NASCAR Round Up – Daytona Edition
Jaz Harvey digests the latest news from this weekend’s Daytona Nationwide and Truck series races.
Disappointment for Danica
Somewhat predictably, Danica Patrick’s Nationwide stock-car debut at Daytona, ended up in the wall. It’s not that Danica is a bad driver – far from it – but it always seems to be the case that an over-hyped debut inevitably ends in disappointment.
Danica started well, qualifying in 15th spot and running with the leaders early on in the race. However, as the race went on, she found it increasingly more difficult to stay on the leaders pace – dropping 40 seconds behind. Patrick did eventually go a lap down after her first visit to pit road, but on lap 52 she was able to claim her lap back thanks to a caution flag which gifted Danica with a free pass.
From the restart, Danica was running in 29th spot, and making a push for the top-20. Then, on lap 68. At least ten cars were involved in the wreck, with Patrick hitting first another car and then the outside wall.
Danica was able to limp her car back to pit lane, where her JR Motorsports crew took the decision to retire the car from the race as it was so badly damaged.
Tony Stewart went on to win the Nationwide Daytona opener.
Danica will no doubt be upset not to finish her first stock-car race. There were many positives from the weekend that she can take away as she rebuilds herself from a stock-car racer. Qualifying in 15th spot shows that she does have the potential to run at the front. Danica struggled this weekend after she’d been on the track for a long while – dropping a lap behind the leaders. This is where Danica will need to improve her game – running at the front consistently for an entire race distance.
Above anything else, not being able to finish her Daytona debut will cause the most frustration – not because she could of won the race – but because she vitally needs time behind the wheel right now. Finishing as many races as possible is what Danica needs.
Piquet picks up Sixth
In a reverse of fortune from Danica’s opening race, fellow rookie Nelson Piquet Jnr, brought his Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra truck home in an impressive sixth position.
Piquet Jnr, making his debut in the Camping World Truck Series, raced well from 22nd spot on the grid. It would seem that the young Brazilian and his crew went for a race set-up rather than a qualifying set-up, as he didn’t spend too long in the 20’s – doing extremley well to avoid the first incident of the day, which happened right in front of him on the first lap.
Piquet Jnr: 6th in Daytona Trucks Debut
It didn’t take Piquet Jnr long to make his charge through the field. By only lap 25 he was already up to 12th spot and drafting well with the big boys in the middle of the field. Avoiding another midfield incident, Piquet Jnr quickly moved up to 7th spot where he remained until the first round of pit stops. As all of the trucks came into pit road for the first time, Piquet Jnr found himself in a race-high of 2nd spot.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the rookie, though. On lap 83 Piquet attempted an over ambitious bump-drafting move with another former F1 racer, Max Papis, who ended up hitting the wall. Piquet Jnr would later apologised for the incident over his radio. But this is why he’s in the Truck Series, and not jumped straight into the Sprint Cup. He’s going to make mistakes, and this is the place to make them.
On the final lap of the race, Piquet Jnr worked the outside line successfully, and would finally crossed the finish line in an extremely impressive 6th place in his debut race.
The next Truck Series race is in Atlanta on March 6. Piquet Jnr has yet to secure a deal to complete the whole season in the #1 truck, but the early signs are looking positive that Red Horse will keep him on for the remainder of the season.
