{"id":27124,"date":"2019-07-04T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T22:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=27124"},"modified":"2019-07-05T15:39:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T20:39:26","slug":"nascar-thursday-daytona-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/04\/nascar-thursday-daytona-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Thursday Daytona Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 <\/b><\/p>\n

AJ Allmendinger tops practice chart in return to NASCAR Xfinity action<\/b><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s not hard to fathom why AJ Allmendinger would put aside a fulfilling gig with NBC Sports for a few weeks and race a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car on road courses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #10 Cornerstone Produce Group Chevrolet, sit in his car during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Circle K Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on July 04, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After all, the road circuits are his specialty, accounting for Allmendinger\u2019s only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory (at Watkins Glen in 2014) and his only two Xfinity Series wins (Road America and Mid-Ohio in his only two starts in 2013).<\/p>\n

But why Daytona, where cars run within inches of each other at 200 mph, and every turn of the wheel can spell disaster?<\/p>\n

After all, Allmendinger is enjoying his stint on TV, where, by his count, he has now called races in six different series. In the meantime, he has lowered his golf handicap index to an enviable 6.5.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Friday\u2019s Circle K Firecracker 250 at Daytona (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is part of the four-race deal Allmendinger struck with Kaulig Racing, a schedule that includes three road courses\u2014Mid-Ohio (Aug. 10), Road America (Aug. 24) and the Charlotte Roval (Sept. 28).<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how they talked me into this,\u201d Allmendinger joked about his imminent return at Daytona, where temperatures in the greenhouse of his No. 10 Chevrolet are likely to exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. \u201cThey asked, \u2018Please!\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Road courses seem pretty cool.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they said, \u2018Let\u2019s do Daytona.\u2019 I said, \u2018You sure?\u2019 And they talked me into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

All kidding aside, Allmendinger has an impressive record at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. His three Cup series top fives at Daytona are tied for his most at a single track, matching Watkins Glen. Allmendinger\u2019s first career top five came at Daytona. So did his last two, the final one coming in 2018, his last full season with JTG\/Daugherty Racing.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget, Allmendinger also was the anchor driver of the winning team in the 50th Rolex 24 Hours on the Daytona road course in 2012. So making a return to competition at Daytona isn\u2019t such a stretch for the road course ace. And it helps that Allmendinger has confidence in the equipment he\u2019ll be driving for Kaulig, as he proved in Thursday’s opening practice by topping the speed chart with a lap at 194.902 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a fast race car to go out there and have an opportunity to at least put yourself in position to win a race,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve watched enough of these races, and the way guys run these races is a little bit different, probably a little more aggressive\u2014some young guys\u2014so I\u2019ll try to ease into that as the race goes on.<\/p>\n

The revival of Allmendinger\u2019s stock car career started with a phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was eating some sandwiches, trying to work on my TV body, and they called me,\u201d Allmendinger said. \u201cThey said, \u2018Hey, you want to get back in a race car?\u2019 I was like, \u2018This sandwich is really good.\u2019 They were looking to do the road course events, and we started talking, and I told them, \u2018Hey, I love to race, so whenever you have an opportunity and want me to do that, I\u2019m willing to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about some other races besides road course races and Daytona, and we\u2019ll kind of see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

BRAD KESELOWSKI SENDS A MESSAGE IN FINAL CUP PRACTICE<\/b><\/p>\n

In a final Monster Energy Series practice session that featured lap speeds approaching 206 mph, Brad Keselowski sent a message to the rest of the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The crew of Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, push the car in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 04, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Roughly 28 minutes into Happy Hour on Thursday, Keselowski run up on the bumper of Byron\u2019s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, tapped the car twice and sent Byron spinning onto the apron. The incident damaged the nose of Keselowski\u2019s No. 2 Team Penske Ford and the rear of Byron\u2019s Chevy, but Keselowski was unapologetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a big run and (he) put me in a position where I had to lift, and I keep telling these guys I\u2019m not lifting,\u201d said Keselowski, who previously has taken issue with other drivers block at superspeedways. \u201cI hate it for his team that they have to work on their car, and so does ours, but just trying to send a message that I\u2019m not lifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of getting wrecked at plate tracks. I\u2019ve been wrecked out of four of the last five races, quite honestly, because I\u2019ve let people pull moves on me like that. They\u2019re all watching now. They know.\u201d<\/p>\n

After examining the damage to Byron\u2019s car, crew chief Chad Knaus opted for a backup car. Accordingly, Byron will start from the rear of the field in Saturday\u2019s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s practice,\u201d a frustrated Byron said after the incident. \u201cYou know, I get it, but I don\u2019t think that was really necessary to turn us there\u2026 It\u2019s not like I changed four lanes down the backstretch and blocked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just kind of holding my lane, and he just used his run to drive into my left rear. That\u2019s all right\u2014at least I saved it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   AJ Allmendinger tops practice chart in return to NASCAR Xfinity action DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s not hard to fathom why AJ Allmendinger would put aside a fulfilling gig with NBC Sports for a few weeks and race a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car on road courses. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":27128,"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-27124","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\/2019\/07\/NXS_DIS2_Allmendinger_070419.jpg?fit=4716%2C3144","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-73u","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124","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\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27124"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27133,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124\/revisions\/27133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}