to run all 36 points races, desperately needed to qualify for Sunday's race. With Leffler's association with Joe Gibbs Racing, there was little doubt that he would qualify, but with Andretti coming in with a single-car rookie team, the pressure was on. "To us this is like winning the Daytona 500 because we're in, and this was such a small window to get into," Andretti says. "It's so competitive. No matter what happens to us in the race, it's going to take a lot more to get us down." Andretti qualified for the final position outside the top 35 and will start sixth in the No. 14 Ford in the second Gatorade Duel on Thursday...Kyle Busch topped the three rookies attempting to make Sunday's race with a lap of 186.486 mph, which was 16th-fastest. "I'm definitely pleased," Busch says. "We came down here for testing, and we never thought we had a shot to qualify in the top 20." Both Busch and Travis Kvapil are locked in for the 500 due to points. Eric McClure, who qualified 45th, will have to race his way into the event from the 21st starting position in the second Twin. ...
Where will NASCAR find and groom its new talent? ARCA has long since been one of the many feeder series, and this year's field for the Advance Auto Parts 200 included third-place finisher J.J. Yeley, currently on the Joe Gibbs Racing roster, Roush Racing rookie Todd Kluever and Hendrick Busch freshman Blake Feese, who competed in a Bobby Gerhart-fielded Chevrolet. Hendrick Motorsports was savvy enough to enlist ARCA journeyman Gerhart, 45, to provide top-of-the-line equipment for its blossoming racer. "(Blake) had a great car," Rick Hendrick says. "That's why we ran him in that race to get him some experience." The relationship paid off for Gerhardt, too, who won his second race at Daytona. --Lee Spencer
Monday, Feb. 14
There's already talk in the garage that the championship will once again be decided between Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Racing.While everyone expects Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who qualified second and third respectively, to be at the top of the heap, the biggest surprise during time trials on Sunday was the dominating performance by MB2, MBV and MB/Sutton Motorsports, satellite partners of Hendrick Motorsports. All three cars qualified in the top 11 which guarantees road-racing ace Boris Said his first start in the Daytona 500.
"I can't thank Rick Hendrick enough," Said says. "Those Hendrick motors are unbelievable. I've got a great team and a great crew chief. Joe Nemechek has helped me out a lot. It's just a team effort. I'm just a small piece of it. Hopefully I can make the race and go out there and run decent and not do anything stupid to make any of the veterans mad." Said will start fifth in Thursday's Gatorade Duel No. 2. ...
Once again Kyle Petty credited Evernham Engines for his stellar run on Sunday. Petty's 12th-place performance lead all in the Dodge ranks. "The engines have been good since we've been down here testing," Petty says. "We've had no problem." This was the first time a Dodge Charger returned to the track since 1977.
After last Saturday's ARCA crashfest that left just 10 of 41 cars running at the finish — including an accident which resulted in multiple injuries to driver Billy Venturini's second vertebrae and the disc below — expect the sanctioning body to re-evaluate its head-and-neck devices. Venturini, 28, was wearing a Hutchens device that NASCAR has removed from its list of approved apparatuses in all NASCAR series except the weekly racing series. In his post-qualifying news conference, Dale Jarrett said that Bill Venturini Sr. had inquired on Jason Jarrett's availability for the next two months while Billy recuperates. --Lee Spencer
Matt Crossman is an associate editor for Sporting News. Email him at mcrossman@sportingnews.com.
Staff writer Lee Spencer covers NASCAR for Sporting News. Email her at lspencer@sportingnews.com.
advertisement
