Jalopnik: daytona 500

2010 Chevy Camaro: Official Pace Car Of Daytona 500, Unofficially

Ray Wert — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:40:00 EST

A marketing poster snapped by the forumites at Camaro5 appears to confirm rumors the 2010 Chevy Camaro will be the official pace car of the Daytona 500.

It's not unexpected, but we've got to ask whether spending the money it takes to get the new Chevy Camaro into the status of official pace car was worth it given it's pretty much the most anticipated car in the history of muscle cars. It's not like people attending or watching the Daytona 500 won't already know it's coming. Shoot, they've probably memorized all the performance stats on it too. [Camaro5]

2008 Daytona 500: Winner Ryan Newman

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:58:16 EST

After a three lap sprint to the finish after some BS caution shenanigans Ryan Newman is the winner of the 2008 Daytona 500. We certainly bagged the first 9/10ths of the race, but the final couple of minutes was less than unexciting. Congratulations to team Alltel and all the work that went into securing the victory. We look forward to not understanding the ramifications to the points system and later making more generic racing jokes at the expense of the NASCAR. It's been a pleasure to bring you this lackluster coverage, now to tend to that waitress...

2008 Daytona 500: Many of Final Laps Surprisingly Run Under Caution

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:57:26 EST

Yeah, between laps 187 (on the mu f**n cop) and lap 192, things were tightly controlled by that Corvette Z06 Pace car. Making things incredibly exciting. Wait... hooooooooly crap look at the sparks form underneath Casey Mears' car, looks like the fourth of July in the poor kids neighborhood. Of course those sparklers lead to another series of caution laps, but oh no, there they go, final 3 laps... hang on to your butts.

2008 Daytona 500: Spinouts... FINALLY

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:33:51 EST

Though it didn't involve fireballs or barrel rolls, there was a spin out on lap 176. Jimmie Johnson got loose in turn 2 and got a bit friendly with Sam Hornish Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. during the spinny aftermath. Nobody was seriously damaged or forced out of the race, but it's way more exciting than staring at the salt crystals on the table.

2008 Daytona 500: Finally, Something Happens

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:22:57 EST

We were elbow deep in delicious burger when David Ragan slammed into the wall creating major damage to the front of his generic sponsormobile, so please excuse our lack of relevant crappy photo of the television. Instead, we assumed you'd enjoy this vaguely disturbing hirsute tribute to the Intimidator. With Ragan's shenanigans in play, the field was shuffled around and now everybody's favorite son Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leading the pack.

2008 Daytona 500: Three Quarters Done

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:01:23 EST

Maintaining its ISO14001 enviable zero lost time accidents record, the 2008 Daytona 500 forges on. Even though many pitstops have occurred which we should be interested in, the cute waitress who just started her shift is way more engaging than this race. At this point, every telecaster worth his stones is delving into the minutia of NASCAR mechanics in an attempt to make this race exciting. If you are an actual fan, things have probably been pretty interesting...

Since we last half-assedly updated you, Kyle Busch took the lead, then Greg Biffle inherited things as Busch took a pit stop. Waltrip did the same when Biffle took a breather, then Kyle Busch returns the favor to Mr. Waltrip as of lap 124. Pit lane shenanigans begin and though Clint Bowyer is briefly credited with a lap lead all by himself, Greg Biffle quickly retakes the front spot. Other than that, they sure are driving in a column in a straight line around an oval.

2008 Daytona 500: Lap 109, Sweet God in Heaven. It's More Than Half Over

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:21:21 EST

Lap 80 saw some pace car action from "debris on the track", which is entirely less exciting than "massive fireball" or "barrel roll of death from hell", but it did give many of the competitors a chance to fuel up or re-tire. We're looking outside right now at Michigan's rain over snow at 46 degrees, while enviously watching Daytona's 77 and sunny and quietly hating everyone there. We would consider it fair if the fans in the stands also had to sit through as many unfunny Semi Pro ads as we're enduring. Also, Matt Kenseth is in the lead, is that newsworthy?

2008 Daytona 500: Lap 74, Kyle Busch Leads

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:42:26 EST

If hockey and bowling had a kid, it would be more interesting than this race so far. Does anybody watch NASCAR for the race? No. Every fanboy out there watches it for the crashes. Don't give me that crap about team work and the precision of the pit stop. I want to see carnage. I'm not an ogre though, nobody wants to see wanton injury, but come on, we're 74 laps into this thing and NOBODY sees fit to accidentally fidget behind the wheel? Not so much as a puff of tire smoke. Waitress... another please!

2008 Daytona 500: That Didn't Take Long, Denny Hamlin Steals Lead

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:15:06 EST

It's lap 35, and while we didn't capture the moment it happened on Fox's Gopher Cam, Denny Hamlin (who?) has wrested the lead from his other template car drivin' buddies. We're on the edge of our seats and despite the overwhelming onslaught of "Built Ford Tough" ads, we're sticking with this bitchin' race... all the way ~~until we pass ou~~t to the end. In case you were wondering, Fox Sports' coverage makes us want to strangle something. So far, the most entertaining part has been the ad where kids are controlling the cars via radio controller and they eff it up just like everybody does in Gran Tourismo. Also, gorillas + Earnhardt jr... WTF?

2008 Daytona 500: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:42:34 EST

Despite the barely palatable buildup from all manner of whogivesacrap singers, the race has begun. With AJ Foyt at the wheel of the Corvette Zo6 pace car and Richard Petty dropping the green on this years historic 50th running of the Daytona 500, the race is on. Pole sitter, Jimmie Johnson is driving a car that looks like all the other cars save the fun decals and colors but he's in front. Now they're driving in a big circle.... weeeeee. Man, those car's of tomorrow sure are spoilerific. There's a breakdown of the starting grid below the fold, even though it's probably uncontrollably mixed up by now.

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup 50th Daytona 500 Starting Lineup

Row 1
Inside: Jimmie Johnson Outside: Michael Waltrip
Rw 2
Inside: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Outside: Denny Hamlin
Row 3
Inside: Reed Sorensen Outside: Tony Stewart
Row 4
Inside: Ryan Newman Outside: Jeff Gordon
Row 5
Inside: Casey Mears Outside: Kasey Kahne
Row 6
Inside: Carl Edwards Outside: Mark Martin
Row 7
Inside: Bobby Labonte Outside: David Ragan
Row 8
Inside: Juan Montoya Outside: Kevin Harvick
Row 9
Inside: Kenny Wallace Outside: Greg Biffle
Row 10
Inside: Sam Hornish Jr. Outside: Dale Jarrett
Row 11
Inside: Paul Menard Outside: John Andretti
Row 12
Inside: Brian Vickers Outside: Kyle Busch
Row 13
Inside: Martin Truex Jr. Outside: Robby Gordon
Row 14
Inside: Scott Riggs Outside: Matt Kenseth
Row 15
Inside: Reagan Smith Outside: Travis Kvapil
Row 16
Inside: Clint Bowyer Outside: David Gilliland
Row 17
Inside: Jeremy Mayfield Outside: Dave Blaney
Row 18
Inside: Elliot Sadler Outside: Jeff Burton
Row 19
Inside: JJ Yeley Outside: Jamie McMurray
Row 20
Inside: Kyle Petty Outside: Dario Franchitti
Row 21
Inside: Joe Nemechek Outside: David Reutimann
Row 22
Inside: Kurt Busch

2008 Daytona 500: Liveblogging From Rock on Third!

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:30:00 EST

Have you ever seen coverage of a sporting event where the reporter as literally no idea what the context is? Well, like Dennis Miller on NFL's Monday Night Football, I'll be liveblogging this years running of NASCAR's Daytona 500, which will be starting right about 3:30 EST, with the green flag being dropped by the legendary Richard Petty. I'll be here at Royal Oak's most down to Earth bar, Rock on Third doing my worst to document the progess of this afternoon's race. Of course, two dollar Buds and delicious hamburgers may conspire with my already awful spelling and grammar to make things really fun, so hang out for the worst NASCAR coverage you've ever seen.

