and the season begins...

Monday, February 20th

The Drama Of Daytona

Tony The Tiger: There's no need in getting used to the "New Tony". According to his behavior Sunday, the "Old Tony" is back. On track disputes with Matt Kenseth & Jeff Gordon to name a few. He was penalized several times through out the race sunday, one for rough driver after an incident that sent Kenseth flying through the grass and back up the track. Kenseth was later penalized for passing Stewart coming out of pit road. Earlier in the race, Stewart & Gordon both bounced off the wall after contact with eachother. Gordon said the blame was 50/50, but Tony disagreed saying that Gordon was 100% to blame. Penalties?: That seemed to be the theme of the evening as not only Tony Stewart & Matt Kenseth, but Kyle Busch was served with a pass-through penalty of aggresive driving as well. After a rocky finish, nascar figured out the official finishing order: 1- Jimmie Johnson 2- Casey Mears 3- Ryan Newman 4- Elliott Sadler 5- Tony Stewart 6- Clint Bowyer (*R) 7- Brian Vickers 8- Dale Earnhardt Jr 9- Ken Schrader 10- Dale Jarrett 11- Kasey Kahne 12- Mark Martin 13- Robby Gordon 14- Kevin Harvick 15- Matt Kenseth 16- Martin Truex Jr (*R) 17- Terry Labonte 18- Michael Waltrip 19- Bill Elliott 20- Kirk Shelmerdine 21- Brent Sherman (*R) 22- Dave Blaney 23- Kyle Busch 24- Mike Wallace 25- Kevin Lepage 26- Jeff Gordon 27- Travis Kvapil 28- David Stremme (*R) 29- Reed Sorenson (*R) 30- Denny Hamlin (*R) 31- Greg Biffle 32- Jeff Burton 33- Joe Nemechek 34- Sterling Marlin 35- Bobby Labonte 36- Jeremy Mayfield 37- Jamie McMurray 38- Kurt Busch 39- Kyle Petty 40- Hermie Sadler 41- J.J Yeley (*R) 42- Jeff Green 43- Carl Edwards 

Hey Haters, Hate This

Say you're Jimmie Johnson, how do you get your crews head back in the game after your crew chief just got ejected? A win, that's perfect. Sunday proved he was determined and he's not letting anything get in his way of victory. He started 9th, thanks to a great run in his Duel race, and remained in the top 10 through out most of the day. Although Chad Knaus wasn't in Daytona, he was there in heart. It's his work and faith in Johnson that led him to win his first career Daytona 500. His car was taken to be on display at DAYTONA USA. Stand in crew chief Darian Grubb credited Knaus for all his hard work saying that he made his day a breeze. "I knew deep down inside my heart that this team could still win this race, there's no doubt that not having Chad here was a huge handicap, but everybody stepped up. I am just so proud of this team." -Johnson in Victory Lane. 

Monday, February 13th

Chad Knaus Ejected From

Remainder Of Speedweek

"On Monday, Knaus was suspended from the Daytona 500 and all other activities leading up to the race, just 24 hours after Johnson's car failed post-qualifying inspection in the rear window area. Sources close to NASCAR said Knaus likely will receive further suspensions for California and possibly Las Vegas. Knaus could appeal further suspensions, but there is no appeal for this week because Knaus technically was ejected. "In the NASCAR rule book, we can take emergency action to eject somebody from an event,'' NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "That's what we used here.'' Sources said Knaus was ejected because there was a device that raised the rear window of Johnson's car, giving it an aerodynamic advantage in qualifying. Hunter would not comment on the specifics that helped Johnson to the fifth-fastest time, but said the violation was considered a blatant attempt to break the rules. He added that NASCAR president Mike Helton hopes Knaus' penalty sends a message to the rest of the garage." Source: David Newton, NASCAR.COM Darian Grubb will assume all of Knaus' duties for the rest of the Daytona Events. Grubb is the lead engineer for Johnson & Gordon. Also, as a result of this infraction NASCAR has disallowed Johnson's qualifying time & he will start rear of the field in the Gatorade Duels.

Saturday, February 12th

Rookie Respect

What started off as a race under the lights, ended up as a race under the sun. Rain came into daytona saturday afternoon, and didn't let up in time to get the shootout on the books. Nascar made the decision to reschedule the race for sunday at 4 right after qualifying for the Daytona 500 was complete. As usual, the race is ran into 2 parts. Ken Schrader led all but 2 of the first 20 laps, with Jimmie Johnson leading those 2. There were 5 cars out of the race & 1 car off the lead lap. Denny took the lead late in the race, with the help of his veteran teammate Tony Stewart, and took the checkered. Tony helped hold off late runs from Dale Earnhardt Jr & Michael Waltrip while Jimmie Johnson pushed Denny into a bigger lead. This was Hamlin's first shootout & he said he wasn't out to win. His main goal was to gain respect from his fellow competitors. The bigger story of the afternoon was 'Bump Drafting'. In his post race interview Dale Jr called it the "necessary evil". Dale Earnhardt Jr managed to get a 2nd place finish after a battle to the end with Stewart who finished 3rd. Finishing 4th & 5th were Scott Riggs and Jimmie Johnson, respectively.