Daytona Beach Fl
The NASCAR racing season officially got rolling Saturday. The smell of gasoline and burning rubber was added to the salty smell of the Daytona Beach area. The ARCA race was run Saturday afternoon. As usual it was a wreck filled show with both veteran and newcomers spinning wildly on the two and a half mile track. The race boiled down to two eighteen year olds driving Joe Gibbs Racing prepared cars prepared in Charlotte, North Carolina.
James Buescher held off the sensational Joey Logano for the win.

 The race took longer than was expected, causing Logano to miss the drivers meeting for the Bud shootout, which was run later Saturday evening. This is Logano’s first full year driving in the top NASCAR series. That’s amazing, to think about. Eighteen years old and already a veteran of many years of racing, he’s taking over the driving duties of two time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. Stewart is a native of Indiana and a past open wheel champion as well as a NASCAR winner.

Twenty eight cars took the field in the shootout, which turned out to be almost as wreck filled as the ARCA race. And these drivers are the elite of stock car drivers. They aren’t a bunch of eighteen year olds full of testosterone. Kevin Harvick, a California native won the race with a last lap move reminiscent of his win in the 2007 Daytona 500 in which he slid by Mark Martin on the last lap to take the victory.

Tony Stewart finished a very respectable third. This was his first race as the owner driver of a team that he started just recently. Stewart showed he has the power, handling, and smarts to win at Daytona.

It was a full weekend of racing at Daytona with qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon. There are more cars trying to qualify for the Daytona 500 than any other race. To start this race pays two hundred fifty thousand dollars, a handsome amount for some of the cash strapped teams.

Sunday qualifying only sets the top two spots for next Sundays’ Daytona 500. The pole award was taken by New Jersey native Martin Truex Jr. followed closely by longtime Arkansas driver Mark Martin.

Thursday, the other drivers have their opportunity to qualify. This is determined by the finishing position in the dual races. Third through thirty nine will be set, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. There are thirty five drivers from last year that are locked into the race by virtue of their standing at the end of the year. Thursdays’ races are guaranteed to be a fun spectacle.

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