{"id":28909,"date":"2020-02-09T17:53:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T23:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=28909"},"modified":"2020-02-09T17:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T23:55:58","slug":"nascar-sunday-daytona-notebook-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/09\/nascar-sunday-daytona-notebook-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Sunday Daytona Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

JIMMIE JOHNSON RUNS HALF-MARATHON BEFORE DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING<\/b><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson ran three times on Sunday, but only two of the occasions involved his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, climbs into his car during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series 62nd Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 09, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Before Daytona 500 time trials, which started at 12:30 p.m., Johnson ran the Daytona Beach Half-Marathon, which starts on the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway and ends 13.1 miles later after a run to the sands of Daytona Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I ran the Daytona Half Marathon this morning which is always a great event,\u201d said Johnson, whose takes his fitness training seriously. \u201cAnd it\u2019s certainly one to weigh on my mind as I\u2019m eating all the Christmas candy and holiday things that we do, knowing that there\u2019s a half-marathon out there for me and keeps me a little more honest and in shape. So, it was a fun day today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the qualifying session that followed, Johnson posted the fourth-fastest lap behind pole winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott.<\/p>\n

Next Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500 will be Johnson\u2019s last as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver. Understandably, the seven-time champion feels a tug between nostalgia and the job at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a balancing act,\u201d Johnson acknowledged. \u201cI want to soak it in, but I\u2019m just wired to race. I want to win races, and I want to be a championship threat. So I\u2019ll try to figure that out as the year goes on. Things are pretty casual this first week here in Daytona.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we get to the 500 and the races that follow, I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll gravitate more toward the work side and the performance side of life. But I\u2019m just thankful to be here. It\u2019s been a heck of a run, and I\u2019m very excited to start my final full-time season.\u201d<\/p>\n

WRECK IN BUSCH CLASH CAUSES FRICTION BETWEEN PENSKE TEAMMATES<\/b><\/p>\n

After a six-car wreck on Lap 66 eliminated him from Sunday\u2019s Bush Clash at Daytona International Speedway, Brad Keselowski took aim at Joey Logano, his Team Penske teammate.<\/p>\n

Logano had taken the lead on Lap 59 and was attempting to block a run from Kyle Busch seven laps later. As Logano moved down the track, the nose of Busch\u2019s car tapped the left side of Logano\u2019s rear bumper, turning Logano.<\/p>\n

With his lane blocked at the top of the track, Keselowski drove into the wreck. Ultimately, Keselowski climbed from his mangled No. 2 Ford and slapped the side of a waiting ambulance in disgust before climbing in for his mandatory ride to the care center.<\/p>\n

After his release from the medical facility, Keselowski minced no words in placing blame for the incident. Was it Logano\u2019s fault?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it was just a dumb move,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cThere is no reason to make that move. It was never going to work, and it didn\u2019t. Here we are. We are wrecked out of the race, and now a Ford isn\u2019t going to win. Most likely and a Toyota is. It was just dumb to take out the best car for a move that was never going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Told that Keselowski was annoyed with his blocking tactics, Logano had a facile response.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently we all suck at this, \u2018cause there are only like three cars left right now, so I wouldn\u2019t say anyone was really good,\u201d Logano said.<\/p>\n

Keselowski, at least, was correct in his prediction. Erik Jones won in a Toyota.<\/p>\n

DANIEL SUAREZ MUST FIGHT FOR HIS SPOT IN DAYTONA 500<\/b><\/p>\n

Daniel Suarez is living proof that the best-laid plans can sometimes go awry.<\/p>\n

After losing his ride at Stewart-Haas Racing, Suarez signed on with Gaunt Brothers Racing for the 2020 season. The Mexican driver opted to forego the spot he had earned in Sunday\u2019s Busch Clash at Daytona to concentrate on his Daytona 500 effort.<\/p>\n

The strategy didn\u2019t work. Suarez was 36th among 43 drivers and failed to secure one of two spots available to non-chartered cars on speed. Those positions went to Justin Haley and Brendan Gaughan who were 31st and 33rd fastest, respectively.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, Suarez will have to race his way into the Great American race in the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That means he\u2019ll have to beat Haley, Reed Sorenson (34th qualifier) and Chad Finchum (41st) if he hopes to race next Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to race,\u201d Suarez said. \u201cWe have to race hard. We knew that we would have a lot of challenges and that we didn\u2019t also have the raw speed, but I know what I can do. I just have to go out there Thursday and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suarez and the Gaunt team had made the decision to skip the Clash before arriving at Daytona. But they were surprised in Saturday\u2019s two practice sessions that the No. 96 Toyota wasn\u2019t up to speed in single-car runs\u2014though the car was able to keep up in the draft with the other Toyotas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really the main goal, to focus on the Daytona 500 car,\u201d Suarez said of the decision not to race in the Clash. \u201cObviously, we just didn\u2019t do enough of a good job, but we have to push hard, and we have to keep working and try to keep up. I know that\u2026 obviously, we all know that the car doesn\u2019t have the raw speed that we were expecting. We all were pretty shocked (Saturday) to see that, but I know what I can do, and I know that I\u2019m fast. I think we\u2019ll be in good shape on Thursday. We just have to stay out of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JIMMIE JOHNSON RUNS HALF-MARATHON BEFORE DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson ran three times on Sunday, but only two of the occasions involved his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Before Daytona 500 time trials, which started at 12:30 p.m., Johnson ran the Daytona Beach Half-Marathon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":28905,"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-28909","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\/2020\/02\/DIS_NCS_Johnson_020920-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1704","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7wh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28909","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=28909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28910,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28909\/revisions\/28910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}