The Week in Racing: Top 10 Stories from 18-20 Feb 2011
February 21st 2011 23:35
The first racing weekend is official over and man what a weekend. It started on Friday with Michael Waltrip winning the Truck race. Tony Stewart won the Nationwide race on Saturday while Trevor Bayne shocked the world
winning the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
While Nascar was the only league racing this weekend their was plenty of action to fill the weekend. Starting Next week the NHRA will join Nascar.
The Top 10 stories coming out of Daytona are:
#10 Jennifer Jo Cobb. Cobb finished sixth in the Truck Race becoming the highest finishing female in Truck series History. Cobb is running the full season for the Nationwide series.
#9 Miguel Paludo and Jeffery Earnhardt. Both Rookie of the Year contenders had great races as both finished in the top 10. Paludo got a fourth while Earnhardt came home seventh. With almost 10 drivers going for the Rookie of the Year award this was a great start for these two drivers.
#8 Danica Patrick. Danica came into this year with more pressure than last year and after one weekend everything is looking good. Patrick finished 14th her highest finish. She also lead one lap. Which makes her the first woman to lead a lap at Daytona.
#7 Landon Cassill. Cassill was involved in lots of pushing and shoving through out the race but he held it together when he needed to push Tony Stewart to the checkered flag and come home in Third Place. The finish gives him the point lead heading into Phoenix.
#6 Clay Rogers. Rogers is the point leader in the Truck Series. Rogers has not had a top five finish since 2005. Clay was up font most of the day bringing his Chevy home in third place. Rogers has a two point lead in the standings.
#5 RCR Engines. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton both left the race earlier after their engines let go. RCR is not known for engine failures and this was a surprise. Harvick finished 42nd while Burton came home 36th.
#4 Two Man Drafting. We knew before the race started how the driving would look like and it lived up to its billing. Records were set in Cautions, Lead Changes and tied the record for different leaders. Other race tracks will not look this way but for Daytona we might need to get used to it for a little while.
#3 Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart. Both Sprint Cup Drivers won of the lower circuits this weekend in dramatic fashion. Waltrip driving his #15 Toyota to victory after passing Elliott Sadler coming out of the last
turn. Stewart won by seven feet as he stormed by the leaders with help from Landon Cassill.
#2 Ford. Is Ford back? All Speedweeks we heard how the Fords could push longer than the other makes. Six drivers finished inside the top 15 tying Chevy for the most drivers. The surprise might be who the drivers were. Bayne, Gilliland, Labonte, Ragan and AJ Allmendinger all surprised me with their finishes. The other five ford in the race finished 32 or worst.
#1 Trevor Bayne. Who could of pictured this at the beginning of Speedweeks. Trevor Bayne was a fast car all day long and his mostly spent the day pushing someone to the front but when the green dropped on the second green whit checker he was in the lead. Bayne did everything right those last two laps to give the Woods Brothers their first victory in 10 years. Bayne becomes the youngest driver ever to win the Daytona 500.
Well Daytona is behind us and the NHRA will join the fray next weekend. Hope everyone was safe this weekend and enjoyed the racing. Till next Weekend Go Fast Be Safe.
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