A changing attitude with Dale Earnhardt Jr?

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR


Having finished a dismal 25th place in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup, the series' most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr maintained a tone of optimism. Despite being at his worst, the driver of the #88 Chevrolet has shown exceptional class in dealing with everything from engine problems, driving severely-damaged stock cars or adjusting to team personnel changes. With 2010 working as a clean slate, it remained to be seen if Dale Earnhardt Jr's positiveness would be rewarded. Having been used to happy-go-lucky Dale Earnhardt Jr, the driver got out of his #88 Chevrolet sounding like a different competitor. Appearing to be more personality traits in common with Kyle Busch after a bad race, the 2004 Daytona 500 winning driver clearly conveyed frustration and disgust taking second best in the first race of the year.

With 6 wins on restrictor plate race tracks Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Earnhardt Jr is favoured more in the four total races run at those ovals over almost any other venue. As hoped for by JR Nation, the green and white #88 AMP Chevy put on a magnificent show on the final green-white-checkered period of the 2010 Daytona 500. Exhibiting a marvelous piece of restrictor plate racing, Earnhardt Jr methodically worked his way from an obscure 10th place to have a chance to win the Daytona 500 coming up just one position short. As Jamie McMurray and his newly-acquainted with #1 Chevrolet crew celebrated an emotional triumph at Daytona, the second place interview happened to catch the attention of some NASCAR fans watching the broadcast on Fox.

While paying congratulations to McMurray and the victorious #1 crew (A team which was founded by the senior Dale Earnhardt 12 years ago), Earnhardt Jr also gave credit to Hendrick Motorsport's engine department. However, the driver left without giving credit for himself. Typically Dale Earnhardt Jr is a modest driver but some NASCAR fans felt the post-race comments were unprofessional during the spontaneity of the Fox interview unwilling to gracefully accept the 2nd place run.

Anyone who is a careful observer of professional sports knows that athletes stride to be at the highest plateaus. Speaking like a true racer playing to win, the fans composing Jr Nation are certain to give their driver a well-earned applause for the #88 Hendrick Motorsport driver. Appreciating the optimism that the 2010 Sprint Cup season can bring, Earnhardt Jr's fanbase have eagerly awaited the renaissance of their favourite sportsman. It is also the good nature of fans to elevate their athlete's confidence. The post race TV interview might have sat badly with some JR Nation fans since the only thing worse than seeing a good man be torn down is a man who will tear themselves apart.

Besides the Fox post-race chat, Dale Earnhardt Jr convened for a separate NASCAR interview. In that interview performed in great detail with Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and 3rd place Greg Biffle, Earnhardt was much more in character commenting on the event. "I had a hell of a time tonight" Dale Earnhardt Jr happily chirped as he described the final laps of the 2010 Daytona 500 as a "blur". Following the frustrated admissions late in the television broadcast, the NASCAR post-race interview provided a more sportsmanlike reflection from Earnhardt Jr. "I feel good about the finish. It's just frustrating coming that close. Hell, I don't have anything to be -- you know, when you're running 22nd, you're mad because you just want to get a top 10. When you get a top 10, you're pissed off because you can't get in the top five. Then when you're running second it gets you mad because you didn't get a win. That's how racecar drivers are, I hope."

However, as this more intense attitude emerges from Dale Earnhardt Jr, the naysayers of the third-generation stock car driver's career have above all questioned Earnhardt Jr's hunger to win. Clearly, Dale Earnhardt Jr is starving in 2010!

Timothy Peters Wins Wild Truck Series Race at Daytona

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR


One day overdue because of Friday rain, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway started under the lights. While the rains passed, the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series opener that ran just a few hours prior indicated that storms are in full critical mass between competitors on the 2.5 mile superspeedway.

