Xfinity race day two. The race began last evening and got through eleven laps before the heavens opened up. So here we are midday Saturday with mostly blue skies, some clouds in the distance and a few fluffy white ones overhead. Actually looking at the clouds in the distance it looks more like rain and clouds in the distance, so who knows what will happen with the end of this race, not to mention tonight’s scheduled Cup race. Summer in Florida – rain can be expected. Of course it has been an unusually rainy, and cool summer here in northwest Georgia. I’m not sure if the same can be said for Florida, but I have a feeling it has been experiencing similar unusual conditions. Blake Koch did a pre-race interview holding his son. Who knew Blake had a son? I find it amusing that the old Cup drivers were party boys in their 20s and early 30s and the current crop in that age group is walking around with wives and kids. Maybe its an example of the generation gap, but that seems an awful waste of youth to me. Better to gain experience and its accompanying wisdom before attempting to usher your progeny into adulthood rather than attempt to grow up while raising them. I’m seeing a whole lot more of that these days. I rather believe my and my parents generation learned that lesson and we lived that lesson. Somehow the lesson didn’t propagate properly. Drivers are in their cars. I just saw a radar on the television broadcast.
Don’t know what was said, but I see plenty of clouds. I’ll try to find it on the radio shortly. I’ve not psyched myself up to listen to the NBC booth yet. The crowd seems very sparse. And the parade laps are underway. The clouds are getting much heavier and seemingly closer. Cue the Jaws shark music.
Several cars have made pit stops. Alex said there were rain showers just a little while ago and they’ve been dried now. He also said the beach is sunny now and they ‘hope’ to get his full race in.
Lights are out on the pace car. Looks like we’ll be restarting on lap 13 of 100. The stages are 30-30-40.
Blake Koch and Ben Kennedy are up front which is nice – nice to see talented Xfinity drivers doing well.
Wow the dark skies seem to be spreading.
Blake Koch leads the laps 17 to stage end at lap 30. Congrats to Blakey on his first stage win.
The crowd doesn’t look as sparse now. Maybe everybody was at the concession stand or something earlier, maybe taking a break from the heat.
Restarting on lap 35 of 100. Those guys who
Caution on lap 36 of 100 for rain. I noticed as they restarted the skies were very dark over turn one. Now I see a drop of rain on the camera. The pace car is bringing the cars down pit road. The skies are dark and there’s a big cloud overhead. The cars are all stopped on pit road on lap 37.
The race has been red flagged with Brennan Poole in the lead.
The stands have been cleared at 12:49 EDT.
MRN is going to throw the broadcast back to local stations, so it sounds like this rain delay is going to last a while.
Ty and Hailey Dillon are going to become parents in November.
MRN has turned it over to the local stations and will update at 13:30 EDT.
MRN is back on-air for the update. The sky is getting lighter. MRN will update again at 14:00 EDT.
And they will update again at 14:30.
At 14:14 EDT the wind – or the jet dryers and titans – is/are blowing the car covers off the cars.
MRN say, at 14:30 conditions have improved and there’s a light rain shower in turn one and fans are filing back into the stands. They will be back for another update at 15:00 EDT.
Crew members are standing around and sitting on the pit wall on TV now.
Drivers got in their cars and then it started raining in turn one again, so the drivers are doing interviews. Car covers are back on, but the driver are still standing nearby. TV is talking to teammates Garrett Smithley, Ross Chastain and Harrison Rhodes right now. Good! Talk to the guys who don’t usually get much TV time.
The drivers have been called back to the cars. They’re talking like the race will end at the end of stage two.
The TV broadcast is planning to begin their pre-show at 1700 EDT – which is less than two hours away.
They will have 13 laps to stage two end when they restart, so it will be interesting to see how long they let them go. They Cup race is scheduled for 7pm. Looking behind the goons on TV I still see dark clouds, but looking over pit road I see blue skies.
The cars have refired at 15:20 EDT.
Pace laps are underway and we are back under caution after a couple of hours.
Seems as though the Xfinity series consistently has 40 cars in the field. Each week in Cup it seems the field is getting shorter and shorter. If I remember correctly last week there were only 38 in the field.
The 24 car has gone into the pits during the pace laps.
Yep, dark skies behind turn one.
Radio guy says 91% humidity in Daytona Beach right now. Looking in the distance I’m still seeing clouds. More cars hit pit road as the pace laps continue.
Restarting on lap 41 of 100 (according to TV,) 40 according to radio and nascar.com.
Ryan Reed has to go to the back of the field since his crew took bolts out of the window area during the red flag.
Radio changed the restart lap to lap 41 by the green flag.
Sometimes its really funny to listen to the race while watching it. Right now I’m wondering if Dave Moody is watching the same race, because he’s seeing things to shout about and I’m watching a couple lines of cars drive around in circles.
Ugh, that disgusting Sonic pretzel bun hot dog commercial. Those buns are so ugly to me. Unfortunately they are split-screening right now so I saw it. I usually turn away from the television when that commercial begins to avoid the tummy upsetting sight of those ugly buns.
