The camera was following Dale Jr all over the place. It’s as though this is his final race, as opposed to his final Daytona race as a full-time Cup driver. Dude. Overkill. NBC has us chasing the coverage today. Oooh a band is doing the National Anthem. That’s always a relief from the American Idol wanna-bes murdering the song. Cool flyover too. Earlier Jr got the Squires treatment as I like to call it. Ken Squire did a piece on him. I imagine we’re going to see that piece a lot throughout the rest of the season if the recent retirement videos are any indication. I look forward to the end of NBC’s growing pains. I want them to become a good, if not great, broadcast. At this point they have a couple of good elements and a few good ideas, but by hiring the folks they have they’re killing their product with B grade ‘talent’. They need to up their game in that area. The camera work is typically lacking, the broadcast desk work is lacking, the pit reporting is lacking, the booth talent is learning on the job. NBC can afford to do better I’m sure. DALE JR leads the field to the green flag. Chase Elliott is on the outside pole. Kasey Kahne is starting in the top five. Jimmie starts in 12th. Go Hendrick Motorsports!
Radio says ryan sieg went up in smoke while tv is in a commercial break. Caution on lap 10 of 160.
Restarting on lap 13 of 160.
Lap 16 of 160 DJ Kennington (15) spins and is on fire.
Competition caution scheduled for lap 20 will take place on lap 17.
The stages are 40-40-80. Squinty-Douchey hit Ryan Blaney on pit road. Blaney missed his pit stall.
On lap 49 of 160 two cars went down pit road in an attempt to avoid a wreck. It was Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell going down pit road.
Flames shot up from some car when they broke for pit road.
Lap 51 of 160 Dale Jr rode the wall. Jr thought he had a right rear flat.
The 42 apparently had contact with the 88 of Dale Jr and came down pit road ahead of Jr.
Lap 58 of 160 Jeffrey Earnhardt (33) blowed up and brought out the caution.
I was thinking while being subjected to a helmet cam shot or whatever its called earlier that the drivers never know what happened during the race and have to see a replay, but for some reason the television folks think its a good idea to subject the viewing audience to long, long, long minutes of the driver’s very limited view of the race. Get a clue. Save that shot for specific, RELEVANT situations/occasions.
Kasey thought his back was bruised in the race in Sonoma but it turned out to be his kidney and he’s still a bit sore today.
Big wreck coming out of commercial. Truex, KyBu, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Logano.
Logano drove the car to pit road and then got, stepped over the pit wall and walked away.
Jamie Mc, Austin Dillon, Lil Dude, Paul Menard, KuBu, Larson, Truex, KyBu involved in this incident.
KuBu’s radio chatter sounds like he’s saying KyBu and Michael McDowell got together causing the tire rub that caused him to spin in front of the field setting off that big wreck.
Restarting on lap 76 of 160.
Kenseth wins stage 2.
We had video of Martin Truex Jr talking outside the infield care center and audio of Jeff Burton talking to Matt Kenseth. Come on guys. The Truex interview should’ve occurred before the Kenseth interview. And that is followed by Rutledge Wood standing beside a giant Wendys cup doing a spot – I imagine, he starts blathering I mute – instead of talking to points leader Martin Truex Jr. Pathetic.
Restarting on lap 85 of 160.
Brendan Gaughan brushed the wall. Caution is out on lap 90 of 160. Uncle Brenny seems to have lost a tire and heads into the pits.
Restarting on lap 94 of 160.
Caution on lap 97 as Chase Elliott goes around after a bump by Trevor Bayne.
Kasey is in on pit road because he said he felt contact on the left side. The crew wanted him to come down to see if he had right side damage.
Restarting on lap 101 of 160.
We don’t care how fast the ‘bat cam’ is going. We just want to see the race.
Now we’re lookinng out the back of a car instead of the actual race. We see the fronts of two cars somewhere in the field. No context is really possible looking out the back window of some car. Stop with the gimmick shots without reason.
