Well what did you think of the Budweiser Duels at Daytona? My personal opinion, as always, might not reflect what everyone else might be thinking. Yep it was racing and I am so glad the season has started, I was getting bored on Sundays with nothing to watch on TV.
But.... I thought the first duel would be the most exciting, and it was if you factor in the wreck, but I'm not one that likes the wrecks in racing. I do like beating and banging and rubbing fenders, I am no way a fan of wrecks. By what we seen yesterday I have a feeling we are going to see a snooze fest this Sunday and I am already trying to think of other things to do during the mid part of the race that will keep me from sleeping during the boring single file, follow the leader style racing that we seen a few years ago when the track was repaved and I have a bad feeling we will see the same thing after the initial start. Once everyone gets settled down and lines up, the top line was the only line that moved forward yesterday and I don't see a change for Sunday.
The second duel was even less exciting then the first, I did think however if Jeff Gordon wouldn't of got caught speeding on pit road he would of probably stayed out front and won the race. Passing on the inside seems very difficult and Jeff raced on the outside groove even starting from the pole on the outside. I also thought Kasey Kahne would pull out and try the sling shot and it looked like he thought about it for about a half second then tucked back in and was content with second place finish putting him in a 6th place starting spot for Sundays race. We seen a lot of people try passing on the bottom, we also seen those that tried end up being passed by everyone lined up on the top groove.
I am sitting here typing this today and watching practice at the same time and its overall single car practice with very few even out practicing and only a couple drafting together. Most teams, it seems, have decided not to go out today and are waiting for happy hour tomorrow to go out and practice. A few have made the change to the engine they will race on Sunday and don't want to put excess miles on it today. Funny a lot of teams are practicing coming onto and exiting pit road. We seen a few entering and exiting to fast penalties yesterday with a few drivers coming in way too hot and locking up the breaks, sliding the tires. At a place like Daytona you don't always need to take on 4 tires so not sliding and flat spotting the tires is very important.
One other thing we have seen with this new car is the importance of the side draft. These cars seem to get very edgy when they get close together. They have flared out fenders, something they have not had before, and it seems to cause a turbulence when the cars are side by side that is causing strange things to happen. Like right side door windows to blow out. Ask Martin Truex Jr about that, he was penalized yesterday coming to the checkered flag because his right window blew out. And hes not the only one having problems with that. Several cars have had them pop out this week. NASCAR has added a couple rules to hopefully fix the window problem. This car is surely a work in progress and what might happen next to the car might be the most exciting thing to happen this weekend.
Unfortunately I wont get to see most of the truck race tonight because of other family plans, I will be checking on my phone from time to time to see whats going on. Lets hope its a typical fast paced door banging race the truck series always puts on. Me.... I'm hoping a Chevy kicks every ones butt, don't care which driver as long as its a Chevy lol!
My top 5 for Sunday, the 24, 29, 18, 20, 11 with honorable mention to the 88 and the 5 and 48. I think the 4 Hendrick cars will all be in the top 10 if there are no accidents.
Until tomorrow....
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