Caution is out on lap 49 for an incident toward the back end of the middle of the field with multiple cars.
Josh Williams, Cole Custer, Blake Koch, Brandon Brown, Erik ‘Da Brat’ Jones, and Daniel Suarez were involved in that incident. Daniel and Josh hit the inside wall. Cole Custer got out of shape to start it all. He kept going forward, then the others tried to checkout and ended up running into the inside wall. Daniel Suarez is in a golf cart heading to the infield care center. Erik Jones is claiming that Cole Custer just got loose, though there’s video showing Da Brat getting into the back of Cole Custer causing him to get loose. Suarez looked ready to beat someone while sitting on the golf cart.
Pit road is open on lap 54 of 100.
Elliott Sadler will lead the field to green after staying out on this caution.
Restarting on lap 56 of 100
Elliott Sadler wins stage 2.
Restarting on lap 66 of 100.
Long shots on split-screen are useless. The box is so small you can’t see anything and why is the race box so small?
We also spend entirely too much time on in-car cameras these days. It’s a very limited view without context and gets old really fast. It’s not nearly as interesting as a static shot of the field – which can also get boring though not nearly as quickly.
Squinty-Douchey is pushing Ty Dillon in the outside lane.
Sun is shining here, but I just heard thunder. Summer in the southeastern United States.
And there goes a wreck on lap 85 as the 51 spins. Jeremy Clements finally comes to a stop pointed the wrong direction on the grass by pit road. there was an issue ahead of Jeremy Clements, field checked up which put the squeeze on the amount of available real estate and Jeremy got squeezed out. The 25 car has quite a bit of damage on the front of it.
Lights are out on the pace car with 11 laps to go.
Restarting on lap 90 of 100.
Caution on lap 94 of 100 as Brennan Poole slides across Ty Dillon’s (3) front bumper after getting loose. William Byron (9) tapped Brennan Poole (48) sending him around.
Squinty-Douchey has made it to the front of the field. Restarting on lap 96 of 100.
S-D got loose and went blow the yellow lines to the back of the field.
Hard wreck with two laps to go as Allgaier and Brandon Jones hit the wall collecting the 40, the 2, the 00 Cole Custer, the 21 of Daniel Hemric, 98 of Casey Mears, 16 of Reckless Ryan Reed, Ben Kennedy, Timmy Hill, Matt Tifft, Michael Annett, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Sieg, Chris Cockrum. They’ve red flagged the field.
Mr. Hendrick is down on pit road. William Byron is currently listed as the leader.
Michael Annett said a yellow car got in his right rear quarter and its a shame.
16 drivers involved in this incident.
Back under caution in overtime.
Ryan Sieg was checked and released from the infield care center. He said the 16 came across his front. Casey Mears has been checked and released.
TV is interviewing Mr. Hendrick.
Still cloudy in the distance. Makes me wonder if more weather will wander in.
Restarting on lap 103.
William leads the field to the green. The 20 car doesn’t get going.
Big wreck brings out the caution. Garrett Smithley, Ty Dillon, Mike Harmon, Mark Thompson, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick all involved in that incident.
They crossed the overtime line so William Byron wins. 19-year-old William Byron becomes the youngest Xfinity series race at Daytona ever.
William is doing doughnuts in the infield before coming onto the track to burnout a while.
Congrats to Elliott Sadler with his second place finish, as well as Dakoda Armstrong with a third place finish.
William Byron’s car is rolling backward as he’s climbing out and standing on the window sill.
Jeb Burton in one of his few Xfinity series starts this season finishes fourth and Mike Starr finishes fifth!
Max Papis talked to William in the car after Mr. Hendrick in Victory Lane. Max is said to train William.
Da Brat ran out of gas according to Jeb Burton who was hoping to push him to the front and maybe have a chance to win the race. He said it’s been “a rough career” of his, but he’s going to keep on trying.
Elliott Sadler is over congratulating William now.
Interesting top fifteen:
- William Byron
- Elliott Sadler
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Jeb Burton
- David Starr
- Brennan Poole
- Joey Logano
- Elliott Sadler
- Joey Gase
- Brendan Gaughan
- B.J. McLeod
- Ray Black Jr.
- J.J. Yeley
- Scott Lagasse Jr.
- Jeremy Clements
MRN will be back on the air in 75 minutes for the Cup race.
NASCAR News:
- Special Weekend for Petty.
- Earnhardt Jr. Wins Daytona Pole.
- Earnhardt Jr. Embracing the Moments.
- Earnhardt Jr. Looks to Add to Daytona Legacy.
- Big Machine to Sponsor Brickyard 400.
- Brandel Named Squier-Hall Award Recipient.
- Earnhardt Jr. Looks to Add to Daytona Legacy.
- NASCAR Penalizes No. 18 Team.
- Elliott Signs Contract Extension.
- Pardue Named Crew Chief of No. 33.
- Loose Lug Nuts Found On No. 18.
- Harvick Conquers Sonoma.
- NASCAR, Daytona Salute U.S. Military.
- XFINITY Daytona Race Postponed.