Daytona Night Race Recap (7/7/08)

            The night race at the famous Daytona International Speedway is the site of race 18 of 36 for the EDD Cup Series Championship. With the field bunched up from the restrictor plates, Daytona could shake up the point standings if the ‘Big One’ occurs. Caltech in the 860 snags the pole with a speed of 186.109mph (48.359). Starting on the outside pole is ELLIOTT-3 at 186.035mph (48.378). Points-leader Jdlierle doesn’t start the race.

            Caltech and ELLIOTT-3 lead a huge field of 34 cars to the green flag, kicking off the halfway race in the 2008 season. Caltech leads the first lap, earning himself those 5 bonus points early. It isn’t long before the high line starts to move when ELLIOTT-3, with help from Modfan66, push to the front on lap 5. On the backstretch, the race for the lead goes 3-wide when Modfan66 moves to the high side of ELLIOTT-3 with Caltech winning the battle on the bottom and retakes the lead.

            Every driver’s worst fear on the plate tracks happens on lap 6 when the dreaded ‘Big One’ brings out the first caution of the night. On the backstretch, Tyeman gets into White~gold, who hits IROC, sending the 17 car sideways right into the 03 of Modfan66 and blanketing the track with smoke and spinning cars. When the smoke clears, it is clear the race has changed as 23 of the 34 cars are involved, with Snyder in the 82 and ELLIOTT-3 in the 56 getting the worst of it as both flip over and over on their roofs. Slotracer, Modfan66, Zimba7768, IROC, Tyeman, Snyder, ELLIOTT-3 and ELLIOTT-4 all retire from damage from the wreak, followed shortly by Steadfast1, Eddie, Bell26, and Happy29, who’s cars are too damaged to maintain the minimum speed after the race restarts. Leaders all stop during the caution with Slim taking the lead after the pit stops.

            The green flag waves over a smaller field on lap 11 with Slim leading White~gold and Caltech. White~gold slides under Slim on lap 12 to take over the race lead, wanting to get out in front of a seven car lead draft. It doesn’t last long as Slim comes charging back with help from Ice-10 on the high side of the track. A lap later, Ice-10, now with help from MovinTarget blows by Slim to take over the lead. Slim in the low line, with help from Caltech start fighting back and regains the lead on lap 17. Two laps later, Caltech makes a move on the low line, with help from White~gold to take over the lead.

            Green flag pit stops begin on lap 20 when Caltech, White~gold, Blues*Angel, Slim, and Ice-10 come charging down pit road. A lap later MovinTarget and Holman come down pit road to make their green flag stops. Caltech holds onto the lead after the cycle of stops is complete, with White~gold still right on his rear bumper. On lap 24, the race of the lead heats right back up when Holman with MovinTarget, powers by Caltech on the high lane. After the pass, the lead draft of now just five cars, settles down to ride and tick away at the laps. Lap 31 brings Caltech back down pit road for the start of another round of green flag pit stops. Slim and White~gold peel off to pit a lap later.

            The second caution slows the field down on lap 33 right in the middle of green flag stops, when the engine in Smokey’s Chevrolet lets go off of turn 4. Leaders pit under the caution, including some of the guys who just make their green flag stops, who top off their fuel. The race restarts on lap 38 with Ice-10 leading ELLIOTT-1 and Iron to the green flag. The race up front starts to heat up after a few laps as the drivers start to jockey for position. When going 3-wide on the backstretch, Slim, ELLIOTT-1 and Iron touch and kick off a smaller version of the ‘Big One.’ ELLIOTT-1 and Iron touch, sending both down into Slim and then back up right in front of the field, in the same place that the first wreak happened. Caltech, Excalibur, Holman, MovinTarget and Racer45 are involved with Excalibur ELLIOTT-1 and Iron retiring from damage sustained in the accident. The caution brings the leaders back down pit road, with Maloneyc01 winning the battle off pit road.

            The green flag is back out on lap 47 with Maloneyc01 leading Ice-10 and Doc. A lap later Ice-10 with help from Doc takes the lead on the bottom side of the track in turn 1. Doc then tries to move high on Ice-10 on the backstretch with help from Jarik, but falls to the back of the five car lead draft. Doc doesn’t give in though and on lap 55 moves back into second, still being pushed by the 0 of Jarik.

            Lap 56 brings all five of the leaders down onto pit road for green flag stops, Kyper takes over the race lead with Ice Racer and White~gold following right behind, only to stop a lap later. Green flag stops have just completed when the caution flies for the fourth time when Jeffcoat loses his engine off turn 4. Ice-10 is scored as the race leader when the cars line up behind the pace car. Moloneyc01, Kyper and Holman decide to make the trip back to pit road under the yellow.

            The race restarts on lap 64 with Ice-10 leading Doc and MovinTarget. Five cars breakaway from the rest of the field but they don’t stay single file for long. On lap 67, Jarik and Kyper move to the high lane and start powering to the front. A lap later and Jarik takes the race lead. The low lane starts to fight back and a lap later Ice-10 is back out front with help from Doc and MovinTarget.

After falling back, Kyper moves to the inside of Jarik in turn 3 on lap 69 but slides up too much in the corner, getting into Jarik and sending both hard into the outside wall and bringing out the fifth and final caution of the night. The wreak isn’t over though as Ice-Racer, Maloneyc01, Cha Ching, Lmsc27, Jizzle and Blues*Angel get caught up into the accident. Racing back to the caution, Doc gets under Ice-10 off of turn 4 and with help from MovinTarget, manages to beat Ice-10 to the line and pick up his first EDD Cup victory. Ice-10 finishes second and MovinTarget third. White~gold manages to avoid the spinning cars in front of him and finish fourth and retaking the points-lead by 67 points over MovinTarget. Ice-Racer manages to bring his damaged car home in fifth.

Race Stats:

Race Time – 1:18:07

Cautions – 5 for 18 laps

Lap Leader – 10 of Ice-10 (29 laps)

Hard Charger – 911 of MovinTarget (+28)

Hard Luck – 56 of ELLIOTT-3 (-31)

Safe Driver – 69 of Iron and 890 of White~gold

Lead Changes – 21 among 12 drivers

Fastest Lap – 139 of Excalibur (46.050)

Cars Running at Finish – 11 of 34