Decompressing after Daytona
Random notes and observations after the Daytona 500.
Jeff Burton was not happy after crashing out of Sunday's race. He said the crash was precipitated by a block by one of the cars in front of him. Burton crashed in the tri-oval, and the two cars directly in front of him at the time of the crash were Michael McDowell and Travis Kvapil. However, it's unclear which driver Burton is specifically referring to.
"We were going around one of those cars and he just hung a right on me on the straightaway," Burton said. "Just hung a right. I had to turn right to keep from hitting him and the thing hugh a right, head-on into the wall. It's pathetic to race like that. You've got to be smarter than that. I understand it's plate racing, you've got to try to block, but you can't block somebody that is coming 20 miles an hour faster than you are. It's just completely uncalled for."
- What the heck happened to Jeff Gordon? After making an ill-fated move to the inside line in the middle of Sunday’s race, Gordon worked his way back towards the front of the field near the end. But again, he found himself getting shuffled back. He finished 24th.
“I love the start that we got and we were up front there and in great shape. We lost track position and it didn’t seem like we were ever going to get it back. Then we finally did and those last two restarts just didn’t go very well.”
- McDowell’s 9th place finish was his first top 10 in the Sprint Cup Series.
- JJ Yeley finished 10th for Tommy Baldwin Racing, and that means that kids eat free at Golden Corral. And because Ryan Newman finished in the top 10, Bloomin’ Onions are free at Outback Steakhouse. Go forth and overeat.
- The first crash of the day took out both Earnhardt Ganassi cars. You know how Kyle Busch said that his engine failure made it feel like 2012 all over again? I’m sure those struggles were a familiar feeling for the EGR cars as well.
“Somebody backed up to my grille. It was just a little touch,” Montoya said of the incident. I saw them when they were all getting together and I said ‘Oh they are wrecking.’ And as soon as I said they were wrecking (Kasey Kahne) went left into me. I managed to brake and just touched him a little bit with the the nose.”
