2014 NASCAR Race Review and Results

[HossC]

I thought Garrett or Lizzy might step in with a race review, but seeing as they haven't, here's a quick summary. I have to admit that the race clashed with a very exciting Canadian Grand Prix, so most of my attention was focused on the action in Montreal.

The first half of the race was fairly uneventful. There were a couple of cautions for debris, one for Dave Blaney spinning (he didn't him anyone or anything), and a bizarre one for what they called "Fire in the exit of Turn 2 in the infield". From what I saw, there was a little bit of smoke coming from inside the barrier which was going nowhere near the drivers. During this time, Brad Keselowski spent most of the time in the lead with Jeff Gordon just behind. Jimmie Johnson also made steady gains up to the top 10. Jimmie's progress suffered a setback on lap 74 when he hit Marcos Ambrose as he was leaving his pit box - see the video here (in F1 this would be deemed an unsafe release and there would be some sort of penalty applied).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also spent some time around the 10th spot in the middle of the race, but this seemed to be more to do with differing pit strategy rather than a lot of passing. He finished 15th, which is better than the last few races, but another top 10 wouldn't go amiss.

Jimmie Johnson recovered from his pit lane mishap to lead a few laps before coming home in sixth.

Danica Patrick started quite well, but hit the wall on lap 137. She then received a penalty for having too many crew members over the wall. At the end she was two laps down in 37th.

Brad Keselowski led away from the final green flag, but picked up some debris on his grille that forced him to drop back. This allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead with just a few laps left and take his second win of the year.

Here's the full result. All the drivers down to Travis Kvapil in 29th finished on the lead lap.

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Kurt Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kyle Larson

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Ryan Newman

8. Jeff Gordon

9. Martin Truex Jr

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Kyle Busch

13. Tony Stewart

14. Kevin Harvick

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

16. Greg Biffle

17. Austin Dillon

18. David Ragan

19. Brian Vickers

20. Michael Annett

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Aric Almirola

23. Casey Mears

24. Marcos Ambrose

25. Matt Kenseth

26. Paul Menard

27. Justin Allgaier

28. David Gilliland

29. Travis Kvapil

30. Cole Whitt

31. Alex Bowman

32. Ryan Truex

33. Landon Cassill

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Josh Wise

36. Timmy Hill

37. Danica Patrick

38. J.J. Yeley

39. Alex Kennedy

40. Joey Logano

41. Carl Edwards

42. Kasey Kahne

43. Dave Blaney

The result puts Jeff Gordon back to the top of the driver standings with Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski completing the top five.

Next Sunday it's the Quicken Loans 400 from the Michigan International Speedway.

For anyone who saw the 190 mph crash between Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, both drivers are fine, although Perez has been given a five-place grid penalty for the next race. Massa's impact registered at 27g, which is more than twice the maximum experienced during a turn in a fighter jet. Congratulations to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who made some great late passes to take his first F1 win.

[HossC]

I'm afraid I was already watching a comedy show and a soccer match when I remembered the qualifying this week, so you could say that I didn't give it my full attention. Nevertheless, here's a quick summary.

After coming first in qualifying sessions one and two, it was no surprise when Kevin Harvick took the Coors Light Pole Award at Michigan. Jeff Gordon was third in session one, and sixth and session two, but in the one that counts he took second to line up next to Kevin Harvick. Jeff Gordon's team mate, Dale Earnhardt Jr, starts just behind in third. Jimmie Johnson gets another top ten start in seventh. Joey Logano only just scraped through session one in 24th place, but lines up in ninth. Kurt was the only Busch to make the top ten this week, so there was no risk of listing Kyle twice .

Juan Pablo Montoya makes his NASCAR return this week with the first of two scheduled starts in the #12 Penske Ford. In an interview he suggested that a NASCAR race in China or Japan may prove popular, but didn't think there'd be many fans in Europe (comparing it to the number of F1 fans in the US).

Here's the full lineup:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr

4. Aric Almirola

5. Paul Menard

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Kurt Busch

9. Joey Logano

10. Brian Vickers

11. Jamie McMurray

12. Kyle Larson

13. Kasey Kahne

14. Kyle Busch

15. Clint Bowyer

16. Martin Truex Jr

17. Justin Allgaier

18. Greg Biffle

19. Austin Dillon

20. Marcos Ambrose

21. Matt Kenseth

22. Carl Edwards

23. Trevor Bayne

24. Ryan Newman

25. AJ Allmendinger

26. Tony Stewart

27. Danica Patrick

28. Juan Pablo Montoya

29. Denny Hamlin

30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

31. Casey Mears

32. David Gilliland

33. David Ragan

34. Brett Moffitt

35. J.J. Yeley

36. David Stremme

37. Michael Annett

38. Josh Wise

39. Landon Cassill

40. Reed Sorenson

41. Alex Bowman

42. Cole Whitt

43. Travis Kvapil

The Quicken Loans 400 from the Michigan International Speedway is this Sunday at 1:00 PM ET. It's live on TNT.

