Danica Patrick’s Chevy after getting wrecked during qualifying at Daytona. (Credit:Jansen Vinlow USA Today photo.)
By Lou Modestino
NASCAR’s new qualifying procedure in plain English stinks! As of last Saturday morning, there were 22 cars wrecked in qualifying. Even before the qualifiers got on the track on Friday, there was absolute chaos on pit road as the contenders were trying to buddy up with teammates or friends or buddy up with the same make of car due to the matching areo dynamics. This thing has to go and it’s all NASCAR CEO’s Brian Z France’s fault. He’s has to wear it – it’s his creation. Even though some fans may like it, drivers don’t.
Ticket sales at Daytona International Speedway was another story. Fans who bought extra tickets through the track ahead of time then couldn’t use them had to bail out with the scalpers. I know two guys that got great tickets in the new upper grandstands for close to 50% off the ticket price!
A lot of the problems with selling tickets are the result of the night races. During the day if the sun is out, it can be pleasant in the grandstands like it was on Sunday for the 500. But at night this time of year in northern Florida, it can get very cold. One guy who was there told me he had about five layers of clothes on and he was still cold. During the caution periods, he and his buddy would go under the grandstands to get warmed up from some of the heat generated by the concession stands.
On the positive side, nice going by Austin Therault of Fairfield, ME for getting a third in the Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona. Tyler Reddick took his first NASCAR Truck win. “I’m proud of my guys (crew)”, said Reddick. He was particularly complimentary of his teammate Austin Therault for his help during the race andfor being a team player. Both race out of the Brad Keselowski Team.
Ryan Reed won the Xfinity race at Daytona by holding off Brad Keselowski.
Middletown, Connecticut’s Joey Logano was the class of the field as he won the Daytona 500. Joey has been on the receiving end of much criticism from his peers. some of whom feel that Joey was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and had not paid his dues before getting into the Sprint Cup ranks. Well he did prove one thing, he’s capable of winning under intense pressure. Now I suppose some will say that winning the Daytona 500 does not make you a top-of-the line driver because the dynamics in that event can allow a driver to back into a win. Joey didn’t just get lucky, he won it because he deserved it. Anyway, congrats to Logano.
Now that Speed Weeks at Daytona are over, all serious contenders can settle into the long grind of racing just about every week until the weekend before Thanksgiving. NASCAR moves to Atlanta this weekend. The weather could also have a lot to do with the Atlanta race due to this abnormal winter.
We’re not sure why the decision makers of that track decided to go back with the one lone Atlanta race in March with the chance of bad weather. We can remember when Atlanta had two big NASCAR weekends about two decades ago and a blizzard caused the races to be cancelled. We can recall that it was over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend which is about two weeks later in the season than this weekend.
We may be in the minority when we state that Kurt Busch got screwed with that indefinite suspension by NASCAR due to that alleged domestic problem with his former girlfriend. According to what we read and heard, the story does not add up. When high or low profile guys are accused of domestic abuse, judges most of the time favor the accuser. But we don’t think that we’ve heard the last of this yet. In the meantime, expect to see Kurt head for the Indy Car scene because that series needs a guy like him to sell tickets. He’s always been surrounded in controversy and he will be good for that segment of motor sports. Hopefully, some Indy Car team like Michael Andretti Racing will pick him up.
Sprint will be dropping the Cup sponsorship after 2016 and will have to be replaced. Selling big buck sponsorships is the one thing that Brain Z. excels at. Let’s see if he can pull it off this time.