For a NASCAR beat writer, Friday afternoon would have been an easy day to pump out the stories at Daytona International Speedway. Here's why:Denny Hamlin Wins No. 9 for No. 20: Hamlin scored the ninth win of the 2008 season for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Nationwide Series Friday night in Daytona, further solidifying my point about Joey Logano. Simply, the No. 20 is unstoppable, whether or not Hamlin, Logano, Tony Stewart, or Kyle Busch is in the driver's seat.
Hamlin held off Sprint Cup teammate Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a green-white-checkered finish sprint to the finish line. Brad Keselowski led the most laps but wound up 10th according to NASCAR.com in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
In a quick side note about the race, David Poole of the Charlotte Observer made an interesting point about the Nationwide Series entry list:
Here's a sobering thought for you. Morgan Shepherd is 66 years old. James Hylton is 73 years old. Kerry Earnhardt hasn't driven a race car in a year. All three of those drivers were cleared by NASCAR to compete in Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.Interesting.
Joey Logano just turned 18 and has already won a Nationwide Series race. [...] Logano was not approved to race Friday at Daytona.
Paul Menard Overshadows Teammate's Trouble: I promise, FanHousers, I didn't mean to jinx Martin Truex Jr. with my prediction in Thursday's "Chase Bubbler" feature.
Paul Menard -- Truex's DEI teammate -- tried to help me out a little bit. Menard won his first career Sprint Cup pole for the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night (The FanHouse is doing a live blog, have ya heard?) with lap of 185.916mph around the 2.5-mile track. Mark Martin in another DEI car will start alongside Menard on the front row.
Truex is facing a costly points penalty after his primary car for the 400 was confiscated by NASCAR inspectors during inspection on Thursday afternoon at Daytona. Other teams that have faced the same consequences have seen a minimum of 100 point penalties -- a number that would be a significant detriment to Truex as he attempts to qualify for the Chase.
Mark Martin Confirms Suspicions: Mark Martin completed the short and sweet saga of the No. 5 car Friday afternoon with team owner Rick Hendrick sitting alongside.
As expected, Martin made it official that he'd be a full-time card-carrying Hendrick Motorsports driver in 2009 as he makes what should be his final go at winning the elusive Sprint Cup championship.
I won't call myself a diehard Martin fan, but its going to be tough to cheer against a guy with such class, talent, and wisdom that Mark has. If nothing else, he's making Hendrick Motorsports as a whole easier to digest, I'd think for some of those "Anybody but Jeff and Jimmie" fans.
Hometown Boy: I've got to give a shoutout to Bryan Clauson, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver who put his No. 40 Dodge on the pole for Friday's Nationwide Series event at Daytona, and then backed it up with what is unofficially being scored as an 8th-place finish.
Clauson has made 12 starts in '08 for Ganassi and that includes a 6th-place finish at Daytona in February and a 5th-place at Kentucky two weeks ago. He'd definitely like to be running more consistently, but because he's a Hamilton County, Indiana boy, just like me, I'm pulling for him. So here's the local props to you, Bryan.
See you all on the live blog (LIVE BLOG?!) Saturday night at 7:45pm/et!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-05-2008 @ 1:08AM
CJ said...
First off, i have to say, even though i really, really dislike Teresa, i was happy to see Kerry in the race with Dale Jr and wish Kerry had been more of a factor to win, but he didnt do to shabby and congrats on his top 20 finish as well as Dale Jr's third place finish.
Second, congrats to Mark and happy to hear him running full time for the cup again next year, but not too thrilled with his 2010 plans, i dont agree and really hate the split driver schedule. It should be one driver, one team, and they either sink or swim, none of this gradual crap. I really hope it isnt Brad Keselowski that gets it, but as of right now, it would be. And i recently heard that Nascar is going to wait until 2010 till they impliment the Nationwide COT cars, so that buys JR Motorsports one more year without having to switch cars, thuse leaving Keselowski in Nationwide for one more year. They should've hired Tony Stewart, that was the best option.
Finally, i think DEI is about to be in a wale of trouble. First, they lose Dale Jr and let him walk, a very stupid move. Jr wanted half of the company, and it cost them more when he walked cause now it's depreciated by more than half by letting Jr go. Then they lose Bud because they didnt try hard enough to hire a talented guy to drive for them, they never do. Now they've let Mark Martin go and have kept Aric Amirola to drive the 8 car, a poor decision to make. They are probably about to lose US Army sponsor because when announcing about Aric, they never mentioned Army staying, or any other sponsor coming on board for that matter. Also, Martin Truex is not quick to sign a contract extension or looking to join in picking up the option on his contract for next year, which i hear there is a wiggle clause in it. If Martin leaves, i hear Bass Pro Shops is looking elsewhere, they are suppose to be under contract thru 2010, but im sure they have a clause just as Bud did which made them able to leave when Dale Jr did. And finally, today i read on jayski.com that John Menard has been talking to Jack Roush about maybe buying into Yates Racing to help them out and Paul and those sponsor dollars would be with a Ford next year. If all that goes down, they only ace card they have left is Jeffery Earnhardt, and they dont seem too anzious to play it, but the clock is running out and if it isnt too late to play it, they better throw it down!
Reply
7-05-2008 @ 2:44AM
Susan said...
I am pleased to see Mark Martin return for a full year at Hendrick. I don't understand why so many race fans are upset tho. David Poole has an article about that today also. Mark changed his mind. Too many fickle fans, :)
I think Mark will help HMS improve overall.
If nothing else it was a great day BECAUSE I think that Paul Menard had a very slight smile when he won the pole today. It was a great (and rare) thing to see!!!
Reply
7-05-2008 @ 11:28AM
drgrcr601 said...
How about this scenario. It's no secret Tony wants to be a owner/co-owner in cup. Lets say He buys into JR Motorsports. This would give JRM their big opportunity to field two cup cars (which Jr has stated is his future plan.) One driven by Tony and the other driven by Truax or Brad K. I don't share CJ's opinion on Brad K. and frankly don't understand why he is down on this kid. Anyhow, this scenario wouldn't be a big suprise to me at all and would make a lot of fans very happy.
Kim I don't see Tony at Hendricks mainly because he wants to be owner/part owner and Hendricks would not be a place that would happen. But we know Hendrick is involved in JRM so what a great place for Tony to end up buying into if given the opportunity. JMO
Ron
Reply