Reigning Champ Jimmie Johnson Takes Pole For Daytona 500, We Make Johnson Joke

Mark Arnold — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:40:49 EST

At today's qualifying session for the 50th running of the "Great American Race," Jimmie Johnson clinched the pole for next Sunday's race with a lap speed of 185.082mph today on the 2.5-mile banked tri-oval. It's a good way for Johnson to start out a season where he's looking to match the record set by the great Cale Yarborough who is the only NASCAR driver to ever win three consecutive Championships. According to the stickers on his car, Johnson was driving a "Chevy Impala," beating out the "Toyota Camry" be-stickered "Car of Tomorrow" driven by Michael Waltrip who will start the race in second position but in the lane next to Johnson. And if you think that Johnson can only turn left, well, he also raced a Daytona Prototype at the Rolex 24-hour sportscar race here last month and finished 2nd overall — so there's that. Stay tuned as the melodramatic man-soap opera plays out at next weekend's big race.

If Only NASCAR Was Still This Cool: '79 Daytona 500 Finale

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:45:00 EST

More of this and less thanking of sponsors and we might well give a flying doody about top-rank stock car racing again. – Davey G. Johnson

Daytona 500 After-Party: Clint Bowyer Makes Driving Upside Down Look Easy

Ray Wert — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:01:00 EST

In case you missed the "fun" and "excitement" of the first 185 laps of yesterday's "Super Bowl of racing" — and our tremendous coverage — you missed out on a really superb nap. But if you missed the last 15 laps — you missed a helluva good show. It wasn't just for the close finish, it was because it was such a wild finish. As cars headed up the frontstretch towards the finish on the final lap — and as more than a dozen drivers thought they had a shot at history — a little friend named "chaos" paid a visit to Daytona International Speedway. You see, while race leaders Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin were jockeying for the lead, behind them cars began spinning into the walls and into the infield like a slot car set running with just a bit too much juice. With one car careening wildly toward the pits, and others shooting off into walls and other cars, we saw one of the oddest things we've yet seen in a race, Clint Bowyer's #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, sliding upside down like a matchbox car, on fire, past the finish line. Beyond the flag-line, the car hit the infield, flipping back over onto it's wheels. I mean, we knew NASCAR was easier than your average racing circuit, but we never realized it was easy enough that you could finish a race upside down and oh yes, on fire. Full gallery of Bowyer's hoonage below, proving yet again that Jack Daniel's and racing don't normally mix — unless of course you're a viewer. – Ray Wert

All photos by: Jonathan Ferrey and Jamie Squire / Getty Images Sport

Daytona 500: Kevin Harvick Beats Mark "Old Man" Martin By A Tenth Of A Second!

Ray Wert — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:10:45 EST

Wait, what — Mark Martin just won the Daytona 500? What is this — February of 1982? That's because '82 was the first year Martin raced in Florida's 200-lap "Super Bowl of Racing." Before today, the man's won 47 races and finished in the top ten 141 times. But the one win he'd never had — was Daytona 500. After leading 26 laps, he finally saw his first win in the 500-mile race today — beating out a hard charge by fellow Impala SS driver Kyle Busch in his #5 car and the #16 Ford run by Greg Biffle. But they just couldn't...quite...do...it. Good job for the old man.

Yeah, that's what we would have ran had Mark actually beaten back Kevin Harvick. But guess what — the old man just couldn't do it. Harvick, in a crashtastic last turn, beat Martin for the win. Sucks to be Mark Martin, sure — but hey, we've got crash pictures below all set up in a gallery just for your enjoyment! So at least you get something positive out of this whole experience. – Ray Wert

All photos by: AP

Daytona 500 Live-Blog: Drive Quickly, Call Me Jeff Gordon...

Ray Wert — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:35:31 EST

Yup, the man in the rainbow brite car's moved up from 42nd place to 20th, and somehow Boris Said found a way to disappoint his legions of Said-heads by taking himself out of the race. – Ray Wert

3:53:32 PM: Yes, thank you Darrell Waltrip — we do tend to take things out on our friends, don't we?
4:03:22 PM: Wait, did we just hear that a driver tried to turn "right?" What is this "right" they speak of?

