DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — What a storybook finish!

Jamie McMurray won the 52nd annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 but it took three green, white, checkered flag attempts and an unbelievable shove from the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., to pull the curtain down on one of the most exciting 500′s in the sport’s history.

After two red flags to repair a hole in the track’s bumpy surface, McMurray wound up in the front pack when it came to the two-lap showdown for NASCAR’s biggest prize. And Earnhardt provided the help he needed to hold off a snarling, hungry pack of professional stock car drivers trying to add their names to the Daytona 500 record book. Continue reading “NSCS Race Recap: Daytona 500 Is Emotional Win For McMurray, Second Place For Earnhardt Jr.” »

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With a last-lap pass of superspeedway ace Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters won Saturday night’s NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

With a push from polesitter Jason White, Peters passed Bodine on the backstretch and won the race to the finish line. Bodine, who had won the previous two season openers at Daytona, crossed the stripe in second place but spun into the infield grass after taking the checkered flag.

“I can’t believe it — this thing drove like a Lexus tonight,” Peters said of his No. 17 Toyota Tundra. “We just won Daytona! I was just content where I was at, but the 23 (White) came up and gave me a great run.

“I can’t believe it — I’m going to Disney World!”

Peters’ only previous win in the series came at .526-mile Martinsville Speedway.

Dennis Setzer, White and Matt Crafton rounded out the top five, as Bodine took solace from his second-place run — magnified by wrecks that ruined the nights of defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner, perennial contenders for the truck series title.

“You’re a sitting duck leading,” Bodine said ruefully. “I saw the replay when I was sitting down there in the mud (after spinning). Timmy did what he had to do.

“We’re disappointed. There’s no doubt about it. But second’s nothing to sneeze at.”

Two separate crashes on the pace laps — before the race had started — promised an action-filled evening, and, indeed, before the race was a lap old, Aric Almirola took the field three-wide in Turn 3. Austin Dillon, making his first superspeedway start, broke loose between trucks and ignited a nine-truck collision that damaged the trucks of Kyle Busch and Landon Cassill, among others.

“I really don’t know what was happening,” Dillon said after exiting the infield care center. “I was sucking up to Jason White, and someone got under me. Just looked like they weren’t being very patient there to start. Just caught in the middle and got banged around there a few times and tried to save it — just nothing I could do there.”

Hornaday was the victim of a 10-truck wreck after a bump from Ricky Carmichael turned him into the outside wall at the end of the backstretch on Lap 32. The same wreck ruined the winning chances of front-row starter Elliott Sadler. Skinner’s race ended early after a tap from Peters launched him into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 62.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Tony Stewart held off a snarling pack of cars on his bumper to win the DRIVE4COPD NASCAR Nationwide Series 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.

Stewart, who had won four of these races prior to this sunny Saturday, dodged a multitude of sensational wrecks to win his fifth of the last six Nationwide races here.

Carl Edwards roared back to a second-place finish after triggering Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s upside-down exit from the 120-lap race at the 92nd-lap mark.

Stewart teammate Kevin Harvick was third and Justin Allgaier fourth as the cars zigged and zagged their way to a wild finish.

Rounding out the top 10 were Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, who started the race in last place, Joey Logano, James Buescher, Kasey Kahne and Steve Wallace.

Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who raced up front most of the afternoon, wrecked back in the pack on the last lap.
A 10-car wreck shortly past the halfway point ended Danica Patrick’s day, much to her dismay. It was one of those “I didn’t have any place to go to miss the wreck” deals.

It all unfolded ahead of her out of turn four when Josh Wise was tapped from behind by Colin Braun, which created a domino effect that eliminated a total of 10 cars, including Patrick, who had been the center of a media blitz for the past 10 days.

Others eliminated in the crash included Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Scott Lagasse, Braun, Brian Scott, Johnny Sauter, Menard, Robert Richardson, Jr., and Jason Leffler.

Another spectacular accident stopped the race with just 28 laps remaining. This time, it involved most popular driver Earnhardt, who was racing hard in third place when he was clipped from behind by Edwards, after Keselowski nudged him. The contact flipped Earnhardt upside down, and he rolled a couple of times before coming to rest rightside-up.