[Garrett Duke]

Sorry y'all that I failed to meet job qualification last week. I watched the race and then had to leave right afterwards. Hoss probably did a better job than I did. I was super happy that Jr won last week...but the TNT announcers irritated me when JJ spun out in pits (luckily he was able to over come that) and the announcers seemed to laugh about it. I really didn't think it was a laughing matter...especially at the time. Thanks Hoss for covering for me...again.

Well I did watch today's race and lookie here...I am writing my review. Though it had started off with a bang with Brian Vickers wrecking out on the fifth lap and then Kasey Kahne wrecking out on the next restart, not a whole lot really happened.

Kevin Harvick had a strong car and led a lot of laps...as did Jeff Gordon. But Gordon fell behind due to pit strategy and had to fight his way back at the end to finish sixth.

Kyle Busch had something break on his car to send his car to the garage twice in today's race.

Jimmie Johnson, who has won two races already, thanks to pit strategy and a good car, ended up getting his very first win at Michigan today. First driver to reach three wins...and is now seated high and proud in the CHASE standings.

Have to admit...today was a good day for my team Hendrick boys. JJ won, Gordon came in sixth with Jr coming in seventh. Kasey Kahne was able to overcome the wreck he was involved in and all four guys came home in the top ten.

Official standings:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Paul Menard

5. Kasey Kahne

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8. Kyle Larson

9. Joey Logano

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Tony Stewart

12. Jamie McMurray

13. Kurt Busch

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Ryan Newman

16. Justin Allgaier

17. Danica Patrick

18. Juan Pablo Montoya

19. Trevor Bayne

20. Greg Biffle

21. Michael Annett

22. AJ Allmendinger

23. Carl Edwards

24. Casey Mears

25. Marcos Ambrose

26. David Gilliland

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

28. Cole Whitt

29. Denny Hamlin

30. Austin Dillion

31. Aric Almirola

32. Reed Sorenson

33. Josh Wise

34. Brett Moffitt

35. Landon Cassill

36. JJ Yeley

37. Martin Truex Jr.

38. David Regan

39. David Stremme

40. Alex Bowman

41. Kyle Busch

42. Brian Vickers

43. Travis Kvapil

We are going back to California to do a little road racing at Sonoma next Sunday...not an extreme fan of road races due to the fact that it is so hard to pass people and it isn't really known as a fast race. . . but Jeff Gordon was once known as the road race king. So if Gordon's good at it, I like it. Hoping for win number 2 of the season for team 24 next week.

[HossC]

Hoss probably did a better job than I did.

I don't think so. It felt really odd writing the review last week .

The commentators mentioned Father's Day so much before the race started that I thought I was watching the Hallmark 400 .

I felt sorry for Travis Kvapil at the beginning when he had the side of his car ripped off trying to avoid Brian Vickers.

Kyle Busch's main problem was a broken left rear hub.

Garrett, now that JJ has three wins, do you think he can let Ricky Stenhouse Jr win one? For the last few races he seems to qualify over halfway down and not make much progress .

[Garrett Duke]

I don't think so. It felt really odd writing the review last week .

The commentators mentioned Father's Day so much before the race started that I thought I was watching the Hallmark 400 .

I felt sorry for Travis Kvapil at the beginning when he had the side of his car ripped off trying to avoid Brian Vickers.

Kyle Busch's main problem was a broken left rear hub.

Garrett, now that JJ has three wins, do you think he can let Ricky Stenhouse Jr win one? For the last few races he seems to qualify over halfway down and not make much progress .

Thanks for the smile Hoss...I really needed that today.

I am sorry that Ricky is having such a hard time this season. He has had such rotten luck...him and Kahne both. It is odd, but it always seems that the second year is the hardest for the new guys/gal. Hard to beat a good first season when he had the attention on him. Now the attention has fallen on Dillion and Larson. (Larson by the way just bought a new big house last week and he just came out that his girlfriend is expecting. Will have their baby near Christmas.)

As for the win...I think Gordon needs a second win. I mean JJ has three, Jr has two, and Gordon has one. Yep, Gordon needs another one to show who is boss at HMS. Perhaps Stenhouse Jr can finish second at Sonoma?

[HossC]

Formula 1 returns to Austria this weekend after an 11 year hiatus. The reason I'm mentioning it is because the course isn't that different from this weekend's NASCAR venue, Sonoma. The Red Bull Ring in Austria is about 2.7 miles long with nine turns and a lap time of around 70 seconds, while the Sonoma track is about 2 miles long with ten turns and a lap time of 75 seconds. It'll be interesting comparing the two races.

Sonoma is the first road course race to use the new knockout qualifying format, and it was split into two sessions. The first session was 30 minutes long, with the top 12 fastest cars making it through to the second session.