4:06:39 PM: Gilliland led for 18 laps, and Kurt Busch's now the leader, and has been for around 19 laps.
4:11:51 PM: Although Jeff Gordon's done a great job moving up from 42nd to 20th, the biggest mover has got to be Kevin Harvick's moved up to 6th from all the way back in 34th.
4:15:42 PM: Tony Stewart's now taken the lead. Oh, wow. It's the third lead change of the race. We're going to go and get a new beer.
4:18:15 PM: And we're 53 laps in...jeez...how long's this supposed to last? Oh wait, 2.5 miles per lap — It's called the "500" — we're guessing like 200. Jeez...
4:18:39 PM: I swear, there's more Chevy signage, graphics and commercials than I've seen since...umm...ever.
4:20:23 PM: Montoya's doing great — he's in second-to-last place.
4:26:29 PM: Montoya has a talent for going slow...even into pit-row. But apparently he's saying his "car's running really tight...can't even run it on the apron without losing control." Sucks to be Juan Pablo.
4:29:55 PM: Oh wait, what's this? His name is Juan Pablo Montoya — he's moved up to 35th place, prepare to die.
4:30:44 PM: The Dale Earnahrdt Jr. DirecTV commercial with Dale Jr. doing smokey burnouts is kinda weird. Dunno why, just is.
4:32:15 PM: Wait a second, did a Model T almost pass a Ford Fusion in that FoMoCo commercial? Hmm. That could make sense come to think of it. Oh wait, that'd be a Toyota Camry commercial.
4:33:19 PM: 70 laps down.
4:37:18 PM: Harvick's just on fire — the man who won the race yesterday is now in 3rd place.
4:37:37 PM: Gilliland's just dropped into 6th place.
4:41:44 PM: There's a problem with the rear of Kyle Petty...err...the rear of Kyle Petty's CAR. Got it.
4:41:55 PM: Tony Stewart's just stalled in pit row.
4:42:00 PM: Oh wait, now he's out.
4:43:05 PM: Tony Stewart said the oil pressure's dropping to 20 psi in the slow speed of caution.
4:43:55 PM: Petty's got a shredded tire attached to the wheel housing. That's what caused the problems of the past few minutes. Also, Gilliland's a tool for causing some in-pit-row accidents. But hey, no harm — and he'll probably lose some points.
4:48:30 PM: Hey, Kurt Busch is in the numero uno position now.
4:49:32 PM: Denny Hamlin wants to know "who's your daddy?" We're not sure — but hey, with the Busch brothers in 1st and 2nd, they each know who their brothers are.
4:53:13 PM: Dale Jr.'s rolling loose and now he's moving his hands all over the place to keep his Chevy on the race track — and now he's moved down to 21st place from 4th. Not sure what the problem is, but he's dropped completely out of the lead pack.
5:00:02 PM: Kurt Busch has now been in the lead for 44 laps — and you know what? This shit's getting real boring. Can someone please crash soon?
5:08:02 PM: Oh sorry there — I just nodded off a bit. Did I just hear the boys on the boob tube comparing Harvick's helmet to the Sistine Chapel?!
5:15:23 PM: There may be no black NASCAR drivers, but I did just see rapper TI in the Chevy Impala SS commercial...and yes, it was a black SS.
5:20:47 PM: Kurt's brother just dropped down to 7th place from 2nd. Tony Stewart's jumped back up to 15th place, but the Kurt Busch versus Denny Hamlin thing's getting a bit interesting...
5:23:21 PM: Holy shoot, everyone and their brother's pitting right now.
5:26:48 PM: Jeff Burton's #31 Cingular Chevy car looks like it's got a confederate flag on the top. Maybe that's why they're changing over to ATT...
5:34:50 PM: Ricky Rudd's moved up to 2nd place, and the two big movers are Tony Stewart who's moved back up to 8th place, and Kevin Harvick who's lapping at 186.706 mph, more than a second faster than Kurt Busch, the leader. But Busch has now been leading for 85 laps with only 60 more to go.
5:35:08 PM: Oof, and Stewart's now moved up to 5th, passing Edwards and Sauter.
5:39:54 PM: Fuck Rudd, here comes Busch-brother Kyle back into 2nd place right up Kurt's ass.
5:40:09 PM: And Tony Stewart's now right on Kyle's ass!
5:40:23 PM: And we know Tony knows ass — usually because he's one himself.
5:41:12 PM: Mike Joy thinks Rudd's the fastest in the pit, but he, like us, was wrong. It was actually Jeff Gordon. He may not be driving fast, but he's certainly pitting fast.
5:44:07 PM: Tony Stewart's now in first place. And the FoxPromo want's to be clear that Tony wants you to "look for him in the final laps."
5:44:19 PM: Someone's got to get TI out of Dale Jr.'s car. Fucking A, that's why he's crawlin' on the track today!
5:45:50 PM: CRASH IN TURN FOUR! Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch went into each other!
5:45:52 PM: Smash it up!
5:46:25 PM: Kurt Busch is out! Tony Stewart's out! Took 'em long enough to have a big crash.