Led to green by the #23 Ford of Jason White and #2 Chevrolet of Elliott Sadler, it took little time for the truck race to establish itself as an expensive outing for many teams. In fact, it was lap 1 where an incident was sparked by the #3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon was trapped in a three-wide scenario on Daytona's backstretch. Driving in his first Daytona truck race, the rookie driver was squeezed in the middle until he was unable to keep control of his race truck brushing the low truck of Aric Almirola. Dillon then swam up the race track and collected the #13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet. Kyle Busch, Dennis Setzer, Jennifer Jo Cobb, and Sauter's Thorsport teammate Landon Cassill were some of the 9 drivers who fell victim to this early wreck.

Leading 25 laps overall, the #2 Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet truck driven by Elliott Sadler dominated the early stages of the 250 mile race with the polesitting #23 Ford of Jason White finding his way around to reclaim the top position briefly.

Unfortunately, Sadler's dream run turned into a nightmare; a nightmare which would hunt 9 other drivers. At 32 laps, a second massive wreck started with an ever so soft tap on the #33 Chevrolet of Ron Hornaday rear bumper by the #4 truck of Ricky Carmichael along the Daytona backstretch. A slightly uneven bumpdraft, the impact was enough to send Hornaday's truck out of control slamming into the outside wall grabbing Carmichael's truck as well as other great contenders including Aric Almirola, Rick Crawford, Ted Mugrave and Donny Lia.

With many of the frontrunners having been eliminated by two major accidents, the Toyotas Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine, and Matt Crafton remained as seasoned veterans capable to take victory. This hope for Skinner ended on lap 62 with another mishap in bumpdrafting down the backstretch. Within the top 5 trucks, Skinner's #5 Toyota was receiving an aggressive push from the #17 of Timothy Peters. Meaning only to help Skinner gain speed to the front, the overaggressive bumping sent Skinner into the wall in turn 3.

Despite an early race right rear tire failure, Todd Bodine #30 Toyota would storm back to the front of the field on lap 83 of the 100 lap race. Reaching the climax of the event, the #46 of Dennis Setzer, driving one of only two Dodge (Ram) trucks being campaigned at Daytona, the #88 Chevrolet of Matt Crafton, Jason White's #23 Ford and the Toyota of Peters fought to find a way by a strong Todd Bodine through the final 17 laps.

Unsuccessful through 16 laps, the 2nd place running Timothy Peters pulled off a brilliant fake to the outside of Bodine halfway through the backstretch. As Bodine moved up to block, Peters ducked down and used the 'slingshot' as well as a a little muscle to move by Todd Bodine. Caught by surprise, Bodine briefly lost the #30 truck and slid into the outside wall. Determined to not lose the prestigious Daytona 250 mile truck race, Bodine stayed in the throttle and made a hard-charging run on Peters through turn 3 and 4. Side-by-side out of turn 4, Bodine and Peters rub fenders as Dennis Setzer provided the boost Peter's Toyota needed to win the Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250. Finishing a close 2nd over Setzer, Bodine lost control and slid harmlessly into the front infield.

Taking his K&N Filters-sponsored #17 Toyota owned by Red Horse Racing to victory lane, a delighted Timothy Peters celebrated with his crew triumphing through the 2010 Daytona crash fest. With a smile on his face in spite of coming by short for victory, Todd Bodine in the garage area happily congratulated Peters.


2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series:
NextEra Energy Resources 250
Daytona International Speedway

Top 10:

1) 17 Timothy Peters     K&N Toyota

2) 30 Todd Bodine     GEICO Toyota

3) 46 Dennis Setzer     Plane Guts Dodge

4) 23 Jason White     GunBroker.com Ford

5) 88 Matt Crafton     Herculiner / Menards Chevrolet

6) 1 Nelson Piquet     Red Horse Racing Toyota

7) 60 Stacy Compton     SafeAuto Insurance / Wyler.com Toyota

8) 95 Johnny Benson     Plane Guts Ford

9) 6 Donnie Neuenberger  EZ-Slider Chevrolet

10) 01 J J Yeley     Koma Unwind Chillazation Drink Chevrolet


Other Notable:

