{"id":14842,"date":"2018-02-18T20:55:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T02:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14842"},"modified":"2018-02-18T20:55:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T02:55:53","slug":"sunday-daytona-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/18\/sunday-daytona-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Daytona Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Thunderbirds perform a flyover prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 60th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Aric Almirola<\/strong> did everything he possibly could to try to win Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500<\/a>, and he wasn\u2019t about to condemn Austin Dillon for doing the exact same thing.<\/p>\n

In a race that ended with a two-lap overtime shootout, Dillon claimed the Harley J. Earl trophy after tapping the bumper of Almirola\u2019s No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and turning him into the outside wall in Turn 3 of the final lap.<\/p>\n

Almirola failed to complete the final circuit in his damaged car and was credited with an 11th-place finish. Dillon, meanwhile, was celebrating the most significant accomplishment of his young career in Victory Lane.<\/p>\n

Was Almirola disappointed? Of course. But in a gracious post-race interview he opted not to direct any bitterness toward Dillon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the last lap and we\u2019re all trying to win the Daytona 500,\u201d said Almirola, who was making his first start for Stewart-Haas Racing. \u201cIt\u2019s the biggest race of the year, and it\u2019s a career-changing race, so we were just racing really aggressively. I used every move I knew to try and stay in the lead and, unfortunately, I just wasn\u2019t able to hold on. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe got to my back bumper and was pushing and just hooked me. My heart is broken, but the beauty is we\u2019ll go to Atlanta, and we\u2019ve got an incredible race team here at Stewart-Haas Racing, and we\u2019ll have another shot next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

But did Almirola think Dillon was driving too aggressively.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not driving too aggressively, he\u2019s trying to win the Daytona 500, just like I was,\u201d Almirola said. \u201cI saw him come with the momentum, and I pulled up to block and did exactly what I needed to do to try to win the Daytona 500. I wasn\u2019t going to just let him have it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to just stay on the bottom and let him rail the outside, so I blocked and he got to my bumper and pushed, and I thought I was still going to be OK, and somehow I got hooked. I still haven\u2019t seen the replay, so I don\u2019t know what happened, but I\u2019m just devastated. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought we were going to start this relationship off with Stewart Haas Racing in Victory Lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

KURT BUSCH COMES CLOSE TO SECOND STRAIGHT DAYTONA 500 VICTORY<\/b><\/p>\n

No driver has won back-to-back Daytona 500s since Sterling Marlin accomplished the feat in 1994-1995, but Kurt Busch was close enough to taste it on Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n

After a restart on Lap 194 of a scheduled 200, Busch bulled his way into the lead, thanks in part to a shove from Aric Almirola.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling the magic,\u201d acknowledged Busch, who held the top spot on laps 195 and 196.<\/p>\n

But Ryan Blaney surged back into the lead on Lap 197, only to surrender it to Denny Hamlin on Lap 198. Busch had a run on Hamlin in Turns 1 and 2, but Hamlin moved up the track to block, breaking the momentum of Busch\u2019s No. 41 Ford.<\/p>\n

Running behind Busch, Blaney couldn\u2019t check up quickly enough, and contact between his car and Busch\u2019s turned Busch into the wall, igniting a 13-car wreck that eliminated the No. 41 and left Busch wistful about what might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we could do it again back-to-back and win the Daytona 500,\u201d Busch said. \u201cWe found the right drafting lanes, and I was making good moves. I just got caught in a Bermuda Triangle, it seemed like, when Hamlin blocked us. I hit him pretty hard and that killed a lot of my momentum. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I should have just flung the 11 (Hamlin), but you have to treat guys with respect, and you\u2019ve also got to throw your elbows out and you have to hold the hits when you get hit. We were close to going back-to-back in the Daytona 500, but I don\u2019t have anything to show for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

RYAN BLANEY COMES UP EMPTY AFTER DOMINATING PERFORMANCE<\/b><\/p>\n

With 11 laps left in Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500, Ryan Blaney appeared a likely winner. He was leading a single-file line of cars around the top lane of Daytona International Speedway when the race changed dramatically.<\/p>\n

William Byron spun off Turn 4 with a flat tire on Lap 190, causing a caution that bunched the field for a double-file restart on Lap 194. Blaney lost the lead, regained it, lost it again and ultimately sustained damaged during a 13-car melee on Lap 199, when his No. 12 Team Penske Ford turned Kurt Busch\u2019s No. 41.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just hard racing,\u201d said Blaney, who led 118 of 207 laps but had to settle for seventh at the finish. \u201cYou say it all day. I was trying to be aggressive blocking the lead and kind of fell back and got a good run back up towards it. Man, the 11 (Denny Hamlin) blocked the 41 (Busch), and the 41 kind of went high last minute, and I was on his left rear and I turned him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel bad about that. He kind of changed lanes last-minute, and I couldn\u2019t react quick enough. It stinks. We led a lot of laps. It just wasn\u2019t meant to be. But it was a good showing. Hopefully we go into Atlanta and have a decent run.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Aric Almirola did everything he possibly could to try to win Sunday\u2019s Daytona 500, and he wasn\u2019t about to condemn Austin Dillon for doing the exact same thing. In a race that ended with a two-lap overtime shootout, Dillon claimed the Harley J. Earl trophy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14840,"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":[42,287,16],"class_list":["post-14842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-500","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_Track_021818-e1519008862639.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Ro","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14842","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=14842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14843,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14842\/revisions\/14843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}