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Well that was interesting. The Budweiser Duels at Daytona were pretty eventful on Thursday afternoon. A 30-40 degree flip in the temperature from qualifying day on Sunday surely added to the excitement.
The warmer temperatures created a slick racetrack and drivers were lose during Wednesday’s practice as well as the Budweiser Duels on Thursday. The first race of the day saw a mix of side-by-side racing with roughly half of the race having a single file line throughout the field. For those who’ve been fans before the Car of Tomorrow days, the older version NASCAR‘s, the Fourth Generation stock cars, this is how racing used to be and exactly what fans wanted.
Drivers found it hard to pass on the bottom for the majority of each Budweiser Duel 150 event as they felt that the high side carried more momentum down the Daytona International Speedway Super Stretch. There were a few cars to lose the draft during the second Budweiser duel, but they still raced their way into the Daytona 500. The lone drivers to miss the Daytona 500 were Brian Keselowski who was experiencing mechanical issues throughout the week and Mike Bliss who lost a lap because he had to pit because his window net fell off the hook and was forced to pit by NASCAR.
The second race wasn’t as eventful as the first one. Denny Hamlin broke loose coming off of Turn Two and collected Carl Edwards who was hit by Trevor Bayne. Regan Smith was also involved in the incident as each of those drivers made the race based on 2012 owner points. The incident showed that the cars aren’t as stable as the drivers and crews would like. It may have to do with the amped up speeds with the addition of the cars not teaming up together such as they were for the past few years.
Bayne also had an incident of himself as he flat spotted a tire entering pit road during green flag pit stops. Though it was simply poor judgement on his part, it was worrisome enough as it showed how important track position is with the revamped style of racing. Ryan Newman also had problems during the second Budweiser Duel. Newman was entering pit road where he checked up behind Jamie McMurray and spun out, tapping the wall on the front stretch, causing him to limp around the 2.5 mile speedway with a flat tire.
The Budweiser Duels prepared teams for the Daytona 500 in plenty of ways. Drivers and crews now understand how their cars will handle within the packs which could be separated rather quickly depending on how the track’s conditions are. The Daytona 500 could either be spread out into a single file line such as previous events, or it could be side-by-side for the majority of the event which is what NASCAR was looking for in the new body style.
Joseph Wolkin can be followed on Twitter at @JosephNASCAR.
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