Speedweeks Start

Hey readers. It's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! NASCAR, that is. Speedweeks is here. I was told by a woman that runs a NASCAR site how to recap races better, so I plan to include more of the action. Historically, I didn't always put too much in because I was afraid of being wordy, but now I know what recap readers want. Here's my take on all the pre-Daytona 500 action so far.




Saturday was the Sprint Unlimited, which was 75 laps. Practice for the race was on Friday. Kurt Busch was fastest in the first practice and Jeff Gordon was fastest in the final practice. Matt Kenseth won with 21 laps led, followed by Martin Truex, Jr. with 28 laps led, Carl Edwards with 1 lap led, Casey Mears and Kyle Larson.  Rounding out the top-10 were Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with 13 laps led and Danica Patrick. Kevin Harvick led 1 lap and finished 11th.  Greg Biffle led 1 lap, but was 14th due to an accident. Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch were in that accident as well, which was on lap 67. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and  Austin Dillon wrecked on lap 61. Aric Almirola had an accident on lap 55. Paul Menard, the pole-sitter led 7 laps and finished 21st due to an accident on lap 45. Jamie McMurray led 1 lap before he finished 24th due to that same wreck. Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne were also involved. Brad Keselowski led 2 laps and was 25th and last due to an accident on lap 22. The race had two red flags.  There was Daytona 500 practice earlier in the day.  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr was fastest in the 1st practice followed by Sam Hornish, Jr, Trevor Bayne, Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, David Gilliland, Danica Patrick and Carl Edwards to round out the top-10.  Michael McDowell was fastest in the 2nd practice, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Ty Dillon, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex, Jr., Landon Cassill and Brad Keselowski to round out the top-10. Ryan Newman, the 15th quickest in this practice had an engine failure.






Sunday was the initial qualifying to set the front row and Budweiser Duels line-ups.  Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are on the front row.  If either one has to go to a backup car or requires an engine change, the spot will be taken by a Duel winner. The other drivers were not locked in to the race, but their starting spots in the Duels were determined and so was which Duel they would race in. Every driver's required to race in the Duels.




Wednesday was a day of more practice.  Kyle Busch was fastest in the third practice, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Brian Scott, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Michael Waltrip and David Gilliland to round out the top-10. Denny Hamlin, Danica Patrick and Greg Biffle were involved in a wreck in this practice. Alex Bowman was the fastest in the fourth practice, followed by Kasey Kahne, Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard, Brian Scott, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Justin Marks and Michael McDowell to round out the top-10.




Thursday was the Budweiser Duels. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the first Duel with 21 laps led, followed by Jeff Gordon with 5 laps led, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray with 1 lap led, Landon Cassill and Cole Whitt to round out the top-10. Matt Kenseth led 32 laps and finished 17th. Trevor Bayne, a full-time Cup driver in the 6 now and the birthday boy that day led 1 lap but finished 22nd due to a wreck with Kyle Larson.  AJ Allmendinger and Johnny Sauter also wrecked in this race. Casey Mears had an engine problem in the race. Jimmie Johnson won the 2nd Duel with 40 laps led, followed by Kyle Busch with 21 laps led, Carl Edwards with 1 lap led, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex, Jr. with 1 lap led, Ryan Blaney, Reed Sorenson, Mike Wallace, Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick to round out the top-10.  Bobby Labonte, Sam Hornish, Jr., Jeb Burton and Alex Bowman were involved in a wreck. Josh Wise had an engine issue. The 5th practice was on this day as well. Kyle Larson, Cole Whitt, Michael Annett, J. J. Yeley and Jeb Burton were the only ones in it.




Friday was the 6th and 7th practice. In the 6th practice, Jeff Gordon was fastest, followed by Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex, Jr., Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne to round out the top-10. In the 7th practice, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Danica Patrick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards and Austin Dillon to round out the top-10.





I'm a nascarfemale.com official fan reporter now. Stay tuned for my race weekend recap on this blog.