Racing News Digest

I guess Danica Patrick thought she learned enough in the ARCA race on Saturday afternoon that she is now ready to tackle Daytona NASCAR Nationwide style.

It is not expected to be officially announced until later today (Monday at 8 a.m. ET) that she is racing in the Nationwide race at Daytona.

She had originally stated that if she did not feel like she got the experience she needed then she would not compete in the Nationwide event at Daytona International Speedway this coming weekend.

I am not saying she did not get enough experience but I a little leery. Did she get enough? I think she did great in the ARCA race – for her experience level. I have no doubt she learned a lot. I have now doubt that it was obvious she had a lot more to learn.

I think this will be interesting. We wish her luck, just not sure if it is the right decision. But hey, got to get your feet wet sometime!

Her sixth-place finish in Saturday’s ARCA debut at Daytona sure helped build some confidence. If she wants to ride, she’s guaranteed a spot because of points Brad Keselowski accrued for JR Motorsports. So Patrick may owe Keselowski some thanks.

“I know what Dale Jr. sees in this outside line here because you don’t have to lift up there and everybody down below — I noticed — whether you are fifth, sixth or 12th back there you are having to check up so much down the straights,” Patrick said. “And if you are on the outside you just keep your foot in it. I had so much momentum going by everyone and I took a couple of chances and dove in between a couple of times, but it worked out. It didn’t work out halfway through the race when I held my line down on the yellow, but that’s what they told us to do in the drivers meeting.

I definitely learned how to use the fenders a little bit. I think I felt the fenders too, I’m not 100 percent sure if I got hit in the dogleg and then in (Turns) 1 and 2. Even if I did, I don’t really care because I know what it feels like now to kinda get pushed up the track.”

I will say this, following the race when she got out of her car it looked like she had had a lot of fun.

Hendrick Motorsports is starting the year off pretty strong landing Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the front row for the Daytona 500. Mark Martin grabbed his first ever pole position for the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway.

The last, and only other time Mark Martin has started from the pole position was for the Pepsi 400 in July or 1989. Martin finished 16th in that race.

“This is such a great accomplishment for the 5 and 88 teams,” Martin said. “That was not an accomplishment of mine. It is one of all our guys on this team. To have Dale Jr. on the outside of the front row, locked in, just means that we are doing stuff right.”

Mark Martin, who led NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series with seven poles last year, added another his resume, putting his No. 5 Chevy in the top starting spot for the Feb. 14 season-opening Daytona 500. Navigating the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 47.074 seconds (191.188 mph), Martin edged Earnhardt (190.913 mph) for the pole.

54 drivers are attempting to make it into the Daytona 500. If my math is correct, after the qualifying session last week, there are 4 spots open for drivers to try everything they can to get into the Daytona 500 by racing their wheels off during the Gatorade duels. That will be the top 2 drivers that are not locked into the race in each of the duels will advance to the Daytona 500.

Gatorade Duels will be on SPEED starting at 2 pm this Thursday!

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS

Whats the deal with the Gatorade Duels
For starters the front row is locked into their qualifying positions. So Mark Martin will start on the pole and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second.

For the duels, the drivers that qualified in odd number positions will start in the first Gatorade Duel.

Drivers that qualified in even number positions will start in the second Gatorade Duel.

So, since Martin got the pole and Ryan Newman qualified 3rd, Martin and Newman will lead the field in the first Gatorade Duel.

The top two drivers in each Gatorade Duel that are not already guaranteed a starting spot get into the Daytona 500.

The next three spots go to the fastest three qualifiers based on the single-car time trials from qualifying.

The final spot is guaranteed for a previous Sprint Cup Champion who was unable to qualify any other way. If there is no unqualified past champion then the 43rd spot goes to the next fastest qualifier based on speed from the single-car session.

What that means is that Bill Elliott, Scott Speed and Joe Nemechek qualified fast enough to lock themselves into the Daytona 500, they will be racing in the Duels solely for starting position.

Also, Bobby Labonte will be using his past championship provisional to lock himself into the field as well.

BOLD NAMES NEED TO RACE THEIR WAY INTO THE DAYTONA 500

GATORADE DUEL #1

GATORADE DUEL #2

Kevin Harvick didn’t get to practice in his car before last nights race. He was in a back up car on top of that and just coming off of a cold.

But he got the #29 Shell to the front and raced there most of the night. The race ended with a green/white/checkered and then under caution as Greg Biffle spun and collected a bunch of people including all (I think) of his teammates.

Carl Edwards appeared to be the car to beat, dominating the first 25 laps, but he was shuffled out of line with about 30 laps to go and was eventually involved in the crash at the end.

The win for Harvick and his Shell-sponsored Richard Childress Chevrolet team was his second in as many years and was worth $200,000.

Rounding out the top 10 behind Harvick, Kahne and McMurray were Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Stewart and Montoya.

Pole-sitter Edwards led the first lap of the 25-lap opening segment with Vickers on his bumper in the Red Bull Toyota.

It was great seeing the Sprint Cup cars back on the track tonight after what seemed like a long winter. And things weren’t as crazy as you might have expected.

NASCAR recently lifted the “no bump drafting” rule. While it was evident that there was not a bump drafting rule, the stayed in control pretty well.

Mark Martin accidentally dumped Kurt Busch during the race and just like Martin he took all the blame. But Kurt’s wreck was somewhat spectacular with out being to destructive. When Kurt hit the grass his nose dug into the dirt cause an explosion of dirt and grass to lift his hood and lay it on the windshield as dirt and grass continued to pour out from the engine compartment.

Kurt did eventually hit the wall more than likely due to just not being about to see.

Great race tonight.

Your Finishing Order

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Kasey Kahne

3. Jamie McMurray

4. Kyle Busch

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Joey Logano

8. Brian Vickers

9. Tony Stewart

10. Juan Pablo Montoya

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Jeff Burton

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Ken Schrader

15. Greg Biffle

16. Matt Kenseth

17. Carl Edwards

18. Bobby Labonte

19. Ryan Newman

20. Mark Martin

21. Michael Waltrip

22. John Andretti

23. Kurt Busch

24. Derrike Cope