Monday, February 29, 2016

Daytona Weekend


Hey folks! Here's my take on the Daytona weekend. All three series raced this time




Friday was the Truck race. Johnny Sauter won with 12 laps led, followed by Ryan Truex with 14 laps led, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Brown and Travis Kvapil with 2 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were Tyler Young, rookie Ben Rhodes, Daniel Hemric, Scott Lagasse, Jr. and Matt Crafton with 5 laps led. Timmy Hill was 14th with 1 lap led.  Timothy Peters was 15th with 15 laps led.  Tyler Reddick was 18th with 12 laps led. Pole-sitter rookie Grant Enfinger was 20th with 4 laps led. Chris Fontaine was 22nd due to crashing out on lap 95. Ben Kennedy was 23rd after a wreck on lap 93.  Rookie Cole Custer was 24th after crashing on lap 93. Cameron Hayley led 4 laps before an accident on lap 92 relegated him to 25th. John Wes Townley crashed on lap 92 and was 26th. Austin Theriault led 51 laps before and accident on lap 92 relegated him to 27th. Daniel Suarez was 28th after crashing out on lap 92. Rookie Rico Abreu was 29th after wrecking on lap 92. Rookie Cody Coughlin had an accident on lap 41 and was 31st. Tommy Joe Martins had an accident on lap 11 and was 32nd.
Saturday was the Xfinity race.  Chase Elliott won with 19 laps led, followed by Joey Logano with 40 laps led, Kasey Kahne with 30 laps led, Elliott Sadler with 4 laps led and Austin Dillon with 5 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were Darrell Wallace, Jr. rookie Brandon Jones, Daniel Suarez, Blake Koch and Brendan Gaughan with 9 laps led. Aric Almirola led 9 laps before finishing 11th.  Pole-sitter Ty Dillon was 13th with 2 laps led. Joe Nemechek was 19th after leading 2 laps. Martin Roy was 38th after an accident on laps 22. Bobby Gerhart was 39th after crashing out on lap 6. Rookie Ryan Preece was 40th due to a crash after 5 laps.
Sunday was the Cup race. Denny Hamlin won with 95 laps led, followed by Martin Truex, Jr. with 2 laps led, Kyle Busch with 19 laps led, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Rounding out the top-10 were Joey Logano, Regan Smith, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon with 1 lap led and  Kurt Busch. Ryan Newman was 11th with 1 lap led. Matt Kenseth led 40 laps before finishing 14th.  Jimmie Johnson was 16th with 18 laps led.   Brad Keselowski was 20th with 1 lap led. Rookie Brian Scott led 1 lap and finished 24th. Michael Annett  was 27th with 1 lap led. David Ragan was 29th after leading 1 lap. Michael Waltrip was 30th with 1 lap led. Bobby Labonte was 31st after leading 1 lap. Danica Patrick was 35th due to an accident after 184 laps. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led  15 laps before an accident  on lap 169relegated him to 36th. Rookie Chase Elliott,  the pole-sitter led 3 laps, but was 37th due to time off track. Rookie Chris Buescher and Matt DiBendetto were 39th and 40, respectively after crashing lap 91.


Come back for my Atlanta post. I now have a part-time job as a food service worker, but I'll work on my blog posts when I have days off or perhaps after work.

Speedweeks Start


Hey folks! Here's my take on the pre-Daytona 500 NASCAR activity. This means, unless there's an off-week, I'm all about NASCAR here until after Thanksgiving.






