{"id":14635,"date":"2018-02-11T17:55:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T23:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14635"},"modified":"2018-02-12T22:13:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T04:13:36","slug":"nascar-sunday-daytona-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/11\/nascar-sunday-daytona-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Sunday Daytona Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 What fans saw in Sunday\u2019s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway should constitute a promising look ahead to the Daytona 500 a week later.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to NASCAR\u2019s elimination of the ride-height rules on superspeedways, the cars in the Clash were low-slung and dicey to control, with the rear spoilers much lower than in previous years. Closing rates were magnified, as runs developed quickly with enormous momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just think the runs happen quicker,\u201d said Joey Logano, who finished second to Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski. \u201cIt’s kind of like in the Xfinity race. In the Xfinity races, the cars get these huge runs, and they’re hard to stop. This is maybe not quite to that extent, but the runs you can build are way bigger than they used to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that bubble, that imaginary bubble in between the cars that we always talk about, seems to be stopping us just as hard. So we get a bigger run, but it kind of stops us just as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with runs developing more quickly, they will also be more difficult to block in next Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500, making it harder to hold a lead in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series opener.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards\/Peak Ford, lead the field during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

On the other hand, drivers who had the misfortune to pull out of line without help were shuffled quickly to the back of the pack, in imminent of losing the draft.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened to Kevin Harvick, who was dropped from the lead pack and finished ninth, 28.247 seconds behind race winner Keselowski.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got myself in a couple bad spots by making moves and trying to do some things I didn\u2019t need to be doing in a single-file race,\u201d Harvick said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where I got myself in a bad spot, got up toward the front and then got shuffled back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to the back and tried to start playing around with things to try and make some progress. I went to pull up on the next-to-last car, and I slowed down so much that I lost the draft. I just made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jamie McMurray, driver of the #1 Cessna Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, and Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 5-hour ENERGY\/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

CLASH CURSE CONTINUES FOR JIMMIE JOHNSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

At least Jimmie Johnson is getting closer.<\/p>\n

On Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, Johnson made it to the last lap of the Advance Auto Parts Clash. He just didn\u2019t make it to the checkered flag.<\/p>\n

After contact from Kyle Larson\u2019s No. 42 Chevrolet turned Johnson\u2019s No. 48 into the outside backstretch wall, the seven-time champion failed to finish the exhibition race\u2014for the seventh straight year. Johnson was credited with completing 74 of 75 laps in a 12th-place finish, but a DNF (did not finish) is a DNF.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some contact from behind and we got turned into the outside wall,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI haven\u2019t had a chance to look at it and see what exactly happened, but the nose on our Chevy is pretty pointy. I was pushed by a Chevy, so I don\u2019t know if that had something to do with it or not. I just need to get a good look at the replay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Monster Energy\/Haas Automation Ford, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, and Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Circle K Toyota, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Johnson was running fourth at the time of the crash, having just lost the third spot to Kurt Busch. With a strong car for the bulk of the race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver enjoyed driving the new Camaro ZL1 race car under new NASCAR rules that lowered the bodies of the cars as close as possible to the asphalt.<\/p>\n

The wreck was another matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I guess we\u2019re the first real crash at speed with that (configuration),\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI kind of forgot about it once we got going. I think the cars look cool, and they\u2019re going faster, which is more fun from our standpoint. It makes handling a little more of a premium.\u201d<\/p>\n

PIT STOP CHOREOGRAPHY IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s Advance Auto Parts Clash, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams got their first taste of pit stops with five over-the-wall crew members instead of the six allowed last year.<\/p>\n

The new rules led to a variety of approaches, with the most prevalent featuring the tire carrier bring two tires over the wall at the same time. FOX Sports broadcasters credited Kurt Busch\u2019s team with the fastest four-tire stop under the new rules at 16.95 seconds, a far cry from the sub-11-second stops that had become commonplace in NASCAR\u2019s top series.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 16.9 is, obviously it’s quite a bit slower than what we’re used to,\u201d said Paul Wolfe, crew chief for Clash winner Brad Keselowski. \u201cAnd that’s just it\u2014we’re not sure what to expect yet. And speedways are different, as well, from the mile and a half tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, that’s pretty slow from what we’re used to, but you take one guy out of the equation, and some different (air) guns and things, and it all changes. I think, like I said, there’s going to be a lot of pit departments studying film and trying to understand different ways and ideas, and I think we’ll see this evolve a lot. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would expect to be quite a bit faster when we come back to Daytona in July. I would expect you’d see a good second or two shaved off of those times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 What fans saw in Sunday\u2019s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway should constitute a promising look ahead to the Daytona 500 a week later. Thanks to NASCAR\u2019s elimination of the ride-height rules on superspeedways, the cars in the Clash were low-slung and dicey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[287,16],"class_list":["post-14635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/DIS_MENCS_packofcars2_021118-e1518493301494.jpg?fit=640%2C413","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3O3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14637,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14635\/revisions\/14637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}