Thursday Daytona Notebook

Thursday Daytona Notebook

Notebook Items:

·         Earnhardt having sweep dreams at Daytona

·         Rain shortens practice

·         NASCAR Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash begins

July 3, 2014

By Seth Livingstone

NASCAR Wire Service

Earnhardt having sweep dreams at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a chance to do something this weekend that only one driver in the previous 32 years has accomplished.

That’s sweep both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway.  The last driver to win both Daytona races happens to be Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, who accomplished the feat last year.

“That stat went 30 (plus) years for a reason,” said Johnson, whose Daytona double was the first since Bobby Allison in 1982 and just the fifth in history (Fireball Roberts 1962, Cale Yarborough 1968 and LeeRoy Yarbrough 1969 the others).  “It’s not easy because, in (restrictor) plate racing, anything can happen.”

As unpredictable as racing at Daytona can be, one factor Earnhardt has going for him is his consistency this season under any and all circumstances. In fact, he’s riding a string of five consecutive top-10 finishes, including his victory at Pocono Raceway and a fifth last week at Kentucky Speedway.

“I’m just thrilled with the way the team is competing,” said Earnhardt prior to Thursday’s practice at Daytona. “We have been doing some great work since the beginning of the Chase last year – maybe even a little before that. If you look at the graph, going back to 2011 when Steve (crew chief Letarte) and I got together, our performance has been a linear trajectory improvement.

“It’s as good as I have ever run at Hendrick and maybe even at DEI. I remember when we put together a couple of top-15s a couple weeks in a row. Then it became a couple of top-10s. Then, man, if we ran in the top five a couple of times we were really doing it. Our progression makes sense to me, but at the same time, it really surprises me that the team has been able to sustain it. That has been the tough part for me over my career – to sustain momentum.”

That momentum has earned Earnhardt 12 top-10 finishes in the first 17 races and has him in a points tie for second with Johnson in the Cup standings, 24 points behind another Hendrick driver, Jeff Gordon.

Earnhardt concedes that winning the Daytona 500 is a slightly bigger deal than winning the July event at Daytona. “But winning here, regardless, it’s a great feeling,” he said. “So you are going to try your guts out.

“I would love to sweep the races at Daytona because that is a cool thing, but I just love winning here. To go to victory lane, regardless of what we did in February, would mean a lot to me.”

Johnson says it might be even bigger for the sport.

“An Earnhardt winning in Daytona is huge, period,” Johnson said. “It would be meaningful and impactful for everybody involved. If I don’t have a chance to win the race, I wouldn’t mind if he did.

“He’s going to be fast. He’s going to be strong and have a very good opportunity to win. If he can make it to the white flag lap (in contention) he will definitely be a threat.”

With two victories this season all but assuring his place in the Chase, Earnhardt says he and Letarte plan to be aggressive in terms of pit strategy on Saturday night.

“We did it perfectly for the (Daytona) 500 and we were in position at Talladega to gamble and make it work like several guys did,” said Earnhardt, who led 26 laps at Talladega but played it conservatively on fuel, got trapped in traffic and finished 26th on NASCAR’s other restrictor plate track.

“We learned a little bit there as far as how we could be a bit more aggressive with our pit strategy considering where we are in points and (with) the wins we have. ... If we run out of gas, I can take that if we are trying to win a race.”

SHORT ON PRACTICE

Rain forced cancellation of Thursday’s second and final practice for the Coke Zero 400.

Winless Cup drivers Jamie McMurray (201.952 mph), Kyle Larson (201.889) and Clint Bowyer (201.839) were the fastest in a rain-delayed first session. Those times could loom large with thunderstorms a possibility for Friday afternoon at Daytona. Qualifying is scheduled for 5:10 p.m ET., but the starting grid would be set by practice times in the event of a rainout.

Brad Keselowski, Gordon, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Greg Biffle also topped 201 mph. Johnson was 42nd among 44 drivers, settling for a best lap of 191.274, ahead of only Michael Waltrip and Terry Labonte.

DASHING FOR CASH

Friday night’s Firecracker 250 serves as the qualifying race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash which will take place during the ensuing four weeks.

The first four finishers at Daytona who are eligible for Nationwide Series driver points will qualify for weekly $100,000 prizes in each of the next four races to be run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway,

Should one driver win all four awards and win the final race of the series at Iowa outright, Nationwide Insurance will award that driver a $600,000 bonus for $1 million in total prize money.

“Ten thousand dollars is a ton of money for a Nationwide driver,” said series points leader Elliott Sadler. “So not only are we trying to race for the win this weekend, we’re also trying to be part of the Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash.”

It’s also a lot of money for a fan – four of whom who registered at www.NASCAR.com/Dash4Cash will receive expense-paid trips to Iowa and be randomly paired with the eligible D4C drivers in the race. The fan paired with the winning driver will also win $100,000.

“Most of all, it brings a lot of attention to our sponsors,” Sadler said. “Our sponsors love it when you’re part of that Dash 4 Cash.  I like the new format with five weeks in a row on a lot of different styles of race tracks.”

Sadler says the major concern for drivers in Friday's race will be the potential for overheating. "Running in a pack this weekend, we're going ro run hot," he said. "The biggest issue is the radiator intake grille opening is so small, so you're really going to have to watch your water temperature."