{"id":14784,"date":"2018-02-17T19:25:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T01:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14784"},"modified":"2018-02-17T20:00:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T02:00:16","slug":"saturday-daytona-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/17\/saturday-daytona-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Daytona Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #9 BurgerFi Chevrolet, crosses the finish line in front of Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 In what seemed like eons before Saturday\u2019s PowerShares QQQ NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/a> at Daytona International Speedway<\/strong> concluded in the late Saturday afternoon, two future stars of the sport made early trips to the garage.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #9 BurgerFi Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag in front of Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In his first start in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Austin Cindric fought a loose handling condition for the first nine laps. On the 10th circuit, the car broke loose off Turn 4 and triggered an eight-car wreck that brought out the first of a record 12 cautions.<\/p>\n

Collected in the accident was the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Christopher Bell, who was an innocent victim of the melee.<\/p>\n

Cindric started the race adopting a conservative, patient approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that waiting until the end really isn\u2019t a thing,\u201d Cindric said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough, because you just work all year to get prepared, and you work all year trying to find seats to sit in. It\u2019s just unfortunate it only lasts that long. I hate it for the guys on the 60 and anybody else involved. We\u2019ll move on to Atlanta. I look forward to seeing how Chase (Briscoe) and those guys do in the 60.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Daniel Hemric, driver of the #21 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 DC Solar Chevrolet, lead the field to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI will be in the 12 (for Team Penske). Hopefully, we have a longer race down there. We were a little loose coming off of (Turn) 4, but I need to see a replay to see how close the 18 (Daniel Suarez) was to my door. Those guys were getting pretty aggressive for Lap 10 or wherever we were. It\u2019s unfortunate to be put in that position, but we were just racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell was philosophical, understanding the vagaries of restrictor-plate racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we get ready for the rest of the season,\u201d he said after exiting the infield care center. \u201cWe knew coming into Daytona there could be a mishap. We tested at Atlanta (site of next week\u2019s race) and it\u2019s one of my favorite racetracks so I am excited to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the wreck itself, Bell said: \u201cI didn\u2019t see what happened. There was a car parked in front of me and I ran into him.\u201d<\/p>\n

TYLER REDDICK GOT MORE THAN A MORAL VICTORY<\/b><\/p>\n

As Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler came off the Turn 4 on the final lap of the PowerShares QQQ 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, reporters watching from the press box knew it was going to be close.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

At the finish line, after side-to-side contact between the two Chevrolets, Reddick was less than three inches ahead, and the scoring monitor showed no time difference between the first- and second-place cars.<\/p>\n

When NASCAR announced in the a winning margin of .000 seconds, closest in the sanctioning body\u2019s history, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, \u201cThat\u2019s like a tie. Am I right? Either way, fine with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earnhardt\u2019s JR Motorsports, of course, owns both cars.<\/p>\n

But the race didn\u2019t end in a tie. NASCAR timing and scoring doesn\u2019t measure beyond thousandths of a second and couldn\u2019t express the photo finish in numbers smaller than .000.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I protest?\u201d Sadler quipped.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Daniel Hemric, driver of the #21 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 DC Solar Chevrolet, drive on a pace lap during the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

BUBBA WALLACE IS FASTEST IN FINAL DAYTONA 500 PRACTICE<\/b><\/p>\n

Fresh from a third-place finish in Thursday night\u2019s Can-Am Duel, Darrell \u201cBubba\u201d Wallace Jr. topped the speed chart in Saturday\u2019s final practice for Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s best lap in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet was 45.696 seconds, translating to 196.954 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that means absolutely nothing, but it feels good,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know we were top of the board there. We were stuck in the back of the pack (in the draft) for a little bit there. Started making moves late, and the pack split up and we started doing pit road runs and the next thing you know we are on top of the board. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like \u2013 cool. I even missed pit road opening looking at the pylon. That gives us a lot of confidence, especially going into this week. A lot of stories, a lot of headlines being talked about.  To win something is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s just practice.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Josh Williams, driver of the #90 StarTronStarBrite\/StaySkyHotel Chevrolet, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 In what seemed like eons before Saturday\u2019s PowerShares QQQ NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway concluded in the late Saturday afternoon, two future stars of the sport made early trips to the garage. In his first start in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[273,287,16],"class_list":["post-14784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona","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_NXS_Finishline_021817-e1518918759918.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Qs","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14784"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14790,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14784\/revisions\/14790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}