DAYTONA BEACH -- Let's be perfectly clear here: Toyota still has not won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.Sure, Denny Hamlin's win in the 2nd of the two Gatorade Duels on Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway announced to everybody that the Toyota-Joe Gibbs Racing marriage would be a strong and prosperous one. But winning a 60-lap "sprint" at Daytona and winning an actual 400- or 500-mile race on a downforce track in the middle of, say, August are entirely different animals.
The Gatorade Duel is a qualifier -- nothing more than a common heat race dressed up in lipstick and high heels. Find me one short-track racer who runs around the grandstands championing himself as a big heat race winner. Go on -- find me one...
Suggesting that Hamlin earned the car maker its first Cup Series win earlier today is nothing but poorly disguised public relations gobble-dee-guk. Toyota will get its first win, sooner rather than later, and it will be celebrated. But let's save the real rejoicing for later this weekend, OK?
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If you think it's easy driving a 3,400-pound stock car around Daytona, it's because you haven't tried.
When a former Formula 1 world driving champion like Jacques Villeneuve spins out in the middle of a turn while driving by himself, setting off a 4-car crash that wipes out 2 of the 3 open-wheelers in that particular Duel, it says quite a bit. Unfortunately, the crash ended Villeneuve's hopes of getting into the Daytona 500 in a Bill Davis Racing entry prepared by crew chief and Maine native Slugger Labbe.
"The car was just a little too loose, and I got sideways quite a few times," Villeneuve said. "I knew one of those times it was going to catch me up.
"These cars aren't bad when you have the perfect set-up in the car, but when you start sliding they're a handful, mostly in traffic."
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HOT LAPS: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the first Duel, giving him a Bud Shootout win and a Duel win already this week. No driver has won the Shootout, a Duel and the Daytona 500 in the same year. ... In the Busch Series -- whoops, there's another dollar in the kitty -- I mean, the Nationwide Series, Kevin Lepage was 29th fastest in final practice for the Camping World 300. But Lepage was 6th out of the 21 drivers required to qualify based on their times. ... Notables who were notable only in that they did not make the show: Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader, Boris Said, Patrick Carpentier and 2-time Daytona 500 champ Sterling Marlin.
3 comments:
I agree... Toyota has not yet won a POINTS race in cup, so we should hold off our celebrations.
But, by that same token, I think we should not yet hand Dale Earnhardt Jr the Cup Championship. He also has not yet won a POINTS race for Hendrick. If you are saying that the Duels don't count for Toyota, then neither should the Shootout (in fact, the Duels are longer than the Shootout are they not? and with more drivers).
I also think before we etch his name onto the trophy, we need to wait to see how Junior and his team performs at 1.5-2 mile tracks like California and Atlanta or at flat tracks like Pocono or Indy. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that Junior has been good at Daytona; he is always good at restrictor plate races, as is Hendrick.
I'm not saying that Junior doesn't deserve Kudos for his accomplishments during Speedweeks, just that fair is fair. If you are going to fawn over Junior than you should also give Denny and Toyota their due.
I don't remember ever saying that Junior was going to win the Cup or even that he was one of the serious contenders for the crown.
And, not that it matters to me, but the Shootout (70 laps) is longer than the Duel (60).
On the record, I don't even think Junior's the favorite to win on Sunday.
TB
if i was a betting man i would put my money on JR for the 500
bingo
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