Here’s more recent news leading up to the 51st Annual Daytona 500. I think the NASCAR rule change on single file restarts is very interesting. I really agree with this change. I believe the lead lap cars should have more laps to duke it out at the end, which should promote better racing during the final laps.
If you are interested in the full article, just click the “headline” of each topic.
NASCAR will implement single-file restarts over the final 20 laps instead of the final 10 in all three series during the 2009 season, officials said on Thursday.
The rule was changed to give lead-lap drivers a better chance to go for the victory instead of having to battle lapped traffic on the inside as they do on double-file restarts.
NASCAR also is evaluating the 50-foot distance announced at the Budweiser Shootout as the new standard for the leader to restart an event. It could decrease from track to track based on driver input, officials said.
Under the new rule, the leader has between the double-red line 50 feet from the start-finish line and single-red line at the start-finish line to start the race. Otherwise, the starter on the flag stand will start the field.
International Speedway Corporation plans to resurface Daytona International Speedway in three years, the first time that has occurred since 1978.
And the decision was in place long before Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Wednesday that the 2.5-mile track was becoming too bumpy and long overdue for a new surface.
"It has nothing to do with money, although it will be a $20 million project," DIS president Robin Braig said. "It has nothing to do with technology. We banked Talladega so we know we can do it on the high banking.
"It's all about when NASCAR and Goodyear says we need to do it," Braig said.
Daytona is one of the few major tracks that hasn't been resurfaced over the past 10 years. Talladega, Darlington, Lowe's Motor Speedway and many others have been through the process.
Sprint Cup series director John Darby said the DIS surface hasn't reached the point where it needs immediate attention because it isn't coming apart like Talladega was, but it is near the end of its life cycle.
Busch Helps Rookie Logano During Practice
Kyle Busch hopped into teammate Joey Logano’s car during Daytona 500 practice Friday, presumably to help the rookie dial-in his No. 20 Toyota.
The two both took turns in the Joe Gibbs Racing entry, but combined ran just 22 laps in the only practice session of the day at Daytona International Speedway. The 18-year-old Logano has had a roller-coaster Speedweeks, wrecking last week and scraping the wall in an earlier practice session, but rebounding with a fourth-place run in one of Thursday’s qualifying races.
Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 race, scraped the wall late in the session and will go to a backup car. He’ll now race the same car he drove to victory in last week’s Budweiser Shootout.
Only 37 drivers participated in the practice, which was paced by Jamie McMurray.
Busch, who won the second of Thursday’s qualifying races, did not turn any laps in his own Toyota. Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs also took the day off.
Sadler Helps Allmendinger Get In 500
Better to be friends who work together as teammates than mortal enemies who hamper every move the other makes.
That was the message delivered by Elliott Sadler to his Richard Petty Motorsports teammates prior to Thursday's Gatorade Duel at Daytona International Speedway. But it's one thing to preach this feel-good message; quite another altogether to go out and live it when you're driving a race car at speeds approaching 200 mph.
Sadler walked the walk after talking the talk during the second of twin 150-mile races that help set the lineup for this Sunday's Daytona 500. With new teammate A.J. Allmendinger in danger of failing to finish well enough to get into the season-opening event, Sadler deliberately slowed down and dropped back in the field to give Allmendinger much-needed drafting help.
Allmendinger ended up finishing 10th, while Sadler settled for 17th. Reed Sorenson, another RPM teammate, also assisted Allmendinger. But it was Sadler's show of generosity that drew the most attention -- and with good reason.
Around the first of the year, Allmendinger was basically set to replace Sadler as driver of the No. 19 Dodge. Sadler, who signed a contract extension last year with the organization when it was still known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports, threatened to sue GEM and Allmendinger alike -- and eventually it was announced that he would remain driver of the No. 19 for 2009.
Thursday's display of goodwill on the track confirmed that there are no hard feelings left between the two.
Slowing Economy Helps NASCAR "Little Guys"
Perhaps the most time-tested adage in auto racing is that money buys speed. That's long been reflected in the upper reaches of NASCAR.
Last year the four richest teams controlled the 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, a 10-race playoff-style format at the end of the racing season. The price tag for running a championship contender seemed to be at least $20 million.
But this year the recession has hit NASCAR in ways that will change what fans see on the track. Some sponsors — whose money is the lifeblood of race teams — have cut spending or dropped out, forcing teams to lay off crewmembers and trim operations. The four dominant teams — Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing — are as potent as ever, with big-name drivers such as three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
But several midsized teams — which were spending $12 million-$20 million a year — are gone. That has spawned a new generation of low-budget teams that, like NASCAR teams a half-century ago, will run on shoestring budgets — and try to play David to the Big Four's Goliath.
The new teams, most with budgets of 10% to 25% of the Big Four's, will benefit from a confluence of factors that has opened up NASCAR races to more upstart drivers and teams.
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