Daytona Cup Race Thread

45 cars on Entry List, 2 will DNQ (Jeremy Mayfield still has a couple of hours to show up)
Top 35:
14 TONY STEWART
24 JEFF GORDON
48 JIMMIE JOHNSON
2 KURT BUSCH
99 CARL EDWARDS
11 DENNY HAMLIN
39 RYAN NEWMAN
18 KYLE BUSCH
16 GREG BIFFLE
17 MATT KENSETH
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5 MARK MARTIN
42 JUAN P MONTOYA
9 KASEY KAHNE
00 DAVID REUTIMANN
33 CLINT BOWYER
31 JEFF BURTON
83 BRIAN VICKERS
47 MARCOS AMBROSE
88 DALE EARNHARDT JR
07 CASEY MEARS
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20 JOEY L0GANO
26 JAMIE McMURRAY
19 ELLIOTT SADLER
1 MARTIN TRUEX JR
77 SAM HORNISH JR
43 REED SORENSON
29 KEVIN HARVICK
96 BOBBY LABONTE
44 AJ ALLMENDINGER
6 DAVID RAGAN
--
12 DAVID STREMME
55 MICHAEL WALTRIP
98 PAUL MENARD
7 ROBBY GORDON
34 JOHN ANDRETTI

GOGH:
82 SCOTT SPEED
71 DAVID GILLILAND
78 REGAN SMITH
87 JOE NEMECHEK
09 BRAD KESELOWSKI
66 DAVE BLANEY
37 TONY RAINES
36 PATRICK CARPENTIER
13 MAX PAPIS
64 MIKE WALLACE

That's a lot of empty seats on the backstretch.

The track closed the backstretch except for the suites. The only people allowed were the suite holders and some NASCAR officials and TNT people.

Somebody needs to sit down and give Nascar's new golden boys some lessons on superspeedway racing. Edwards at Talladega, and now Kyle Busch at Daytona... you can't block once the fender is alongside! Side-by-side drag race to the finish the way Mark Martin might do it, thats good. Last second chop block... you crash into the wall and don't finish the race.

I think that message can be given with the following memo: "Car high isn't a suggestion"

damn i need to stop going to the plate races i went to dega this year, and almost had carl edwards in my lap and im at daytona now and again almost had kyle busch in my lap
but for the kyle wreck i know many many many fans hate him but being one in the stands and hearing cheers from the fans after kyle took a bad bad wreck was in bad taste, i said to one guy next to me, its a big laugh huh? what if he got airborn like edwards and you had metal flying at you?
i can understand fans hating kyle but laughing at a bad wreck bad taste,
i could understand his tire goes down he goes down laps or DNF and fans cheer, makes me wonder do most fans come to see a great race? or just to see bad wrecks?

Well, Kyle Busch is now officially a plonker-the stupidest block I think Ive ever seen in motor racing. Thnkfully Tony Stewart wasnt effected, which is good as he did nothing wrong. shame Carl Edwards didnt win though.

it was a good race though, even if it was a crash fest at points, and it was an awesome finish, shame it wasnt more awesome and we didnt have a side by side finish. thats what should of happened, but then Busch must have drunk too much Busch and ruined it.

so myabe he got his just deserts, although Im very glad hes alright obviously.

Dumb move by Kyle but since it was the last lap that's racing

I didn't watch. I refuse to watch restrictor plate races. NASCAR should tear down those high banks at Daytona and Tally.

As "The instant classic" stated above, RP racing has attracted a group of people who love the wrecks. I'd love for that group to be sorely disappointed and leave.

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Originally Posted by Lee Roy

I didn't watch. I refuse to watch restrictor plate races. NASCAR should tear down those high banks at Daytona and Tally.

As "The instant classic" stated above, RP racing has attracted a group of people who love the wrecks. I'd love for that group to be sorely disappointed and leave.

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agreed, but nascar wont change it until someone dies (and now its become either fan or driver first).

Nascar has to start enforcing blocking rules and drafting rules, its crazy why they let it go

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Originally Posted by Lee Roy

I didn't watch. I refuse to watch restrictor plate races. NASCAR should tear down those high banks at Daytona and Tally.

