Soldato
Coverage has just started on Fox with the pre-race show. Been looking forward to this all winter 
They're just talking about the 'cheating' that has gone on at Daytona since everyone pitched up. I say 'cheating' in inverted commas - some of it was blatant, some of it was accidental, all of it was punished. Nothing quite as blatant as days gone by - Smokey Yunick building a 7/8th scale car for example! - but NASCAR has stamped pretty hard on it. Don't expect they're too cut up about the teams hunting for an edge though - NASCAR has been all over the news in the US this week thanks to this, and as PR muppets will tell you there's no such thing as bad publicity....
This marks Juan Montoyas first (points paying) Cup race as well. He's been running pretty well this week, although mechanical and tyre issues conspired to nerf him in the 150 Duel and the Busch race (cut down a tyre in the Duel and whacked the wall, breaking a hub, then dropped a valve in the Busch race IIRC).
Line-up:
* denotes rookie.
Darrell Waltrip just made a lovely comment regarding Toyota coming into the Cup and Busch series. People have been whinging about a foreign manufacturer being allowed into NASCAR. DW just pointed out that of the cars used to base these bodies on, the Toyota Camry is the only one made in the US Hopefully that'll silence some of the whittering!
They're just talking about the 'cheating' that has gone on at Daytona since everyone pitched up. I say 'cheating' in inverted commas - some of it was blatant, some of it was accidental, all of it was punished. Nothing quite as blatant as days gone by - Smokey Yunick building a 7/8th scale car for example! - but NASCAR has stamped pretty hard on it. Don't expect they're too cut up about the teams hunting for an edge though - NASCAR has been all over the news in the US this week thanks to this, and as PR muppets will tell you there's no such thing as bad publicity....
This marks Juan Montoyas first (points paying) Cup race as well. He's been running pretty well this week, although mechanical and tyre issues conspired to nerf him in the 150 Duel and the Busch race (cut down a tyre in the Duel and whacked the wall, breaking a hub, then dropped a valve in the Busch race IIRC).
Line-up:
Code:
Pos Num Name
1 38 David Gilliland
2 88 Ricky Rudd
3 20 Tony Stewart
4 2 Kurt Busch
5 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6 40 David Stremme
7 31 Jeff Burton
8 5 Kyle Busch
9 11 Denny Hamlin
10 17 Matt Kenseth
11 07 Clint Bowyer
12 18 J.J. Yeley
13 1 Martin Truex Jr.
14 99 Carl Edwards
15 55 Michael Waltrip
16 12 Ryan Newman
17 25 Casey Mears
18 13 Joe Nemechek
19 21 Ken Schrader
20 96 Tony Raines
21 48 Jimmie Johnson
22 109 Mike Wallace
23 160 Boris Said
24 26 Jamie McMurray
25 16 Greg Biffle
26 01 Mark Martin
27 43 Bobby Labonte
28 9 Kasey Kahne
29 45 Kyle Petty
30 19 Elliott Sadler
31 66 Jeff Green
32 10 Scott Riggs
33 41 Reed Sorenson
34 29 Kevin Harvick
35 6 David Ragan*
36 42 Juan Montoya*
37 22 Dave Blaney
38 14 Sterling Marlin
39 7 Robby Gordon
40 00 David Reutimann*
41 70 Johnny Sauter
42 24 Jeff Gordon
43 44 Dale JarrettDarrell Waltrip just made a lovely comment regarding Toyota coming into the Cup and Busch series. People have been whinging about a foreign manufacturer being allowed into NASCAR. DW just pointed out that of the cars used to base these bodies on, the Toyota Camry is the only one made in the US
Hopefully that'll silence some of the whittering!