Daytona 500 Live-Blog: It's All About The Pre-Race

Ray Wert — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:01:42 EST

Well, Big n' Rich just sang the national anthem, and we're all set up in our comfy chair ready to watch some racing. Stick with us today as we keep y'all in the know on the latest happenings in what's been dubbed "the Super Bowl of racing." We'd call it that ourselves but although it's got some big money ads, we're not entirely convinced it's a "Super Bowl" if there aren't lines at every bar around — and as we've been reading, that's not always the case above the Mason-Dixon line. Oh wait, Nick Cage's asked for gentlemen (and unlike the Indy 500, it's still the case) to start their engines...so let's get ready to race, or you know, go around in a circle. – Ray Wert

3:30:17 PM: This is our country, this is our Chevy Corvette pace car.
3:30:51 PM: And "Boogedy, Boogedy" to you too!

3:31:10 PM: Let's start the racing
3:32:31 PM: I honestly can't hear Waltrip in the booth anymore without thinking of his Cars alter-ego Darryl Cartrip.
3:36:27 PM: Dayle Jr.'s showing some smoke...
3:36:36 PM: ...but it looks like it's just tire smoke.
3:38:59 PM: Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Beyond Thunderdome!

[NASCAR]

Michael Waltrip Handed Biggest NASCAR Sanction Ever, We Don Rocket Scientist Hats

Ray Wert — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:07:52 EST

There's more news from Daytona, as the closed-cockpit 'merican rubbin' is racin' league has levied what would seem to be some pretty serious sanctions against Michael Waltrip over the "undetermined substance" in the engine manifold of his #55 Toyota car before qualifying runs at Daytona on Sunday. In fact, the sanctions are the worst NASCAR's ever given out, as AutoWeek reports:

"Crew chief David Hyder and MWR director of competition Bobby Kennedy were physically ejected from the speedway and suspended indefinitely. Hyder was fined a NASCAR-record $100,000. "Indefinite means very long," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice-president of competition. "They were ejected, so they can't appeal not being here this weekend. At some future time they'll apply and ask to be let back in, and we'll sit down and look into it."

As the driver, Waltrip was docked 100 points. His wife, Buffy, the team's "official" owner (although in title only), also was docked 100 points. The point penalties will stand regardless of when he finally qualifies for a race.

That sounds like it's a bad sanction, but what do we know — so we went to ask our NASCAR Insider what this all means and whether they thought the sanctions were too severe. We were told...

"NASCAR made it clear that of all the cars inspected this was the only one that had any foreign substance in the intake manifold...when it was found in pre-qualifying inspection, NASCAR took a very liberal stance by allowing them to remove the intake, replace it, and go through that part of the inspection again. During the second inspection, the same thing happened, so the car was impounded.
Someone who had done this previously with success tried it here and failed. My guess is that the design of the toyota intake manifold floor allowed the substance to gather and puddle, where previously it had flowed into the cylinders undetected. It sounds like whoever introduced the substance, didn't test it on a Toyota engine first to see what would happen during normal inspection procedure."