As "The instant classic" stated above, RP racing has attracted a group of people who love the wrecks. I'd love for that group to be sorely disappointed and leave.

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i heard fans after kyle wreck say " i hope that little ****** is died!"
i agree tear down the high banks at daytona and dega
i will never forget the 2001 dega (2nd race) i was eatting chips and last lap i saw "the big one" after i couldn't eat my chips anymore i was feeling so sick after seeing "the big one" i wolud have not gone to this daytona race if it wasn't for a great way to meet up with my gf that i haven't seen sinces april

As Carl Edwards has said about Kyle.......dumb is forever.

If Kyle continues that type of chop blocking then he had better learn to accept being put in the wall.

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Originally Posted by harvick#1

agreed, but nascar wont change it until someone dies (and now its become either fan or driver first).

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I used to think the same thing, them Dale Earnhardt was killed and they didn't do anything.

If a fan is killed, big race tracks won't be able to afford the insurance, even if they can find it.

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Originally Posted by The instant classic

i heard fans after kyle wreck say " i hope that little ****** is died!"

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thats sad, those Earnhardt Jr. fanatics need to grow up, yes I'm singling them out because they are the ones that cheer for that, its so disrepectful

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Originally Posted by The instant classic

i heard fans after kyle wreck say " i hope that little ****** is died!"
i agree tear down the high banks at daytona and dega
i will never forget the 2001 dega (2nd race) i was eatting chips and last lap i saw "the big one" after i couldn't eat my chips anymore i was feeling so sick after seeing "the big one" i wolud have not gone to this daytona race if it wasn't for a great way to meet up with my gf that i haven't seen sinces april

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I don't like Kyle even one little bit but it takes a special moron to wish death on anyone. Those kind of race fans give the rest of us a bad name.

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Originally Posted by muggle not

As Carl Edwards has said about Kyle.......dumb is forever.

If Kyle continues that type of chop blocking then he had better learn to accept being put in the wall.

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It amazes me that some drivers take such a long time to figure out that nothing good comes from blocking. I'm just glad that nobody as seriously injure. I'm sure a lot of them are using plenty of ice packs today for the bumps and bruises.

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Originally Posted by muggle not

As Carl Edwards has said about Kyle.......dumb is forever.

If Kyle continues that type of chop blocking then he had better learn to accept being put in the wall.

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Let me add to my post.

If ANY driver does that type of chop blocking then they better accept being put in the wall.

We had this at Talladega, and this was very similar.

At Dega, Carl was a bit naughty blocking Keselowski below the line, and Kyle was stupid to cut across Tony. I don't like Tony very much, however he was blameless.

What makes the move even more stupid was that if he hadn't have blocked he probably would have still won the race.

Both the incidents (Kyle here and Edwards at Dega) come down to just one thing - Spotters.

I'm 99% sure that you can't quite see whether you've got an overlap on a car or not. So particularly in plate races where everyone is so close, you rely on your spotter. Now I haven't heard the radio from either incident properly so I don't know if in either case the spotter said there was an overlap.

If they did, then yes it was pretty stupid for both Kyle and Edwards to try to move across. If the spotter hadn't told them - and probably because its happening so fast they may not have done - then clearly both drivers were trying to defend their positions - that's what you do as race car drivers!

There's no-one to 'blame' for these incidents - in both cases the driver who made the move when they shouldn't lost out.

And since someone bought it up, it's not really got anything to do with Dale Sr. He died because he chose not to follow the safety advice and wear a HANS device. In both incidents this year, we've seen the driver get out of the car and walk away pretty much without a scratch.

I don't think there's anyway to 'fix' these crashes, other than not racing on these particular tracks, which ain't gonna happen.

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Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

I think that message can be given with the following memo: "Car high isn't a suggestion"

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Brilliant!!!

Or try looking at your mirrors more? Just flat out stupid racing by Kyle (and Carl at Talladega)

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Originally Posted by Oli_M

And since someone bought it up, it's not really got anything to do with Dale Sr. He died because he chose not to follow the safety advice and wear a HANS device. In both incidents this year, we've seen the driver get out of the car and walk away pretty much without a scratch.