Carl Edwards made a very late run in the first session to scrape 12th place just seven thousandths of a second ahead of Brad Keselowski. He ended up qualifying in fourth. As well as Brad Keselowski, several other big names missed out on progressing to the second session, including all four Hendricks cars, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Jeff Gordon seemed quite upbeat after being knocked out, and suggested that tires would play a big part in tomorrow's result.

The road course format has shaken up the starting order a little, with Jamie McMurray setting a new lap record to take pole ahead of AJ Allmendinger. Rookie Kyle Larson did well to put his 42 car in third place. Danica Patrick was near the top of timings for a while, but ended up in 11th. I was surprised to see Clint Bowyer down in 25th as he was second and first in the practice sessions. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, on the other hand, qualified virtually exactly where he'd been in the practice sessions.

Here's the full lineup:

1. Jamie McMurray

2. AJ Allmendinger

3. Kyle Larson

4. Carl Edwards

5. Kurt Busch

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Ryan Newman

8. Brian Vickers

9. Paul Menard

10. Joey Logano

11. Danica Patrick

12. Casey Mears

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Jeff Gordon

16. Denny Hamlin

17. Dale Earnhardt Jr

18. Martin Truex Jr

19. Greg Biffle

20. Kyle Busch

21. Tony Stewart

22. Jimmie Johnson

23. Marcos Ambrose

24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

25. Clint Bowyer

26. Austin Dillon

27. David Gilliland

28. Michael McDowell

29. Aric Almirola

30. Kasey Kahne

31. David Ragan

32. Cole Whitt

33. Josh Wise

34. Ryan Truex

35. Justin Allgaier

36. Alex Kennedy

37. Landon Cassill

38. Alex Bowman

39. J.J. Yeley

40. Reed Sorenson

41. Boris Said

42. Michael Annett

43. Tomy Drissi

The Toyota/Save Mart 350 from the Sonoma Raceway is this Sunday at 3:00 PM ET. Once again, it's live on TNT.

[Garrett Duke]

Well the race at Sonoma has just gotten over...the first half of the race, not a whole lot had happened. I think they said they had one caution in the first sixty - laps...and five cautions in the last sixty one laps. Drivers are more cautious and generous in the first half of the race than the last I guess.

The major wreck that comes to mind happened when Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit a bump and it forced his car into Matt Kenseth who hit the wall hard...hard enough to cause the front bumper to fly off of his car on impact and the radiator hose to go under his car. Luckily Matt was OK. Was a scary wreck.

AJ Allmendinger who had a strong car up until the end when he got in a late race accident and came home 37th.

Jamie McMurray started on the pole and stayed in the top five for most of the race, if not all...he came home fourth today.

Sorry Hoss, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was doing pretty good but someone got into him to cause a caution...the announcers made a statement that it looked like a payback hit but they weren't sure because of why.

Tony Stewart fought his way up to the top ten...and just like last week, got caught speeding in pit road. One would think that someone who has won three championships, has been in NASCAR as long as he has been, that he would learn not to speed on pit road. Well at least not twice in two weeks...and especially when I have him on my fantasy team. Thanks a lot Smoke!

Tony got upset at Kyle Larson for blocking him last week...also got mad at Jimmie Johnson for blocking him today. Made it known and got into the back of JJ and who in turn got into Gordon. Gordon got mad at JJ and let his team mate know he was upset by tapping him a couple of times. I apologize to any Smoke fans out there...but I don't see how Stewart has any room to get upset at other drivers for blocking him when he does the same thing. Just like Keselowski got mad at Hamlin for blocking him at the start of the race the other race and got into him. It is the name of racing. They all do it. Perhaps if they don't want it done to them, perhaps they shouldn't do it to everyone else on the track. Guess it is OK for one to do it, just not everyone else. ? Though it does seem like the old temperamental Stewart is back...lol.

Marcos Ambrose who is known to be good on road races had a good car and was hard to pass, but kinda went the wrong way at the end to get a top ten instead of the win he was going for.

Another driver I had on my team today had problems as well (they always have problems. I am sure I jinx them. Which is why I don't use Gordon any more...lol.) Clint Bowyer was in the top five when he was getting into the back of Jimmie Johnson (or it looked like to me...) when Jamie McMurray got into the back of him to spin him around and he got into an already mad Kevin Harvick. (Harvick had been strong the first half of the race but he had a bad pit stop that put him down a couple of spots that had him upset at his crew...again.)

Denny Hamlin had issues as well that sent him to the back.

Though at the end, Carl Edwards was too ahead of anyone to be slowed down or passed by anyone. Jr proved that fresh tires were a must on the road course as he got his first top ten, top five finish at a road course. Jeff Gordon, who has won five times at Sonoma, and has been labeled as the road course king proved he is worthy of his title today. He started fifteenth and at first fell back, but both him and Johnson fought their way up the field (Passing at road courses are harder than regular races) and if there was a couple more laps on the race, I know Gordon would have came away with the win. Though as it is, Jeff Gordon gave it all he had and came home second...while Carl Edwards went on to win the race. His first road race win of his Sprint Cup career.

