****NASCAR in 2015****

[JRS]

Christ, it's a bad week to be a Busch brother. Kyle was racing in the Xfinity series race and involved in a multi-car crash that set him head-on into the inside retaining wall at a point where there's no SAFER barrier. He got out of the car, but he has a compound fracture in his right leg and a fracture in his left foot. He'll be out of NASCAR competition for some weeks. Matt Crafton will sub for him in the Cup race today.

It's one of those bad deals. There are SAFER barriers over most of this track. Physics managed to find Kyle a spot where there isn't one. The president of Daytona International Speedway said that his facility "failed to live up to its responsibility today" and work has been immediately started to get SAFER barriers put in place everywhere on the circuit. They should have tyre barriers in place for the Cup race later today, and SAFER barriers by the time they return later in the season.

Oh yeah, Ryan Reed won the race. Chris Buescher 2nd, Ty Dillon 3rd. Full results here. Video of Rowdy's crash is at the top of this article.

 

[Housey]

So I would like to watch the Daytona 500 tonight, but I am REALLY struggling to find out how I can do that on my sofa. I am more than happy to pay for it, but my preference would be to watch it on my TV in HD. What are my options, noting that I don't have Sky TV, though do have access to Now TV.

Who has live coverage in the Uk tonight?

 

[JRS]

Premier Sports has it in the UK.

 

[JRS]

Both of Kurt Busch's appeals have been turned down. He's out of NASCAR for the foreseeable future, maybe even for good if it's decided that he should be prosecuted. It might be a struggle to get sponsors to go for him even if the county AG in Dover doesn't prosecute him.

 

[JRS]

Congrats to Joey Logano on winning the Daytona 500

Race results.

Daytona did it's Daytona thing, big wreck during the green-white-chequered that collected Jeff Gordon among others. He was left lamenting track position, having had a great first half to the race (indeed, he led the most laps all told).

Solid day for the subs - Regan Smith and Matt Crafton finishing 16th and 18th respectively. Contrasting fortunes for the other Penske car - Logano wins, Brad Keselowski's engine lets go 161 laps in. Having won two or three times at the other plate track in the calendar (Talladega) he's still not won at Daytona in 12 Cup starts. And Tony Stewart's record of not winning the Daytona 500 continues for another year - he got tight on lap 41 and wrecked. Smoke did rejoin the track after a lengthy spell getting repaired, but ended up retiring.

"It was fast enough to stay with the pack there," Stewart said. "I actually just stayed with Mike Wallace to try to help my buddy out there, but we ran as many laps as we could to get us to where we couldn't run any more laps and gain anything."

Apart from points, another reason Stewart decided to pull himself out was because of the nature of the race itself.

Superspeedway racing inherently lends itself to big wrecks. Kyle Busch was injured during Saturday's XFINITY Series season-opening Alert Today Florida 300 after a wreck, and Stewart thought there was no reason to take the chance for himself or his competitors.

"The biggest race of the year; the last thing we want to do is stay out there and have something else happen and get in the middle of something else," he said. "That's just letting those guys have their day now."

 

[timmeh]

It was the first time watching the Daytona 500, or any NASCAR for that matter. It was pretty entertaining. It's great that Logano won, I was kinda rooting for him after I saw his best finish was 9th in 2002!

I need to get my head around all the rules and strategies now for the rest of the season...

 

[JRS]

Regan Smith will continue in the #41 in place of Kurt Busch for Atlanta this weekend. No word yet on that deal continuing to Vegas or beyond.

 

[JRS]

David Ragan is going to drive in place of Kyle Busch in the #18 JGR car. It's expected that he'll return to Front Row Motorsports' #34 later in the year when Busch is healed up. FRM haven't said yet who they plan to put in the #34 until then. Erik Jones will be racing the #54 in the Atlanta Xfinity series race (Kyle was meant to be driving the #54 there).

 

[JRS]

Kevin Harvick took the victory in the Xfinity series race, his 45th in the series. And Matt Crafton simply blitzed the Truck series race, winning by over 8 seconds

Xfinity results
Truck results

Cup race later, and Joey Logano is on the pole fresh from his Daytona 500 victory. Qualifying turned into a bit of a mess - this is the first race with the new for '15 rules package (aero tweaks, slightly reduced engine power), lots of cars had to make a second pass through tech inspection and some big names ran out of time to qualify. Some were saved by owners points locking them into the field, some weren't so lucky. Michael Annett was one of them and would have been going home, but Brian Scott (who made it into qualifying and was going to start 32nd) is giving Annett his car for the race. Brian isn't running the full schedule and thus isn't running for points. Annett is, and although he won't get any owners points for this race it does at least mean he can get some drivers points today.