Saturday was the Sprint Unlimited. This is an exhibition race with 25 cars under this year's rules. The rules this year were 2015 and previous Daytona 500 pole winners, Chase drivers and past winners of the race were eligible with the remaining spots going to the highest ranked drivers in 2015 points not in already. Jeff Gordon retired last year, so Casey Mears took his spot. Tony Stewart was out because of a back injury, so Brian Vickers, his Daytona substitute driver, drove the 14 Stewart would otherwise have driven. There was practice Friday. Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin were the top drivrs.   Denny Hamlin won with 39 laps led, followed by Joey Logano, Paul Menard, Kyle Larson and Casey Mears. Rounding out the top-10 were Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon,  Brad Keselowski with 26 laps led and Greg Biffle. Jamie McMurray was 14th with 14 laps led. Carl Edwards was 16th after an accident. Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola were also involved and finished 17th and 18th respectively. Ryan Newman was 19th after an accident on lap 69. Kasey Kahne wrecked on lap 64 and was 20th. A. J. Allmendinger crashed on lap 56 and was 21st. Polesitter Jimmie Johnson was 22nd after an accident on lap 43. Clint Bowyer crashed on lap 23 and was 23rd.  Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick were in an accident on lap 22 and were 24th and 25th, respectively. There was also Dayton 500 practice earlier in the day. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was fastest in the 1st practice, followed by Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth,  rookie Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne. Rounding out the top-10 were Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr. Joey Logano was fastest in the 2nd practice, followed by Brad Keselowski,  rookie Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch. Rounding out the top-10 were Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick,  rookie Chase Elliott, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.






Sunday was initial qualifying, which set the front row and lineup for Thursday's Can-Am Duels. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the fastest, followed by Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth,  rookie Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne. Rounding out the top-10 were Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle,  Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr.


Wednesday was more practice. Michael McDowell was fastest in the 3rd practice, followed by Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Casey Mears. Rounding out the top-10 were Paul Menard, Regan Smith, rookie Chase Elliott, A. J. Allmendinger and  rookie Brian Scott.   Rookie Brian Scott was fastest in 4th practice, followed by Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Paul Menard. Rounding out the top-10 were Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.


Thursday was the Can-Am Duels and more practice. Jimmie Johnson was fastest in the 5th practice followed by rookie  Brian Scott, Aric Almirola, Ty Dillon and Ryan Newman. Kyle Larson and Michael Waltrip were the only other drivers in this practice. The Can-Am Duels, which set the Daytona 500 field, were later that day and that could've been why practice was so sparse. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the 1st Duel with 43 laps led, followed by Joey Logano,  rookie Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin with 13 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were pole-sitter rookie Chase Elliott with 2 laps led, Kasey Kahne with 2 laps led, Greg Biffle,  rookie Chris Buescher and  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.  Rookie Brian Scott was 20th, due to crashing out on lap 59. Paul Menard wrecked out after 58 laps and was 21st. Cole Whitt crashed on lap 47 and was 22nd. Kyle Busch won the 2nd Duel with 35 laps led, followed by Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Ty Dillon. Rounding out the top-10 were Kyle Larson, Danica Patrick, Brian Vickers, Matt Dibenedetto and Michael Annett. Pole-sitter Matt Kenseth was 16th after leading 23 laps. Aric Almirola led 2 laps and finished 19th.
Friday was more practice. Jimmie Johnson was fastest in the 6th practice, followed by Denny Hamlin,  rookie Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Kasey Kahne. Rounding out the top-10 were Trevor Bayne, rookie Chris Buescher, Michael Annett, Casey Mears and Clint Bowyer. 13 drivers were in this practice. Denny Hamlin was fastest in the 7th practice, followed by Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Rounding out the top-10 were  rookie Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Jamie McMurray.






I've neglected my blog the past few months, but I've had other projects. I've been designing a website for an e-friend and have been helping one of my other e-friends with a massive project she decided to do and asked for help on. Come back for my Daytona race recap post.



Motorsports (like NASCAR) and Autism

There's some connection between motorsports and autism. The June Cup race at Dover has benefitted Autism Speaks, so that race has had an area for young fans that are autistic.




My first post in this blog mentions why the autistic can like car racing, so this is a spinoff of that in a way. That autistic area at Dover is actually in the Dover Downs grandstands. The autistic fans that can't handle the crowd can go to this indoor grandstand. It has  a special area for the kids there to go if they get restless or upset. This area has TV's so the agitated kids can still watch. NASCAR drivers and owners visit the autistic area before the race.