Congrats Carl on a great win today!

Official results:

1. Carl Edwards

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Jamie McMurray

5. Paul Menard

6. Kasey Kahne

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Marcos Ambrose

9. Greg Biffle

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Ryan Newman

12. Kurt Busch

13. Casey Mears

14. Brian Vickers

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Joey Logano

17. Austin Dillion

18. Danica Patrick

19. Tony Stewart

20. Kevin Harvick

21. David Gilliland

22. Brad Keselwoski

23. Aric Almirola

24. Michael McDowell

25. Kyle Busch

26. Denny Hamlin

27. Cole Whitt

28. Kyle Larson

29. Alex Bowman

30. Michael Annett

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

32. Reed Sorenson

33. Justin Allgaier

34. JJ Yeley

35. Boris Said (Road race ringer...specializes in road races and only runs road races in NASCAR Series...)

36. David Regan

37. AJ Allmendinger

38. Tomy Drissi

39. Alex Kennedy

40. Josh Wise

41. Ryan Truex

42. Matt Kenseth

43. Landon Cassill

We are onto Kentucky next week...

[HossC]

Well the race at Sonoma has just gotten over...the first half of the race, not a whole lot had happened. I think they said they had one caution in the first sixty - laps...and five cautions in the last sixty one laps. Drivers are more cautious and generous in the first half of the race than the last I guess.

The only caution in the first 60 laps was on lap 31 when Landon Cassill's engine blew up.

Were the drivers being "more cautious and generous" or were they just confused by the right turns?

Sorry Hoss, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was doing pretty good but someone got into him to cause a caution...the announcers made a statement that it looked like a payback hit but they weren't sure because of why.

It was Brian Vickers who tagged Ricky Stenhouse Jr and spun him out. It's a shame because Ricky was still progressing slowly through the field.

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks forgot who it was. Brian Vickers had problems in the first lap...of which I didn't see. I turned it on on the second lap or so. So I don't know if Stenhouse Jr. was in that or not. Either way no need to retaliate...especially since Vickers was able to overcome whatever it was that had happened.

Well we will be back to left turns only next week so no more right turns til August.

[HossC]

I forgot to mention this on Sunday - whoever NASCAR employs to do their lap-by-lap feed still doesn't know the difference between "breaks" and "brakes".

Just to make sure that Kyle wasn't saying he could get any breaks, I checked his Facebook page where it says "Loss of power steering and brakes can definitely affect a shot at a victory on a road course!"

Y'all may remember this one from last year:

[HossC]

The NASCAR circus is in Kentucky this week with another Saturday night race.

After a couple of weeks away from the front row, Brad Keselowski returns by taking pole. Joey Logano was fastest in the first two qualifying sessions, but could only manage second place in the one that counted.

It's good news and bad news for Garrett this week. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr were the biggest names not to make it out of the first qualifying session (they start 25th and 29th respectively). Jeff Gordon, on the other hand, was very happy to be starting up in third.

Danica Patrick has been competitive again so far this weekend. She was second in the first qualifying session, scraped through the second in 12th and finished up with a starting position of 10th. She was also in the top ten of both practice sessions.

As for Lizzy's drivers, they're both in the high teens with Austin Dillon in 16th and Kyle Busch in 18th.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr got through the first session in 22nd and improved by one place in the second to start in 21st. That's an improvement on his practice positions.

Here's the full lineup:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Joey Logano

3. Jeff Gordon

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Kyle Larson

7. Ryan Newman

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Kurt Busch

10. Danica Patrick

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Paul Menard

13. Tony Stewart

14. Matt Kenseth

15. AJ Allmendinger

16. Austin Dillon

17. Brian Vickers

18. Kyle Busch

19. Martin Truex Jr

20. Kasey Kahne

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

22. Aric Almirola

23. Carl Edwards

24. Greg Biffle

25. Jimmie Johnson

26. Casey Mears

27. Marcos Ambrose

28. Justin Allgaier

29. Dale Earnhardt Jr

30. Cole Whitt

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Michael Annett

33. Alex Bowman

34. Josh Wise

35. Travis Kvapil

36. David Ragan

37. Landon Cassill

38. David Stremme

39. Ryan Truex

40. Joe Nemechek

41. David Gilliland

42. Mike Bliss

The Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts from the Kentucky Speedway is tonight (Saturday) at 7:30 PM ET. Live coverage can be found on TNT.

[HossC]

I think Garrett's still planning to write a review for last week's race in Kentucky, but I've decided to post the results to preserve some kind of order. The race was won by Brad Keselowski who led 199 of the 267 laps.

