Joey Logano wins the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona last night in a last lap that had mayhem breaking out behind him. Logano, who was being pushed by his Joe Gibbs teammate Kyle Busch, charged up through the top ten making a run to the checkers that could only be described as perfect timing. With four laps to go Danika Patrick was in the lead being pushed by her Junior Motorsports team mate Aric Almirola. But timing your run is everything at these restrictor plate tracks and it is my opinion that inexperience had her timing her run way to soon. If you watch the replay you will se that Logano and Busch didn’t start their run until there were two or two and a half laps to go. That was perfect timing, the kind of teamwork that is needed to win with this “Two Car Tango”.
I had to listen to this race on Sirius satellite radio because for some reason my boss didn’t think that I wanted a three-day weekend like many of our other drivers are enjoying at the moment. I listened to Dave Moody and Mike Bagley call the race from the
turns and there is no better team to listen to in the event that you cannot watch it live. These two guys could make snail racing exciting. At one point in the race last night Kevin Harvick was being pushed by his teammate Clint Bowyer, Harvick got loose and I swear there was a huge wreck coming. But being the driver that he is Kevin got that car under control using most of the track in the process. It was at this point that I thought for sure they were going to have to take the Bag Man to the infield care center for symptoms of a stroke!
Earlier in the race, not too soon after the green flag, Joey Logano lost control of his car as he got on the double yellow lines at the bottom of the track. It was reported as a spin on the radio broadcast but he never went all the way around. I watched that highlight on the web this morning and for the life of me I don’t know how he got that car under control. I think that it has something to do with the design of this new Nationwide car and if the new Sprint Cup car coming out for the 2013 season is anything like this Nationwide car, we have a whole lot more saves like that to come.
Early in the race Eric McClure was turned into the outside wall and had a vicious hit that resulted in a ride to Halifax Medical Center for further evaluation on Symptoms of a concussion. There seemed to be pretty much the same grip level that we saw in the spring here at Daytona so I’m not sure how long it will take for the Florida weather to wear on this track. Asphalt technology has apparently gotten much better since the last repave.
Finally as the laps wound down and the white flag was flying, the top 10 or so cars were bunched up in pairs. Some had runs going at the same time that other pairs were losing theirs, this is where this “Two Car Tango” can and will get dicey. Mike Wallace was being bounced around like a pinball and then all heck broke loose. It was Mayhem crossing the start finish line! Will tonight race be more of the same? Probably, but I wouldn’t expect anything else with the style of restrictor plate racing that we are dealing with for now.
Head over to Nascar.com for the finishing order in last night’s race. Then head back again for the starting grid for tonight’s Sprint Cup race. Mark Martin is on the pole with Jeff Gordon, whom will more undoubtedly be his drafting partner starting outside row two in 4th. Dale Earnhardt Junior will start 6th with his “Pusher” Jimmy Johnson starting 8th. So it looks like the Hendrick cars are all fast tonight and barring trouble should be a factor in the finish. I’ll be back Sunday with the post race report and anything else that breaks loose this evening. Have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend.
Stay Safe
TW
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