Some of the drivers have a connection to autism. Hermie Sadler was a driver and has an autistic daughter, Hailie. Jaime McMurray's niece, Lauren, who died last fall from meningitis was autistic. Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have been involved with Autism Speaks.
Come back for my Speedweeks post.



Tuesday, February 16, 2016

24 Hours of Daytona

The 24 Hours of Daytona was held the weekend I started this post. Even though it seems separate from NASCAR, there's a connection. NASCAR Grand Am's  the link. It merged with American Le Mans and what series they became puts on this race.  Some NASCAR drivers were in it: Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Brendan Gaughan, Kenny Habul and previous road race ringer Boris Said. Denny Hamlin was going to be in this race, but due to knee surgery, withdrew. I was unable to watch it this year, since I can't watch cable TV at home, but I followed it online.


The race was held over January 30th and 31st. Tequila Patron ESM, with drivers Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek, Ed Braun and Pipo Derani was the winning team, with 179 laps led, followed by Wayne Taylor Racing with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli and Rubens Barrichello with 152 laps led, VisitFlorida Racing with Ryan Dalziel, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marc Goosens and John Falb  with 30 laps led, Action Express Racing with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque and Scott Pruett with 100 laps led and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing with Landon Stroll, Brendon Hartley, Alexander Wurz and Andy Priaulx with 9 laps led. Rounding out the top-10 were Action Express Racing with Dane Cameron,  Eric Curran, Simon Pagenaud and Johnny Adam with 60 laps led, Corvette Racing, Scuderia Corsa with Alessando Pier Guidi, Daniel Serra, Alexandre Premat and Memo Rojas. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing with Scott Dixon, Jamie McMurray, Tony Kanaan and Kyle Larson was 13th with 69 laps led. Pole-sitter Porsche North America with Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy and Kevin Estre was 33rd. SMP Racing with Viktor Shaytar, Gianmaria Bruni, Andrea Bertolini and James Calado had an engine issue after 557 laps and was 40th.  Flying Lizard Motorsports with Christopher Hasse, Niclas Johnson, Pierre Kaffer and Tracy Krone had a transmission issue on lap 513 and was 43rd. TRG-AMR with Santiago Creel, Antonio Perez, James Davison, Ricardo Perez De Lara and Lars Viljoen crashed out on lap 390 and was 44th.  Performance Tech Motorsports with James French, Jim Norman, John Norman, Brandon Gdovic and Kyle Marcelli had an electrical problem on lap 385 and was 45th.   BMW Team RLL with John Edwards, Lucas Luhr, Kuno Wittmer and Graham Rahal crashed out on lap 360 and was 46th. Konrad Motorsports with Emanuele Busnelli, Jim Michaelian, Joe Toussaint and Lance Willsey had a crash on lap 356 and was 47th. Mazda Motorsports with Johnathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez and Spencer Pigot had  a valve problem on lap 327 after leading 9 laps and was 49th. Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanjan with Oswaldo Negri, Jr. John Pew, A.J. Allmendinger and Oliver Pla had an engine issue on lap 285 after 99 laps led and was 50th. Starworks Motorsports with Mark Kvamme, Sean Johnson, Maro Engel and Felix Rosenqvist crashed out on lap 179 and was 51st. CORE Autosport with John Bennett, Colin Braun, Mark Wilkins and Martin Plowman had an engine issue on lap 160 and was 52nd.   Panoz Delta Wing Racing with Sean Rayhall, Katherine Legge,  Andy Meyrick and Andreas Wirth crashed out on lap 119 after 29 laps led and was 53rd. Mazda Motorsports with Joel Miller, Ben Devlin and Tom Long had a flywheel issue on lap 11 and was 54th.



Come back for my post about motorsports and autism.