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Kyle Busch

3. Ryan Newman

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Joey Logano

10. Jimmie Johnson

11. Tony Stewart

12. Kurt Busch

13. Marcos Ambrose

14. Greg Biffle

15. Paul Menard

16. Austin Dillon

17. Carl Edwards

18. Michael Annett

19. Martin Truex Jr

20. Casey Mears

21. Danica Patrick

22. AJ Allmendinger

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Justin Allgaier

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. Brian Vickers

27. Reed Sorenson

28. Cole Whitt

29. Josh Wise

30. David Gilliland

31. David Ragan

32. Landon Cassill

33. Ryan Truex

34. Travis Kvapil

35. David Stremme

36. Alex Bowman

37. Jamie McMurray

38. Joe Nemechek

39. Aric Almirola

40. Kyle Larson

41. Mike Bliss

42. Denny Hamlin

[HossC]

I posted the results of the Kentucky race so they'd go before the qualifying lineup for Daytona. A combination of an exciting World Cup soccer match between Brazil and Colombia, and a "rain-abbreviated" qualifying session meant that I missed this evening's action from Florida. Nevertheless, I've read the review on NASCAR.com to find out what happened. Luckily there was no repeat of the nine-car wreck that occurred when a sudden rainstorm hit the Nationwide qualifying session (video and details here).

Words like "chaotic" were used to describe today's qualifying, which used the new knockout format for the first time (the season-opener used the old format). Being a restrictor-plate track, the drivers tried some odd strategies including going very slowly until they could hook-up with a teammate.

The strange qualifying behavior mixed with the rain led to an unusual lineup for tomorrow's race. David Gilliland took his third career pole just ahead of Reed Sorenson. The second row is filled by Landon Cassill and Bobby Labonte. Despite this, HMS managed to get three cars in the top ten with Jimmie Johnson in 5th, Dale Earnhardt Jr in 7th and Jeff Gordon in 9th.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr qualified in a more promising 16th, although he was as high as 7th in the first practice session.

It's not such good news for Lizzy this week with Austin Dillon down in 23rd and Kyle Busch down near the back in 39th, just ahead of his brother.

Here's the full lineup:

1. David Gilliland

2. Reed Sorenson

3. Landon Cassill

4. Bobby Labonte

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr

8. David Ragan

9. Jeff Gordon

10. Greg Biffle

11. Carl Edwards

12. Tony Stewart

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Aric Almirola

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

17. Cole Whitt

18. Marcos Ambrose

19. Martin Truex Jr

20. Ryan Newman

21. Paul Menard

22. Casey Mears

23. Austin Dillon

24. AJ Allmendinger

25. Trevor Bayne

26. Brad Keselowski

27. Michael McDowell

28. Joey Logano

29. Danica Patrick

30. Brian Vickers

31. Justin Allgaier

32. Michael Annett

33. Josh Wise

34. Clint Bowyer

35. Kyle Larson

36. Jamie McMurray

37. Denny Hamlin

38. Terry Labonte

39. Kyle Busch

40. Kurt Busch

41. Michael Waltrip

42. Ryan Truex

43. Alex Bowman

This week's race may prove to be too late for me again, because the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola from the Daytona International Speedway is tomorrow night (Saturday) at 7:30 PM ET. It's live on TNT.

For anyone who fancies some motorsport on Sunday, this weekend is also the date for the British F1 Grand Prix, and Silverstone is celebrating its 50th time as host. The stands were apparently packed like a raceday for the first two practice sessions today. Amongst those watching was three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti who was joined by his cousin, ex-F1 driver Paul di Resta. History was also made today as F1 had a female driver behind the wheel during a race weekend for the first time in 22 years. Unfortunately, Williams test driver Susie Wolff had her session cut short due to engine trouble. That could lead to problems at home as she's married to Toto Wolff, director of Mercedes Motorsport who supply the engines! The race on Sunday starts promptly at 8:00 AM ET.

[HossC]

The Coke Zero 400 has been postponed due to rain. They're going try again at 11:00 AM ET tomorrow (Sunday).

It's a shame they can't race in the rain - they had some during the qualifying for the British F1 Grand Prix earlier today and it led to some topsy-turvy results. The weather forecasters are predicting a dry race, but a bit of rain would spice things up nicely .

[Garrett Duke]

Well it looks Hoss beat me to my post. Hate that it is postponed til tomorrow but it is what it is. I am on my phone so will do my write up tomorrow with my laptop. Just wanted to put die that it got rained out...but I am too late with that. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Thanks Hoss for covering for me.

[Garrett Duke]

Well they raced five good laps...before getting red flagged for more RAIN! Am so NOT happy right now. they just showed the Nationwide qualifying wreck due to rain....very scary and sad. Hope not to see that today.

anyway... rain rain go away!!!!