Ok, that made sense to us, but wasn't this kind of a big gamble for the Waltrip team? Our sources agreed, and although NASCAR's not being specific on what exactly the substance they found was, we can assume that the team did one of two things — they put something in the fuel or put some kind of substance in the manifold that would get ingested and burn off. We were also told that although some ~~hacks~~ race reporters tossed out "jet fuel" as the additive don't realize jet fuel isn't much more than kerosene.

"In reality whatever they were using was more like "rocket fuel," which needs to include both the fuel substance and oxygen in order to burn in space."

Thus, our source guesses it was some kind of oxygenant added to the Sonoco race fuel by a team member because as everyone knows, the trick's not getting more fuel into the engine, its getting more oxygen in. Thus we're now starting to realize you've got to be a rocket scientist to really understand NASCAR. Maybe that's been our problem all these years. Whatever degree is necessary to get the physics of a Toyota engine, one thing's for certain — it's a black eye to the folks from the land of the rising sun who were looking to be pushing cars off the lots come next Monday — now they'll be lucky to see anyone finish in the top ten on Sunday much less worry about sales the next day. – Ray Wert

DAYTONA BRIEFS: Waltrip is handed biggest penalty in NASCAR history [AutoWeek]

Photo By: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Sport

Oh What A Not Good Feeling! Underwhelming Michael Waltrip Sees Toyota Impounded Due To "Potential Cheating Scandal"

Ray Wert — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:39:35 EST

The first potential ToMoCo slight of the day involved the NASCAR.com website, but the second's coming directly from NASCAR officials track-side. Michael Waltrip's being accused of potentially using "an undetermined substance in the intake manifold" of his bright and shiny new Toyota by officials during normal inspections before qualifying runs today. NASCAR officials then confiscated the manifold, causing "widespread speculation among rival teams in the garage area that Waltrip's team could put an illegal fuel additive in its manifold to increase engine combustion." After the qualifying race, officials confiscated the entire car for an indeterminate period of time while the manifold's going back to NASCAR's testing labs to determine if the substance was merely an oil leak or part of some "potential cheating scandal." I remember when Dodge first re-entered NASCAR with the "Intrepid" in 2000, similar concerns of potential tampering of engines and use of additives were levied against the teams. The only difference was Dodge drivers were finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th in qualifying runs — not 15th, 16th, 18th, 39th... – Ray Wert

Toyotas underwhelming in Daytona pole qualifying [MSNBC]

UPDATE: Fox Sports is reporting that NASCAR's also disallowed the times of both the No. 9 car of Kasey Kahne and the No. 17 car of Matt Kenseth for apparently unrelated reasons. Man, even when this stuff's scandalous it's never salacious. I mean, it's always for little stuff like the shape of a rear window — the kind of thing that's about as interesting as checking the length of laces on a lacrosse stick.

NASCAR Web Site Refuses To Let Go Of American Automotive Hegemony, Excludes Toyota From Leaderboard

Ray Wert — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:00:35 EST

We're not sure if the NASCAR.com pole qualifying leaderboard is maybe showing off some poorly-coded flash animation or whether Toyota sponsorship of NASCAR is really sticking in the craw of some of their web crew. What we do know is Michael Waltrip probably didn't run fast enough to hit 23rd. That means that although the leaderboard from today's qualifying race for the Daytona 500 shows the make of drivers running Dodge, Chevy and Ford vehicles — but drivers ridin' in the car made by the automaker from the land of the rising sun, Toyota — they get a blank space. Does NASCAR.com have it in for Toyota? Probably not — but as none of ToMoCo's cars have broken higher than 15th in qualifying, it doesn't bode well for the first skirmish of their "invasion" (Fox's Mike Joy's word, not outs) into the always-turning-left and always-'merican Daytona 500. Full image of the leaderboard below the jump. – Ray Wert

[NASCAR]