Harvick received some minor damage in the accident, as did Edwards and Keselowski. Earnhardt, Nemechek and Brendan Gaughan’s cars were damaged beyond repair.

Chrissy Wallace spun before the field completed a lap and hit the inside retaining wall, ending her day almost before it began. A little tap in the rear bumper from Menard started her spin which prompted the first caution of the day. It was not to be the last caution.

Just a few after a restart, the caution waved again. Mike Bliss accidentally bumped Trevor Bayne, triggering a multi-car spin. Patrick was almost involved but entered the smoke and came out the other side unscathed. Tony Raines and Braun were not so fortunate. They sustained some damage in the accident. On the restart at lap 11, it was Harvick, Earnhardt, Jr., Edwards and Logano up front.

At lap 25, Harvick was leading with Earnhardt second. Edwards was third, followed by Logano, Busch, Townley, Stewart, Biffle, Leffler and Kahne. Stewart and Biffle had raced their way into the top 10 after starting the race in the back of the field.

After a round of green flag pit stops at lap 44, Nemechek and Raines led a few laps when everyone but them pitted. Another caution on lap 50 bunched the cars up again. Mike Wallace spun between turns three and four to bring out the yellow flags.

When the race resumed at lap 56, Biffle was the leader with Busch second and Keselowski third.

Trailing the leaders were Edwards, Earnhardt, Nemechek, Stewart, Logano and Kahne.

Patrick had made her way back to 24th spot after handling problems forced her to the rear of the field.

Gatorade Duel at Daytona #2
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Kasey Kahne held on at the end to win the second Gatorade Duel by a narrow margin over Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The final lap had a huge crowd on its feet cheering as the leaders sped through the tri-oval and a slew of “go-or-go-homers” battled for two coveted spots in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 back in the field.

Two drivers had to beat eight others to claim a starting spot in NASCAR’s biggest race. Mike Bliss, driving a Tommy Baldwyn Chevrolet, held off Casey Mears and others to finish 13th and grabbed the first of two spots. Red Bull Racing’s Scott Speed finished one spot back to take the other spot. Speed’s effort cleared the way for Michael Waltrip to make the Daytona 500 on qualifying speed after misfortune prevented him from making the field in the first qualifying event.

Bobby Labonte claimed the final starting spot with a provisional awarded to former champions.

Trailing Kahne, Stewart and Montoya were Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Marcos Ambrose, David Reutimann and Brian Vickers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., led from the front row but encountered tire problems and finished 27th.

Gatorade Duel at Daytona #1

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Michael McDowell summed up how drivers feel when they make the Daytona 500.

He finished 14th in the first NASCAR Gatorade Duel here Thursday at Daytona International Speedway but, more importantly, he finished first amongst the drivers who had to race their way into NASCAR’s biggest event.

And Max Papis joined him to earn the right to be a part of Sunday’s 43-car starting field.

Nevermind that four-time champion Jimmie Johnson nipped Kevin Harvick by inches at the finish line to win the race, it was McDowell and Papis’ time to shine. There were nine drivers in the first race who had to beat each other in order to make the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 starting field.

McDowell and Papis were overcome with emotion and relished the accomplishment. For McDowell, it might make race fans forget his most famous highlight reel when he crashed and rolled spectacularly at Texas several years ago.

Trailing Johnson and Harvick were Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Regan Smith, Jamie McMurray, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Newman, David Ragan and Jeff Gordon.

Greg Biffle was 11th after getting shuffled out of the lead some eight or nine laps from the finish of the 60-lap race.

Hard-luck Michael Waltrip looked as though he was going to be one of the two “race-your-way-in” Daytona 500 starters but slipped up the race track and was bumped by Regan Smith. The contact sent Waltrip spinning off the track into the inside retaining wall.

Todd Bodine made an impressive bid to get Kirk Shelmerdine’s Toyota in the race but fell one position shy.

The race was run under a cool, overcast sky.

Bill Elliott and Joe Nemechek will start the Daytona 500 based on their qualifying speeds.