[HossC]

You have to feel sorry for TNT - not only did they have to interupt their Lord of the Rings marathon today, they also had to take some breaks from showing commercials to screen small parts of the NASCAR race!

Is Jeff Gordon taking resposibility for the crash or was it Ricky Stenhouse Jr's fault?

[Garrett Duke]

Well they are back to racing only for a wreck to involve half the field...including most of my drivers. Perhaps it should've kept raining...

[Garrett Duke]

I can't remember what Gordon said exactly... didn't say it was his fault tho. As it wasn't his fault. You probably won't agree with me.. but I'm with Smoke.

[HossC]

Well you can't blame Ricky this time .

[Garrett Duke]

This is why I am not a fan of restrictor plate racing. The big ones always happen.

[Garrett Duke]

Well this is going to be a messed up review due to my failure to write last week's review at Kentucky. I will start off with a small review from Kentucky and go onto today's race. I apologize for not writing it sooner.

For Kentucky...there isn't much to really report. Other than Brad Keselwoski started from the pole, led the most laps, and won the race. I think the most exciting part of the race is the fact that Keselowski cut his hand on the champagne bottle in victory lane as he tried opening it up. Had to rush to the infield care center to get four stitches that he got taken out this past Thursday.

And for the Daytona race that was suppose to be raced last night (y'all know how much I love night races, right?) but was postponed due to rain (I was not happy. LOL) but luckily since it was a night race, was able to watch it today. Or most of it at least. And today's rain shortened race can be summarized by two words...RAIN and WRECKS. We had three red flags thrown today. First one was due to rain, second one was due to the huge accident (as it was called by the announcer), and the third one due to rain, again.

David Gilliland started the race with his third career pole that was eventually taken over by Matt Kenseth before the rain came on the eleventh lap or so and the red flag flew. (I will admit I left to eat breakfast at this point so I missed when they resumed...)

They had competition yellow on lap twenty I think, but a lap or two before that they had a caution for the big one. And as to who started it, seems to be a sensitive area or one with a lot of opinions by what I've read on Facebook, what the announcers insinuated whose fault it was and to what I think what happened. (As I said in a Facebook group, that it looks to be who one's favorite driver is as to which driver started it...LOL) but in reality, it is Daytona. It is restrictor plate racing. They are going two hundred miles per hour and one little mistake can take out half the field. Or as one driver said, the driver may not do anything but the air around them pushes the car a foot or so without the driver even moving the steering wheel. Sadly that is just what happens in these type of races which is why I am not a fan of restrictor plate racing. But if you want my take on things, I think Marcos Ambrose came into line ahead of Stenhouse Jr. where there wasn't any room, Stenhouse Jr. tried to stop from getting into him and got loose, and Gordon tried to get out of the way and ended up in the accident anyway. (Though if you want the announcers' opinion, it was Gordon's fault...I guess Gordon should just stay around and get wrecked and not even try to get out of the way. And then if you want Tony Stewart's opinion, it was Stenhouse Jr trying to play hero early in the race.) It really don't matter who started it...it is what it is.

Hoss you will be happy with what Gordon just put down on Facebook (perhaps you should apologize to him? ) Gordon just put down on at Facebook "Wow what a crazy race at Daytona International Speedway! I'll take the blame and apologize to all involved for 1st wreck. Congrats Aric Almirola & 43 team!" I am highly biased and I still don't see it being his fault, but at least he will apologize for his part of the deal and is willing to keep the peace. He is a picture of class act in my book. All in all, it wasn't done on purpose by any driver. It is what it is and am glad everyone is ok.

Then the second wreck was even more scarier than the other one. . .and once again the blame isn't exactly clear, but it seems more clear than the first. It seems like Greg Biffle tired to line up with Kasey Kahne and spun him out and took twenty cars with him. Jamie McMurray's car went air born for awhile...and Kyle Busch went on his roof when a car ran into his parked car. That went into red flag...it is so good no one got hurt in any accident. So sad to see so many good race cars all torn up as they were. Kyle's was the worst.

They went back to racing for awhile before it started raining with 48 laps to go...and where they finally called it a race. Aric Almirola got his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win driving for Richard "The King" Petty in the iconic 43 car. Ironically his win comes on Richard Petty's thirtieth anniversary of his 200th career win.

Here is the official results at Daytona:

1. Aric Almirola

2. Brian Vickers

3. Kurt Busch

4. Casey Mears

5. Austin Dillon

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Michael McDowell

8. Danica Patrick

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Terry Labonte

12. Jeff Gordon

13. Alex Bowman

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Paul Menard

17. Joey Logano

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Michael Waltrip

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Michael Annett

22. David Regan

23. Josh Wise

24. Ryan Newman

25. Justin Allgaier

26. Bobby Labonte

27. Kasey Kahne

28. Kyle Busch

29. Greg Biffle

30. Jamie McMurray

31. Landon Cassill

32. Ryan Truex

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Cole Whitt

35. David Gilliland

36. Kyle Larson

37. Carl Edwards

38. Trevor Bayne

39. Kevin Harvick

40. Tony Stewart

41. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

42. Jimmie Johnson

43. AJ Allmendinger

Well...what a short and sad race for a lot of good drivers. But a quick and good race for a few drivers. It is good to see unfamiliar faces up front. People that don't win or have top fives all that often. Great for Aric to get his first win. He is a great guy and am happy for him.

