Speedweeks Mark Competitive Debut

 Sprint Unlimited, SATURDAY, FEB. 16, 8 P.M. ON FOX

 

Speedweeks Mark Competitive Debut Of NASCAR’s Gen-6 Car

Exhaustive testing complete, the much-anticipated NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Gen-6 race car makes its competitive debut when Speedweeks 2013 opens Friday, Feb. 15, at Daytona International Speedway. The car, which mirrors the styling of the production versions of the Chevrolet SS, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry, will be seen in three non-points events – The Sprint Unlimited and Budweiser Duels – before taking the green flag for the 55^th Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 24 (1 p.m. FOX, MRN, SIRIUSXM NASCAR Channel 90).

 

Each manufacturer will run unique panels that better represent their production counterparts making the cars readily identifiable from the grandstand and via television. The driver’s last name along with a manufacturer logo appears at the top of each car’s windshield. The Gen-6 car is 150 pounds lighter than the previous chassis.

 

Testing of the Gen-6 cars earlier this year at Daytona suggests speeds will be similar to those of previous years. Pack racing also should be the dominant form of competition.

 

Fans Get Their Say As Sprint Unlimited Returns To Its Roots

Tradition returns to Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway – but with a twist.

 

Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited (8 p.m. ET live, FOX, MRN, SIRIUSXM), the 187.5-mile, 75-lap non-points race that kicks off the annual celebration of speed at the “World Center of Racing, again features competitors who won Coors Light Poles during the 2012 season. Past winners of the race also are eligible, bringing Saturday’s potential starting lineup to 22 cars. Eligibility returns to that of the original race introduced to the 2.5-mile speedway in 1979 and won by Buddy Baker.

 

In previous years, NASCAR determined the length of in-race segments. The starting lineup was established through a blind draw. Not in 2013.

 

Fans may vote on three different segment breakdowns: 40 laps, 20 laps and 15 laps; 35 laps, 30 laps and 10 laps; and 30 laps, 25 laps and 20 laps. Balloting at www.nascar.com/Sprint or via the NASCAR Mobile ’13 App on any wireless device continues through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. NASCAR ’13 votes count twice.

 

Two additional fan votes continue through the drop of the green flag at 8:10 p.m. ET. Fans will determine whether a pit stop will be required after the first segment and if so, whether teams will execute two or four-tie changes. Finally, fans may vote on the number of cars to be eliminated after the race’s second segment: zero, two, four or six. Starting positions will be determined by a vote of fans in attendance on race day. They will have three choices: Number of career wins (most to least); 2012 final NASCAR Sprint Cup driver point standings and order in which drivers won their first Coors Light Pole beginning with last year’s Daytona 500.

 

Kyle Busch is the defending winner of the Sprint Unlimited. Other former winners eligible for this year’s race are Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader, Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte.