REPORT 1 - daytona 500 - daytona
Sprint Cup Race #1 of 36
Race
to the Chase - Race #1 of 26Daytona International Speedway
Sunday - February 14th, 2010 - 1:30pm Fox (Eastern)
Daytona 500 Qualifying Procedure Rundown
Daytona 500 - Schedule of Events
RACE TIDBITS
DAYTONA
51 races, 4 rain outs:
four Daytona 500's out of the 51 run have been shortened by rain:
1965 won by Fred Lorenzen, ran 129 laps for 322.5 miles
1966 won by Richard Petty, ran 198 laps for 495 miles
2003 won by Michael Waltrip, ran 109 laps for 272.5 miles
2009 won by Matt Kenseth, ran 152 laps for 380 miles.(2-16-2009)
Daytona 500 and Championship
in same year: only eight times by five drivers has the Daytona 500 and the
Sprint Cup Championship been won in the same season:
1959: Lee Petty
1964, 1971, 1974, 1979: Richard Petty
1977: Cale Yarborough
1997: Jeff Gordon
2006: Jimmie Johnson
First Career Sprint Cup win
in the Daytona 500: Six drivers have gotten their first career Sprint Cup
win in the Daytona 500:
Tiny Lund, 1963 [5 total wins]
Mario Andretti, 1967 [1]
Pete Hamilton, 1970 [4]
Derrike Cope, 1990 [2]
Sterling Marlin, 1994 [10], won the Daytona 500 twice, also in 1995
Michael Waltrip, 2001 [4], won the Daytona 500 twice, also in 2003
Four Current Race Tracks
the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series runs on that #5-Mark Martin has not won a Sprint
Cup race at:
Daytona: 0 for 48 with a best finish of 2nd in 2/2007
Pocono: 0 for 45 with six finishes of 2nd, last in 8/2004
Indianapolis: 0 for 16 with a best finish of 2nd in 8/1998 and 7/2009
Homestead: 0 for 10 with a best finish of 2nd in 11/2005
(plus Martin ran five races at Nashville and four races at Riverside and didn't
win)(11-22-2009)
NOTE: Active = drivers who will run this race
Most Wins - All-time: 10 - Richard Petty
Most Wins - Active: 6 - Jeff Gordon
Most Wins - 2nd race: 5 - David Pearson
Most Poles - All-time: 13 - Cale Yarborough
Most Poles - Active: 3 - Jeff Gordon
Most Top 5s: 28 - Richard Petty
Most Top 5s Active: 11 - Jeff Gordon
Most Top 10s: 37 - Richard Petty
Most Top 10s Active: 17 - Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin
Oldest Winner: Bobby Allison, 50 years, 2 months, 11 days, 2/14/1988
Youngest Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23 years, 10 months, 27 days, 7/1/1995
Most Lead Changes: 60 - 2/17/1974
Fewest Lead Changes: 1 - twice, most recently 2/2/1963
Most Leaders: 18 - 2/19/2006
Fewest Leaders: 1 - twice, most recently 2/2/1963
Most Cautions: 12, 7/1/1989
Fewest Cautions: 0 - 12 times, most recently, 2/11/1971
Most Caution Laps: 60, 2/25/1968
Fewest Caution Laps: 0 - 12 times, most recently, 2/11/1971
Most Finishers on a lead lap: 33, 2/16/2003
Fewest Finishers on a lead lap: 1 - eight times, most recently 2/15/1976
Most Running at the Finish: 41, 7/7/2007
Fewest Running at the Finish: 7 - 2/12/1965
Most Laps Led [400 miles]: 151, Tony Stewart, 7/2/2005
Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 184, Richard Petty, 2/23/1964
Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 1, Jimmy Spencer, 7/2/1994
Most Wins by Manufacturer:
37 - Chevy
Races won from starting pos 1: 23 [of 124 races]
Races won from starting pos 2: 19
Races won from starting pos 3: 11
Races won from starting pos 4: 11
Races won from starting pos 5: 3
Races won from starting pos 6: 7
Races won from starting pos 7: 7
Races won from starting pos 8: 6
Races won from starting pos 9: 10
Races won from starting pos 10: 1
Races won from starting pos 11: 2
Races won from starting pos 12: 4
Races won from starting pos 13: 3
Races won from starting pos 14: 1
Races won from starting pos 15: 5
Races won from starting pos 19: 4
Races won from starting pos 21: 1
Races won from starting pos 30: 1
Races won from starting pos 32: 1
Races won from starting pos 33: 1
Races won from starting pos 34: 1 [Daytona 500]
Races won from starting pos 38: 1 [July Race]
Races won from starting pos 39: 1 [Daytona 500]
Races won from the top 5: 67 of 124 [54.0%]
Races won from the top 10: 98 of 124 [79.0%]
Races won from the top 15: 113 of 124 [91.1%]
Daytona 500 Tidbits
The 2010 edition will be the 52nd running of the Daytona 500.
Although the first Daytona 500 was held in 1959, it has been the season-opener only since 1982.
510 drivers have competed in at least one Daytona 500; 300 in more than one.
33 drivers have won a Daytona 500.
Eight drivers have won more than one Daytona 500, led by Richard Petty with seven victories.
Fred Lorenzen posted a top-10 finish in eight of his nine Daytona 500s, the best percentage of drivers who have competed in more than two Daytona 500s.
Dale Earnhardt finished in the top 10 in 16 of his 23 Daytona 500s.
Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty each had 16 top 10s in the Daytona 500, more than any other driver.
Dale Earnhardt had 12 top fives in the Daytona 500, more than any other driver.
Only 13 drivers have an average finish of 10th or better in the Daytona 500, six of those competed in the Daytona 500 only once.
Kevin Harvick has a 12.9 average finish in eight appearances, the best of the active drivers who have competed in more than one Daytona 500.
Other than Lee Petty, who won the inaugural Daytona 500, no driver has ever won in his first appearance.
27 of the 33 drivers who have won, participated in at least two Daytona 500s before visiting Victory Lane.
Dale Earnhardt competed 19 times before winning his only Daytona 500 (1998), the longest span of any of the 33 race winners.
Six drivers made 10 or more attempts before their first Daytona 500 victory: Dale Earnhardt (19), Buddy Baker (18), Darrell Waltrip (16), Bobby Allison (14), Michael Waltrip (14) and Sterling Marlin 12). Last year’s winner, Matt Kenseth, won it in his 10th try.
The most Daytona 500s all-time without a victory was Dave Marcis (33 races).
Mark Martin (25) leads active drivers without a victory. He will start on the pole for this year’s race.
Six drivers posted their career-first victory with a win in the Daytona 500: Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994) and Michael Waltrip (2001).
Three other drivers posted their career-first victory in (point-paying) qualifying races: Johnny Rutherford (1963), Bobby Isaac (1964) and Earl Balmer (1966).
Only eight drivers have won the Daytona 500 more than once: Richard Petty (seven), Cale Yarborough (four), Bobby Allison (three), Dale Jarrett (three), Jeff Gordon (three), Bill Elliott (two), Sterling Marlin (two) and Michael Waltrip (two).
A driver has won back-to-back Daytona 500s three times. Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling Marlin (1994-95)
Kevin Harvick’s 0.020-second margin of victory over Mark Martin in the 2007 Daytona 500 is the ninth-closest overall since the advent of electronic timing in 1993, and the closest in a Daytona 500.
26 of the 51 Daytona 500s have been won from a top-five starting position.
Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 from the 39th starting position last year, the deepest a race winner has started.
Nine have been won from the pole. The last to do so was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
15 Daytona 500s have been won from the front row.
At Daytona International Speedway
History
Groundbreaking for Daytona International Speedway was Nov. 25, 1957. The soil underneath the banked corners was dug from the infield of the track and the hole filled with water. It is now known as Lake Lloyd.
The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona was a 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20, 1959.
Richard Petty won his 200th career race on July 4, 1984 at Daytona.
Lights were installed in the spring of 1998. However, the race was delayed until October that year due to thick smoke from wildfires. The second Daytona race has been held under lights ever since.
Notebook
There have been 125 NASCAR Sprint Cup races since the track hosted its first race in 1959: 51 have been 500 miles, 47 were 400 miles and four 250 miles. There were also 23 qualifier races that were point races.
Fireball Roberts won the inaugural pole at Daytona.
Bob Welborn won the first race at Daytona, the 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959.
Fireball Roberts won the first 400-mile race at Daytona, the 1963 Firecracker 400.
52 drivers have posted poles at Daytona; 19 have more than one.
Cale Yarborough leads all drivers with 12 poles at Daytona.
Bill Elliott leads all active drivers with five poles at Daytona.
52 drivers have won at Daytona; 24 have won more than once.
Richard Petty leads all drivers in victories at Daytona with 10.
Jeff Gordon has six victories at Daytona, more than any other active driver.
The Wood Brothers have won 14 races at Daytona, more than any other car owner.
16 full-length races at Daytona have been won from the pole, including last July’s Coke Zero 400, won by polesitter Tony Stewart.
A driver has swept both races at Daytona only four times, most recently by Bobby Allison in 1982.
Daytona International Speedway Data
Race #: 1 of 36 (2-14-10)
Track Size: 2.5 miles
Race Length: 500 miles (200 laps)
Banking/Corners: 31 degrees
Banking/Straights: 3 degrees
Banking/Tri-Oval: 18 degrees
Driver Rating at Daytona
Tony Stewart 108.2
Kyle Busch 101.0
Matt Kenseth 96.1
Jimmie Johnson 94.3
Kurt Busch 92.5
Jeff Gordon 91.9
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 87.3
Ryan Newman 85.9
Clint Bowyer 84.6
Jeff Burton 83.5
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Daytona.
Qualifying/Race Data
2009 pole winner: Martin Truex Jr. (188.001 mph, 47.872 seconds)
2009 race winner: Matt Kenseth (132.816 mph, 2-17-08)
Qualifying record: Bill Elliott (210.364 mph, 42.783 secs., 2-9-87)
Race record: Buddy Baker (177.602 mph, 2-17-80)
Estimated Pit Window: 36-38 laps depending on fuel mileage
One of the worst handling problems we see at Daytona is going into a run off Turn 2 onto the back stretch. The car wants to push there, and the tires don't want to grip. You have to work the steering wheel, turning it more and more, and eventually have to start rolling out of the throttle, or you will go up and hit the outside wall. One of the things teams really work on is getting the car to turn and making it where the driver can stay in the throttle coming out of Turn 2.
Teams race special cars at Daytona and Talladega to get as much down force as possible. You want to keep the drag down so the car slips through the air as smoothly as possible, but there are no free lunches with aerodynamics. If you work too hard reducing the drag, you may adversely affect your down force or vice versa. Taping the front end is among the few things you can do to improve drag and down force.
The July race here is different than the 500 in February or the Talladega races because the racetrack gets very slick. Although the race is run at night, the heat that bakes the track every day is an issue. It basically comes down to who has the best-driving car throughout the race.
The engine combination is a little different because of the restrictor plates. Teams will do different things with rocker arm ratios, cam duration and rod length to maximize their power. Unrestricted, the engines make about 800 horsepower. The restrictor plate will take away about 350 to 400 horsepower. The challenge is to get the most power you can from the engine and understand that there might be long green runs, so you have to consider maximizing fuel mileage. Some teams have a sub-department in the engine program that works all year on restrictor plate motors.
Finding the right drafting partners is so important. You want everyone to pit together so you can head back out on the track with the same guys, and it creates crowded pit road conditions and lots of action. If you end up on pit road and back out on the track by yourself, cars in the draft will blow by you.
One of the most strenuous jobs on race day is that of the spotter. There are no breaks for those guys. This is a big and fast track with a very busy pit road, so the spotter has to be on his toes all the time.
The action on the beginning of the back stretch is awesome. Those cars rocket off Turn 2, and we've seen so many miscues turn into to major melees. The cars get four- and five-wide going into Turn 3, and at most you can make it through the turn three-wide. Something has to give, and many times one car clips another car, and we have a crash.
Another place we see a lot of action is off Turn 4 going into the front stretch. You can go four-wide going into the short chute off Turn 4, but you have to narrow it to two- or three-wide getting into the tri-oval. A car might pick up a little push coming off Turn 4 and carry you up into the wall or into another car.
You have to be careful on pit road because it is crowded during the big group stops. You'll see cars turn into other cars, cut them off or block them in their stalls. If you knock a fender off or do the slightest cosmetic damage, it can be deadly for your aerodynamics at these speeds. l It appears the outside line moves the fastest. Cars get together and hook up in that second groove. But you can pass just about anywhere on this racetrack.