Fords fast again in NSCS Happy Hour

Ford dominance at Daytona continued in Sprint Cup Series final practice for the Daytona 500. David Gilliland in the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 and Trevor Bayne led the session, followed by rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and new Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola in the No. 43. Fords have led almost every Cup practice session in Speedweeks, as the FR9 Roush-Yates Ford motors are able to stay cooler for longer than those of the other manufacturers. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, each driving a Roush Fenway Ford, start on the front row for the Daytona 500 and their teammate Matt Kenseth won one of the Gatorade Duel races on Thursday. Today, only 37 of the 43 drivers practiced, and about half of those only made brief runs to shake down their cars one final time for Sunday’s race.

Romney and Santorum vying for votes in NASCAR’s Super Bowl

Pole day means different things in the racing and political realms. While drivers jostle for the top spot in their pole day, politicians dish out buckets of money and time in hopes of scoring votes on their poll day. Those two worlds collide in Daytona in this weekend. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is set to appear at Sunday’s Daytona 500, much like George W. Bush did in 2004, when he was running for re-election. After hearing this news, Romney’s biggest rival, Rick Santorum, will have his colors on the No. 26 of Tony Raines and Front Row Motorsports. Unfortunately for Santorum, Raines is not expected to contend in the race, so Romney will likely get more exposure.

As mentioned here yesterday, American Majority is going all-in for the 2012 season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The No. 81 of Jason Bowles will sport red, white, and blue colors for the political organization that hopes to spark fan interest in the political process, getting them to vote in November and to become more politically active.

Robinson-Blakeney Racing is also cashing in on politics, as Americans for Israel, two Southern Baptist men simply concerned with keeping the American people in tune with Israel’s plight, sponsored the No. 49 Sprint Cup Series Toyota for the Daytona 500. Unfortunately, Yeley developed motor problems in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel and failed to make the race. Yeley says, however, the team plans to go ahead to Phoenix and hopefully the rest of the Cup schedule.

“We are obviously going to have to evaluate the engine program,” Yeley said after qualifying for the Nationwide Series race Friday. “This team started just a few weeks ago, so we had to jump in with both feet…we are definitely full steam ahead.”

Yeley says he, the team, and Americans for Israel have meetings and a conference in the next week or two and hopes the organization can sponsor the No. 49 car for more races or the whole season. He also says the No. 28 Jay Robinson Racing Nationwide Series team is likely going to run just a limited schedule, even though it is guaranteed a spot in the first three NNS races.

 (Hear Yeley's full interview: Listen and/or Download )

The Daytona 500 parade may have rain

After pleasant weather Friday and gusty, but sunny weather Saturday, the forecast for Sunday;s Daytona 500 is grim. With a green flag set for 1 p.m., most weather forecasts show a 60-70% chance of rain during the day and 50% at night. This could prove to be a logistical nightmare for NASCAR, the teams, fans, and many other elements that are cornerstones for the weekend. No modern era Daytona 500 has been run on a Monday. And if this week is to set a precedence, Monday’s daytime forecast also calls for a 50% rain chance.

Two of the past three Daytona 500s had major red flag periods. The ’09 500 got flagged multiple times for rain, before Matt Kenseth got declared the winner just 152 laps (380 miles) into the race. In 2010, pot holes opened in the old track surface (which was repaved after the July 2010 Daytona Cup race) and crews spent about two hours repairing the track during two very chilly red flag periods. The first Daytona 500 cut short by rain was the race Michael Waltrip won in 2003.

The most pivotal Daytona 500 in history, the 1979 race, which CBS was scheduled to air flag-to-flag for the first time in history, almost did not happen on time. Rains overnight and into the morning threatened to push back the start of that race. If the race had not started on time, CBS contractually would change to alternate programming and not pay the millions in fees to NASCAR. But NASCAR CEO Bill France Jr. had a plan – after scouring the contract, he noticed that it did not say the laps had to be run up to speed. So, he directed race officials to start the Daytona 500 under caution until conditions proved well enough to race. The race soon went green and ended with leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison wrecking on the last lap, then fighting in the infield for a national audience that was mostly snowed-in along the eastern seaboard. Richard Petty won the race and the buzz around NASCAR thrust it into the national spotlight.

Bayne still unsure of NNS plans

2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will compete again for the team he took the checkered flag with, the Wood Brothers’ No. 21, in a limited Cup schedule. But unlike last season, he has no firm plans to run the full Nationwide Series for Roush Fenway Racing.

“Right now [we are planning to run] just the first three races. We want to be leading the points and going from there and try to get some funding, because that is what we need the most.”

Bayne’s No. 16 NNS program ran on mostly funds from owner Jack Roush or Ford last season and is in a similar spot this year. Roush shuttered Bayne’s No. 16 team and moved him to the No. 60 that Carl Edwards will not run this season. 2011 Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 6 team were short on sponsorship last year and are in a similar place this season. On the Cup side, Roush Fenway officials scrambled to piece together a sponsorship program for Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 team and even had to be creative with Edwards’ No. 99 team that almost won the Sprint Cup championship. UPS also made major cuts to its program, vacating the No. 6 car and only buying a couple of races on the No. 99. After the Daytona 500, the No. 6 Ford is not expected to run a full schedule.  

(Hear Bayne's full interview: Listen and/or Download )

Gresham wrecks, Sieg and Cockrum survive Truck Series season-opener

Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was tough on most of the field. Half of the 36 trucks failed to finish the race, after a series of crashes in the closing laps wreaked havoc on the field. Griffin’s Max Gresham, a rookie, steadily moved from his 29^th starting spot to a solid place in the top 10. A late crash not of his own doing forced him to retire nine laps before the finish.

The RSS Racing team of Ryan Sieg and Chris Cockrum walked away from the race with damaged trucks, but decent finishes. Sieg’s No. 39 got hit in each of the final two crashes, but never pitted and held the wheel for a 15^th place finish. Cockrum and the No. 93 seemed doomed from the start of the race, losing the draft and getting lapped twice, but receiving a free pass both times and ending up on the lead lap for the green-white-checkered flag finishes.

He told News/Talk WSB after the race that his truck, which was really built for 1.5-mile tracks, could not keep up with the draft unless someone was pushing him. Cockrum also received damaged on the left front of his truck, when pieces from Miguel Paludo’s wrecked truck slammed into the front of Cockrum’s. The crew, led by late model driver Mike Garvey, made repairs and Cockrum soldiered to his best finish in two NCWTS races.

The rookie stripes on the back of his No. 93, Cockrum says, made drivers reluctant to draft with him. 

Doug is covering Speedweeks events at Daytona Friday through Monday. Turn here for the latest coverage and hear live reports on AM-750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB. Follow Doug on Twitter (@DougTurnbull) and get more NASCAR updates from Captain Herb (@CaptainHerbWSB) and Jason Durden (@JasonDurden). Get the full race weekend run down with Captain Herb’s FastCar Newsdesk every week on CaptainHerb.net.