Sad for me that most if not all of my fantasy drivers were caught up in one of the big ones if not the first one...I think I might as well as give up as I have no hope left of coming off with a good finish this year due to jinxing all my drivers. Ah well...it is too fun to give up. Just not fun to watch the wreck. LOL. (Which is why I REFUSE to pick Gordon anymore!) (Sorry Hoss...but yeah, I did have Stenhouse Jr on my team this week. So yeah, I was just as sad as you were to see him spin out. I almost went with Vickers but a the last minute I switched Stenhouse and Vickers. Look what happened???? Stenhouse wrecked, Vickers finished second. Dang it! LOL)

And if my fantasy team getting a huge hit this weekend wasn't bad enough, so did my actual favorite drivers. My entire list of my top five favorite drivers were involved in a wreck. Johnson and Edwards was taken out in the first wreck...Gordon and JR was involved in the first wreck as well. Kahne was taken out in the second wreck.

Definitely not a good race for me and am glad that it is now behind us...and we will be going onto New Hampshire next week. . .and sadly don't know if I will be able to watch it. I will be going to my Grandpa's house next week for a little family get together and won't be back til Sunday night. So maybe team Hendrick will rebound for the win without me next week. HA.

And do believe the announcers said that next weekend will be the last race on TNT...will have to look up on that one. If so, I won't be too sad nor will I miss all of their commercials. I think they have race breaks instead of commercial breaks... If I had my way, the races would stay on FOX with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hamond and Mike Meyers, and Larry MacReynolds. But hey, what ya know, no one asked me.

Hope you all have had a good Fourth of July weekend and will have a good week ahead.

[Garrett Duke]

Well this is going to be a messed up review due to my failure to write last week's review at Kentucky. I will start off with a small review from Kentucky and go onto today's race. I apologize for not writing it sooner.

For Kentucky...there isn't much to really report. Other than Brad Keselwoski started from the pole, led the most laps, and won the race. I think the most exciting part of the race is the fact that Keselowski cut his hand on the champagne bottle in victory lane as he tried opening it up. Had to rush to the infield care center to get four stitches that he got taken out this past Thursday.

And for the Daytona race that was suppose to be raced last night (y'all know how much I love night races, right?) but was postponed due to rain (I was not happy. LOL) but luckily since it was a night race, was able to watch it today. Or most of it at least. And today's rain shortened race can be summarized by two words...RAIN and WRECKS. We had three red flags thrown today. First one was due to rain, second one was due to the huge accident (as it was called by the announcer), and the third one due to rain, again.

David Gilliland started the race with his third career pole that was eventually taken over by Matt Kenseth before the rain came on the eleventh lap or so and the red flag flew. (I will admit I left to eat breakfast at this point so I missed when they resumed...)

They had competition yellow on lap twenty I think, but a lap or two before that they had a caution for the big one. And as to who started it, seems to be a sensitive area or one with a lot of opinions by what I've read on Facebook, what the announcers insinuated whose fault it was and to what I think what happened. (As I said in a Facebook group, that it looks to be who one's favorite driver is as to which driver started it...LOL) but in reality, it is Daytona. It is restrictor plate racing. They are going two hundred miles per hour and one little mistake can take out half the field. Or as one driver said, the driver may not do anything but the air around them pushes the car a foot or so without the driver even moving the steering wheel. Sadly that is just what happens in these type of races which is why I am not a fan of restrictor plate racing. But if you want my take on things, I think Marcos Ambrose came into line ahead of Stenhouse Jr. where there wasn't any room, Stenhouse Jr. tried to stop from getting into him and got loose, and Gordon tried to get out of the way and ended up in the accident anyway. (Though if you want the announcers' opinion, it was Gordon's fault...I guess Gordon should just stay around and get wrecked and not even try to get out of the way. And then if you want Tony Stewart's opinion, it was Stenhouse Jr trying to play hero early in the race.) It really don't matter who started it...it is what it is.

Hoss you will be happy with what Gordon just put down on Facebook (perhaps you should apologize to him? ) Gordon just put down on at Facebook "Wow what a crazy race at Daytona International Speedway! I'll take the blame and apologize to all involved for 1st wreck. Congrats Aric Almirola & 43 team!" I am highly biased and I still don't see it being his fault, but at least he will apologize for his part of the deal and is willing to keep the peace. He is a picture of class act in my book. All in all, it wasn't done on purpose by any driver. It is what it is and am glad everyone is ok.