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No one in NASCAR was wearing HANS devices in those days. And NO racing series was mandating that drivers wear them at the time of Earnhardt's death. Dale Sr. died because he had one of his straps on his seatbelt/shoulder harness system break. It broke because he (Earnhardt himself) had installed it where the portion of the belt with the label was in the tightening device. (The label is made of different material than the belt and is slick.) During the accident this caused the belt to "dump", which means the belt bunched in the tightening device and broke. Not a problem with the belt, the problem was with the installation.

I guess we can debate from here to eternity as to whether Earnhardt's fatal accident was caused by restrictor plates. I think it was. I put the cause of the accident in which Earnhardt died down to pack racing caused by restrictor plates. YMMV

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Originally Posted by Lee Roy

No one in NASCAR was wearing HANS devices in those days.

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Brett Bodine did.

Andrew, Bodine was, but most were not.

The HANS device was seen as overkill for most of the Cup guys back then and even Jeff Burton, one of the most progressive guys in the garage when it comes to safety wasn't wearing them then.

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Originally Posted by woody2goody

We had this at Talladega, and this was very similar.

At Dega, Carl was a bit naughty blocking Keselowski below the line, and Kyle was stupid to cut across Tony. I don't like Tony very much, however he was blameless.

What makes the move even more stupid was that if he hadn't have blocked he probably would have still won the race.

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Tony would have won. He had the momentum with the 48 pushing him forward. Kyle should have let it go because finishing where he did hurt him in the fight to be in the top 12. He had a 14th instead and he might wish he has those points.

As for the contention it was Dale Fans wishing Kyle was dead, no, I would never wish that and I have noticed it isn't just us Jr. fans don't like the little twerp. Denny Hamlin in the post race interview didn't seem to be too concerned and he was a teammate.

Lets face it, Kyle lives by the "win or bring me the steering wheel theory" and it will stop him from winning championships if he doesn't think a little.

He made his move too soon....and Tony caught him. Case closed.

As for your contention they ought to tear down the banks Lee Roy, you know that will happen when hell freezes over. Talladega to me is an abomination but at least Daytona demands you get a car that handles in the end. I am not a huge fan of plate racing, but you have to admit, no one can accuse it of being dull.....which is more than what I can say about Charlotte....

Congrats to Ambrose on another strong race...the guy is learning his race craft.

has anyone seen any post-race reaction from Kyle on this? I've not found anything

Cgs...no. If Kyle doesn't have to talk to the press, he doesn't. He wasn't in the top 5, ergo, no interviews. I bet though in the twilight of his career when he isn't winning, the press will be SICK of him.

Kyle...you should be nice to people who buy ink by the barrel and are there to cover the sport. They are our eyes and ears. A comment from you, even how ticked you were is better than the spoiled brat sulk you go into if you don't finish well.

i think its better that Kyle didn't do an interview after the race, he was very angry (i can understand that) but that angry who knows what language wolud have come out of his mouth, i know alot of fans hate when Tony Stewart use to go off in interviews,
best thing for Kyle to do is win this weekend race and for all the fans that laugh at his bad wreck, he will have the last laugh,

but thats just my idea

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Originally Posted by harvick#1

thats sad, those Earnhardt Jr. fanatics need to grow up, yes I'm singling them out because they are the ones that cheer for that, its so disrepectful

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its ok to dislike drivers but taken it to that level like you said its disrepectful
the 2001 daytona 500, i laugh when Tony Stewart got air born, at the time i was like good got what he deserved, after the race need i say more? i felt so sick about laughing at Tony wreck cuz he could have been killed too, sad to think if Kyke got killed it wolud be the best moment in nascar history in some fans minds

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Originally Posted by Sparky1329

I don't like Kyle even one little bit but it takes a special moron to wish death on anyone. Those kind of race fans give the rest of us a bad name.

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agreed!

Kyle's thoughts on what happened were on everyone's minds. Damn right he should have talked to the press. If the only time he wants to talk to the press is when he wins or he has to, then I don't want to hear him at all. Either you are there for the fans to give your side of things or you are not. If some of us didn't like the answer, I would give him credit for standing up. I applauded his take on the mess in NH. I didn't blame him for it although many did. It was a rare instance where he showed maturity.