And news of a slightly more bizarre nature - Travis Kvapil's #44 Team Xtreme car got stolen at the start of the race weekend! The car was later found dumped, but by that time the team had withdrawn from the race. They're hoping to regroup in time for the race at Las Vegas.

Cup grid for the race later.

 

[mctiny]

Kevin Harvick took the victory in the Xfinity series race, his 45th in the series. And Matt Crafton simply blitzed the Truck series race, winning by over 8 seconds

Xfinity results
Truck results

Cup race later, and Joey Logano is on the pole fresh from his Daytona 500 victory. Qualifying turned into a bit of a mess - this is the first race with the new for '15 rules package (aero tweaks, slightly reduced engine power), lots of cars had to make a second pass through tech inspection and some big names ran out of time to qualify. Some were saved by owners points locking them into the field, some weren't so lucky. Michael Annett was one of them and would have been going home, but Brian Scott (who made it into qualifying and was going to start 32nd) is giving Annett his car for the race. Brian isn't running the full schedule and thus isn't running for points. Annett is, and although he won't get any owners points for this race it does at least mean he can get some drivers points today.

And news of a slightly more bizarre nature - Travis Kvapil's #44 Team Xtreme car got stolen at the start of the race weekend! The car was later found dumped, but by that time the team had withdrawn from the race. They're hoping to regroup in time for the race at Las Vegas.

Cup grid for the race later.

I was reading about the #44, seems like they stole the trailer and when they realized it was a highly recognizable race car, they dumped it at the side of the highway...

Imagine the look on the faces of the thieves

 

[JRS]

Harvick going to the rear of the field for the start - engine change.

 

[JRS]

Cup results from Atlanta.

Seems as though the '15 rules changes haven't ruined the action any, that was a decent race. Congrats to Jimmie Johnson for the win, that #48 was pretty mighty.

Oh, and could someone tell Denny Hamlin to stop causing wrecks?

 

[Indy500]

He does seem to be a wreck magnet, although debris yellows bunching up the field don't help.

 

[JRS]

Las Vegas this weekend for Cup and Xfinity. Trucks aren't running this weekend.

Brett Moffitt is in at Front Row Motorsports to drive the #34 (Joe Nemechek drove it last weekend IIRC) while David Ragan continues to sub for Kyle Busch and Regan Smith subs for the suspended Kurt Busch.

 

[Indy500]

Harvick dominates the Cup race, Dillon does the same in the Xfinity series. Another collision for Jeff Gordon, which leaves him mired in the 30s in points.

Rodney Childers is the new Chad Knaus, apparently...

 

[JRS]

Another collision for Jeff Gordon, which leaves him mired in the 30s in points.

These things do seem to come in batches. Hopefully that means he'll blitz the field and win when they get to Phoenix!

Cup results
Xfinity results

 

[JRS]

Folowing the Delaware AG's decision not to pursue criminal charges against Kurt Busch over domestic abuse allegations and with Busch taking the steps laid out in the NASCAR reinstatement program, the #41 will once again be driven by him.

At least this sorry mess has accomplished one thing - it's gotten Busch to talk to people who can help him.

 

[JRS]

Joey Logano pretty much dominated the Xfinity race at Phoenix. Pole and the win, leading 176 out of the 200 laps. Matt Kenseth made a fight of it, which kept it from being too dull.

Xfinity results.

Cup race later, Kevin Harvick and Logano are on the front row. Harvick won this race last year and the way he's driving right now he could end up in Victory Lane again today.

 

[JRS]

Ah well, called it. 224 laps led out of 312, 4th consecutive win at this place, and Harvick is looking mighty this year. Kurt Busch got a top 5 finish on his return, and Jeff Gordon survived an entire race without getting taken out by some **** to net himself a 9th place finish. Wonders never cease.

It was another miserable race for Tony Stewart - though it had shown some promise, he ended the day down in 39th after a crash. And Junebug also crashed, which left him last in the race without even a start-and-park minnow to elevate him.

Results.

 

[Indy500]

That's the seventh consecutive top 2 finish for Harvick going back to the end of last year. Also surprising to see Allmendinger and Truex still top 10 in points with single-car teams.