12) 51 Aric Almirola   Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota

14) 00 Carlos Contreras  Potenica Blast Energy Shot / Alpina Water Chevrolet

20) 2 Elliott Sadler   Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet

21) 9 Max Papis   GEICO Toyota

22) 18 Kyle Busch   Heluva Good! Toyota

23) 12 Mario Gosselin   Tiremonkey.com Chevrolet

24) 5 Mike Skinner   International Trucks / Monaco RV Toyota

26) 3 Austin Dillon     Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet

27) 33 Ron Hornaday Jr.  Longhorn Chevrolet

28) 14 Rick Crawford   Lilly Trucking of Virginia Ford

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Daytona Rained Out; To Run on Saturday

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images


As projected by weather forecasters on Thursday, a large disturbance of rain clouds flew over top of Daytona Beach. Dampening all of Friday's activities connected to Hersheys Speedways at Daytona International Speedway, the soaked 2.5 mile oval halted NASCAR's Nationwide Series qualifying for the Drive4COPD 300 and later the Friday night Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250 race.

Though mostly clear skies are predicted for the rest of NASCAR's big opening weekend (including the rescheduled Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250) the daily temperatures (according to www.weather.com) will certainly be cool. With the daily-high temperature running as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit lower than average for this period, Saturday will be in the lower 50s at the peak of the day. Sunday is reported to be a mild improvement but race fans will still require a heavy, long sleeve shirt or jacket to enjoy stock car racing's most popular 500 mile race.

Danica Patrick to drive Daytona Nationwide Series race

Just two days after a highly-respectable first effort in the 200-mile ARCA series race, the driver who stole Speedweeks so far Danica Patrick has been tabbed for the NASCAR Nationwide Series' Drive4COPD 300 for Saturday. Last week, JR Motorsports had penciled in the Daytona Nationwide series race when they released her selected 2010 schedule. Originally, California's Auto Club Speedway would be her NASCAR stock car debut but these plans have now been altered. Once concerned about debuting Patrick in the ultra-competitive NASCAR farm series, the decision to solidify the Nationwide series race came when her Godaddy.com #7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was brought home in 6th place on late Saturday afternoon's ARCA event.

While the #7 team is new for 2010, the Godaddy.com Chevrolet will be guaranteed a starting spot after acquiring 2009 car owner points which belonged to the inactive #11 CJM Racing car.

Bobby Gerhart wins Daytona ARCA race; Danica Patrick finishes 6th in debut

An annual event for Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway since 1964, the 200 mile race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by REMAX and Menards has been known to be a race fostering greats in NASCAR talent.

As preparations started for the 2010 ARCA Lucas Oil Stick Mist 200 race on Saturday morning, the focus for the event was placed heavily on a single stock car rookie. Of course, that rookie was IndyCar star Danica Patrick making her first ever competitive stock car outing at Daytona International Speedway. At last, the build up and media hype of Patrick's entrance in stock car racing could end, being replaced instead with hard race results.

Starting with NASCAR prospect James Buescher starting on pole with a #51 Toyota, the Lucas Oil Stick Mist 200 was guaranteed not to be a caution-free event. At lap 8, former ARCA champion Bill Baird lost control of his #52 Chevrolet sliding in turn 2 collecting an unsuspecting Steve Blackburn. As two cars tangled, several cars went past the duo at full speed collecting 10 cars overall.

During the first caution, the #5 Lucas Oil Chevrolet of Bobby Gerhart made several pit stops to address the car's performance in drafting. Gerhart's car was topped up on fuel. As the race progressed, this move proved itself as a defining factor in the race's final laps.