Wreck on lap 106 of 160 brings out the caution. Harvick, Dale Jr, It, and Matti D involved. KHarv spun in front of the field. He said he blew a tire. Dale Jr was running in sixth after finally going two laps down during his earlier issue.
Restarting on lap 110 of 160.
Dale Jr is headed to the infield care center. They tried unsuccessfully to repair the car, but there was too much damage.
Sounds like most of the cars are short on fuel.
Caution on lap 116 of 160 for ‘It’ going into the wall from that tire that he reported was going down.
Restarting on lap 120 of 160.
Kasey Kahne spins bringing out the caution on lap 120 of 160. The restart was a mess because Kenseth led the field to the green flag surrounded by Corey LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Darrell Wallace Jr and Da Brat who were up front and the guys who had pitted were stuck behind them with the desperation crew behind them. David ‘Thrilla’ Ragan pushed Kasey causing that spin.
The 32 of Matt D brings out the caution on lap 128 of 160. Looks like his left front tire exploded since the driver’s side front quarter panel is gone.
Restarting on lap 132 of 160.
They keep saying look at his eyes. We see a dark cockpit with a helmeted driver. Look at his eyes. Can we see the race full screen instead of one driver’s hands and helmet?
We come out of commercial into helmet cam! STOP!!! Let us see the race! And it goes on and on and on and on. Why can’t we have some other way to watch the actual race instead of one driver’s point of view. Reminds me of the saying about sled dogs. If you’re not the lead dog the scenery never changes.
Caution is out on lap 153 of 160 as Kyle Larson was up in the air, but the car set back down pretty quickly. It didn’t really fly. KuBu is damaged from a hard hit to the outside SAFER barrier. We were stuck on a helmet shot . Bubba Wallace went spinning across the grass. Blaney hits the 42. Kenseth got hit by the 42 when he slid down the track. Matti D was involved in this one also. Lil Dude – Danica Patrick was also involved.
The race is red flagged.
Yellow flag is out on lap 154 of 160 after an eight and a half minute red flag period.
Wow Kutey Kyle actually took responsibility for a wreck. He said he was trying to leave room for the 38 who had gotten inside him and he squeezed Ricky and wrecked himself. He never takes responsibility for the messes he causes, so that’s impressive.
Restarting on lap 157 of 160.
Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin go spinning on lap 157 of 160 bringing out the caution.
Denny was trying to drive away from the spin but his car caught on fire and he dropped the net and got out of there.
Restarting in overtime.
Stinkhouse wins!!!! Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse on his second NASCAR Cup series win. Chase Elliot spun shortly after they crossed the commitment line.
Congrats to Clint Bowyer on a second place finish and congrats on not wrecking the field with the wild moves at the end.
Congrats to Michael McDowell on a fourth place finish.
Congrats to David Ragan on a sixth place finish.
Congrats to Brendan Gaughan on a seventh place finish.
Congrats to Chris Buescher on a tenth place finish.
Congrats to Corey LaJoie on a eleventh place finish.
Happy 80th birthday King!
Jimmie said he thought they were in a good position, but then he got smashed into the wall by the 95 of Michael McDowell.
NASCAR News:
- Still the King: Richard Petty reaches 80, still at the track.
- Stenhouse Jr. Wins at Daytona.
- Kasey Kahne hears speculation about future but focused on better results.
- Police investigate bomb threat phone call during Thursday NASCAR practice.
- Elliott ‘Content’ At Hendrick.
- NASCAR Legend Jeff Gordon To Drive Camaro ZL1 Pace Car at Brickyard 400.
- NASCAR driver Mike Wallace sues Live Nation for severe beating at Rascal Flatts concert.
- NBC looks to kick NASCAR ratings into higher gear.
- Nut Up Adds Additional Races For Dylan Lupton Through JGL Racing “Young Guns” Program.
- Poole Scores Pole at Daytona.
- Back-to-Back Wins for Byron.