Then the second wreck was even more scarier than the other one. . .and once again the blame isn't exactly clear, but it seems more clear than the first. It seems like Greg Biffle tired to line up with Kasey Kahne and spun him out and took twenty cars with him. Jamie McMurray's car went air born for awhile...and Kyle Busch went on his roof when a car ran into his parked car. That went into red flag...it is so good no one got hurt in any accident. So sad to see so many good race cars all torn up as they were. Kyle's was the worst.

They went back to racing for awhile before it started raining with 48 laps to go...and where they finally called it a race. Aric Almirola got his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win driving for Richard "The King" Petty in the iconic 43 car. Ironically his win comes on Richard Petty's thirtieth anniversary of his 200th career win.

Here is the official results at Daytona:

1. Aric Almirola

2. Brian Vickers

3. Kurt Busch

4. Casey Mears

5. Austin Dillon

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Michael McDowell

8. Danica Patrick

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Terry Labonte

12. Jeff Gordon

13. Alex Bowman

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Paul Menard

17. Joey Logano

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Michael Waltrip

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Michael Annett

22. David Regan

23. Josh Wise

24. Ryan Newman

25. Justin Allgaier

26. Bobby Labonte

27. Kasey Kahne

28. Kyle Busch

29. Greg Biffle

30. Jamie McMurray

31. Landon Cassill

32. Ryan Truex

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Cole Whitt

35. David Gilliland

36. Kyle Larson

37. Carl Edwards

38. Trevor Bayne

39. Kevin Harvick

40. Tony Stewart

41. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

42. Jimmie Johnson

43. AJ Allmendinger

Well...what a short and sad race for a lot of good drivers. But a quick and good race for a few drivers. It is good to see unfamiliar faces up front. People that don't win or have top fives all that often. Great for Aric to get his first win. He is a great guy and am happy for him.

Sad for me that most if not all of my fantasy drivers were caught up in one of the big ones if not the first one...I think I might as well as give up as I have no hope left of coming off with a good finish this year due to jinxing all my drivers. Ah well...it is too fun to give up. Just not fun to watch the wreck. LOL. (Which is why I REFUSE to pick Gordon anymore!) (Sorry Hoss...but yeah, I did have Stenhouse Jr on my team this week. So yeah, I was just as sad as you were to see him spin out. I almost went with Vickers but a the last minute I switched Stenhouse and Vickers. Look what happened???? Stenhouse wrecked, Vickers finished second. Dang it! LOL)

And if my fantasy team getting a huge hit this weekend wasn't bad enough, so did my actual favorite drivers. My entire list of my top five favorite drivers were involved in a wreck. Johnson and Edwards was taken out in the first wreck...Gordon and JR was involved in the first wreck as well. Kahne was taken out in the second wreck.

Definitely not a good race for me and am glad that it is now behind us...and we will be going onto New Hampshire next week. . .and sadly don't know if I will be able to watch it. I will be going to my Grandpa's house next week for a little family get together and won't be back til Sunday night. So maybe team Hendrick will rebound for the win without me next week. HA.

And do believe the announcers said that next weekend will be the last race on TNT...will have to look up on that one. If so, I won't be too sad nor will I miss all of their commercials. I think they have race breaks instead of commercial breaks... If I had my way, the races would stay on FOX with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hamond and Mike Meyers, and Larry MacReynolds. But hey, what ya know, no one asked me.

Hope you all have had a good Fourth of July weekend and will have a good week ahead.

BTW...was just wondering, why do I have a red explanation mark under my profile picture/name? Never noticed that before.

[LizzyJackson-Davenport]

BTW...was just wondering, why do I have a red explanation mark under my profile picture/name? Never noticed that before.

You must have clicked on the exclamation icon at the bottom by accident.

Also wanted to note this win is also four days after Richard Petty's 77th birthday.

[HossC]

I'm afraid that I found today's race a bit of an anticlimax, even though it was on at a better time for me. I was just getting excited about Ricky being in the top ten when he disappeared from the Live Leaderboard a couple of laps before the first crash. I'd just started to wonder where he'd gone when I saw cars spinning all over the place with Ricky in the middle. At first I thought Ricky's car wasn't too badly damaged, but sadly I was wrong.

It's a good job I'd already watched an entertaining British Grand Prix .

David Gilliland started the race with his third career pole that was eventually taken over by Matt Kenseth before the rain came on the eleventh lap or so and the red flag flew. (I will admit I left to eat breakfast at this point so I missed when they resumed...)

You could've gone for a 3-course meal and not missed much. TNT showed around 10 minutes of commercials which were briefly interupted by two 30-second updates about the race.

And do believe the announcers said that next weekend will be the last race on TNT...will have to look up on that one.

Next week is the last of this year's races on TNT (or Terrible NASCAR Television as I saw it called online ). Most of the remaining races are on ESPN.