With the inexperience of the various drivers likely contributing to the involvement of 8 of those vehicles, this was far from the end of the stock car carnage. On the restart on lap 18, Dakoda Armstrong running near the near, suffered a flat tire and tried to slow down. Unfortunately, his position in front the field's fastest cars did not give the #22 Dodge a chance to pull out the track. Trying to maintain the pace to not collect the drivers behind him, he spun in front of Jon Wes Towney and Danica Patrick. While Towney and Patrick were able to zip by, the #81 Toyota of Craig Goess was not so lucky pounding into the #22 Dodge.

On lap 27, the #29 car driven by Jesse Smith cut a tire sending the vehicle into the turn 4 SAFER wall. Smith's incident would indirectly spark one of the more scariest accidents of the day when the #48 Dodge of Jill George slowed down in avoidance to Smith's damaged vehicle. Slipping low onto the apron, George's #48 car violently flipped onto its side and launched heavily into the outside wall of turn 4. Stripping the front of her #48 stock car, driver Jill George thankfully walked away from the totaled race car.

By mid-point of the Daytona ARCA race, the Lucas Oil Stick Mist 200 bred the normally high number of cautions produced by a fair share of wrecked race cars. In all, 14 ARCA stock cars would not go on to finish the event.

Within the last 25 laps the #5 Lucas Oil Chevrolet of Bobby Gerhart, the same car which early in the race spent extended time on pit road, was leading the #66 of Mark Thompson as well as the reduced pack of contenders.

Danica Patrick got loose in the draft and slid to the back of the lead draft pack position of 11th place. In only a handful of laps to go, Patrick and Nelson Piquet Jr were 2 of the 3 drivers involved in a three-wide battle out of turn 4. Running along the lower line, Piquet's Toyota chopped down on Patrick's #7 Chevy tapping her car. Sent spinning through the frontstretch, Patrick demonstrated some masterful driving recovering from loss of control.

With a record 6 female drivers starting in the ARCA Daytona opener, some of them were parked into the early stages of the event, including Milka Duno and Leilani Munter. Patrick wasn't the only woman demonstrating front-runner prowess. Ali Owens, driving a #15 Chevrolet sponsored by ElectrifyingCareers.com, was running a strong third place as the fight for positions heated up in the late laps.

The final caution was brought out when Barry Fitzgerald #06 veers left off of turn 2. The turbulence on the side of the #06 was enough to send the Ford over onto its roof sliding down the infield along Daytona's Superstretch. The last caution, Fitzgerald's car would not be the last victim of the 200 mile race. After a charging Patrick Seltra shuffled Ali Owens to the back with a fine exercise of restrictor plate racing, Owen's was behind a slower car when his engine blew with 3 laps to go. Owens spun in avoidance put an end to what could have been a solid lead lap finish.

At the end, the #5 Chevrolet of Gerhart holds off the #66 of Thompson to win his 6th 200-mile ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway.

Driving towards the checkered flag in a side-by-side, fender-rubbing match with Ricky Carmichael, Danica Patrick completed her stock car debut with a formidable 6th place finish in the JR Motorsports Godaddy.com car.

Major Events During 2010 Speedweeks at Daytona

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Last week, it was the tires of Grand Am sports cars warming up the Daytona International Speedway for 2010 through the 3.56 mile road course. This week, Daytona's more recognized 2.5 superspeedway oval becomes the focus for Hershey's Milk & Milkshakes Speedweeks, a medley of stock car races which will start with ARCA's Lucas Oil Stick Mist 200 and end with the Daytona 500.

The following list is the TV stations as well as the scheduled time starts of major events during the Hershey's Milk and Milkshakes Speedweeks:

February 6th

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Daytona 500 Qualifying Day (Resolving top 2 starting spots and Duel 150 fields)- Fox/ 1:05PM

ARCA Racing Series Presented by REMAX and Menards: Lucas Oil Stick Mist 200- Speed/4:30PM

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Budweiser Shootout- FOX(TSN2 in Canada)/8PM



February 11th

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Gatorade Duel 150 Races- Speed(TSN in Canada)/2PM

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Qualifying- Speed/6:10PM


February 12th

NASCAR Nationwide Series: Qualifying- ESPN/3:10PM

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Nextera Energy Resources 250- Speed/8PM (Pre-race show starts at 7:30PM)


February 13th

NASCAR Nationwide Series: Drive4COPD 300- ESPN2(TSN2 in Canada)/1:15PM (Pre-race show starts at noon)


February 14th

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Daytona 500- Fox(TSN in Canada)/1PM (Pre-race show starts at noon)

All times are Eastern

Race Engines Come to Live in 2010: 24-Hour of Daytona Testing

Photo Credit: Grand-Am Road Racing


Amidst unseasonably cool Florida temperatures, three days of Grand-American Road Racing cars begin to heat up Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the first major race weekend in North America, the 2010 Rolex 24-Hour of Daytona. With a temperature measurement of 53 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday represented the warmest weather for entire weekend test session, drips near the freezing point combined with precipitation actually created icy conditions that postponed morning testing on Saturday for the Rolex Sports Car Series.


Photo Credit: Grand-Am Sports Car

the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototypes and GT cars took turns around the 3.45 mile road course formulated from the Superspeedway complex. blazing around the track fastest has been the Suntrust-sponsored Dallara Ford wheeled by Max Angelelli. The 2005 Rolex 24-hour of Daytona overall race winning team and driver, the #10 Daytona Prototype clocked a lap of 1 minute, 40.466 seconds. Besides posting the quickest pass around the Daytona International Speedway, Angelelli has shown pace throughout the test weekend leading two of the three days on the time sheets. 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Daytona Prototype series champion GAINSCO Racing Chevrolet driven by Alex Gurney, a Scott Dixon-wheeled Chip Ganassi Racing Riley breaking their new BMW powerplant and the Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford piloted by Michael Valiante (who led the messy Saturday session in driving weather accustomed to Canadians) also showed nearly comparable speed through testing.


Photo Credit: Grand-Am Sports Car


In the sampling of Rolex Sports Car GT cars, an Alex Job Racing-owned Porsche GT3 took top speed honours. Driven by 22 year old Austrian Martin Ragginger, the Porsche logged a lap at 1 minute and 49.627 seconds. With the factory-backed Pontiac Racing effort gone with the demise of the GM brand, the rock-steady Porsche squad's main nemesis for 2010 will be a race-hardened group of Mazda RX-8s. With one RX-8 driven and owned by actor Patrick Dempsey, another car campaigned by SpeedSource will offer a season-long fight for the German sports car powerhouse.

Dialing in race cars within weather which barely reached average temperature lows for the Daytona Beach area for the late January event, horsepower was peak but tire grip was at a premium for the sports cars. In spite of this, the sessions endured only minor incidents such as spins and blown engines from select vehicles with all categories of drivers exercising caution.



Photo Credit: Grand-Am Sports Car

Serving as a test session for the prestigious Daytona Prototypes and GT class machines of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car series, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge vehicles are also unleashed in preparation for a 200-mile race to roll on the Friday before the day-long headline event. This year, the all-new competition versions of the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger will meet making with a 5.0 liter Ford Mustang Boss 302R resembling a modern revival of the SCCA Trans-Am series (In fact, a #6 Camaro and #15 Mustang showed up with paint schemes iconic with the late 1960s to early 1970s glory days). Split into two classes of competition, the Continental Tire Sport Car Challenge features their faster, more powerful car in the GS (Grand Sport) class and the ST (Sport Tuner) Class for smaller race cars which will include the MAZDASPEED3 and Subaru Impreza WRX STI as newcomers for 2010. With 54 cars total showing up for the Daytona test, the 2010 race for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge guarantees to be a well-contested affair.



Photo Credit: Grand-Am Sports Car


The perennial kick-off to the 2010 racing season in North America, the clock for the Rolex 24-Hour of Daytona will start at January 30th at 3:30 PM Eastern time.