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 Team: Michael Waltrip Racing
WHERE HE STANDS: 19th, 31 points out of the Chase. Gained one spot
last week.
DAYTONA RECORD: Three top-10 finishes in 15 starts.
LOOKING AHEAD: Vickers hopes his new Florida neighbors and friends
will give him a "few extra cheers at driver's introductions" before
Saturday night's race since he will be wearing a special Florida
State University driver's uniform. His car will carry a special
paint scheme honoring FSU's national championship football team.
"Florida is my home state now," adds Vickers. "Sure would be nice to
carry those colors into victory lane."
LOOKING BACK: Vickers struggled with an ill-handling race car all
night and finished 26th at Kentucky. "That was a tough as it gets,
just a really long night," said Vickers. "Whenever I was on the
brakes, we were loose and when I was on the throttle we were tight.
That sums up everything. We had a ton of momentum going earlier in
the year but the month of June was brutal to us. We will turn it
around and get back in the Chase hunt, starting next week at
Daytona."
ETC.: Vickers is an avid cyclist, and he feels it was on his bicycle
that he learned the importance of aerodynamics. "There are
definitely things I have learned in cycling and sport bikes that
apply to all the race tracks we go to, particularly Daytona and
drafting," said Vickers. It's amazing how much a difference being in
a draft makes. When you are in a car you don't realize it as much
because you just go a little faster. When you are on a bicycle and
you are the engine you really, really notice the effort. When you
are cycling and you are two, three or four guys back in a pack, the
amount of effort you expend to peddle is so much less."
9 MARCOS AMBROSE, Ford
Team: Richard Petty Motorsports
WHERE HE STANDS: 20th, 37 points out of the Chase. Gained one spot
last week.
DAYTONA RECORD: Only one top-10 finish in 11 starts.
LOOKING AHEAD: Even though his record at Daytona is not very good,
Ambrose is looking forward to this weekend. "We've had good cars at
the restrictor-plate tracks the last couple of years, we just
haven't had any luck," said Ambrose. "And luck is so important at
Daytona and Talladega. We just need to survive to the end, and if we
can do that, we can get us a good finish."
LOOKING BACK: Ambrose finished 13th at Kentucky for his best finish
this season on an intermediate track. "It feels like a win," said a
beaming Ambrose. "I am proud of the Black and Decker team tonight
because that was a hard-fought finish for this team. We really made
a lot of good adjustments to keep up with the track conditions and
Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) did a great job. The car was
pretty good at the end and we moved up all night (from his 27th
starting spot). This is a step in the right direction on our
mile-and-a-half program."
ETC.: Ambrose is not ready to give up on his bid to make the Chase.
"We've got some races coming up that we feel good about, and we
still have enough races (nine) to get in via points," said Ambrose.
"We all know what a win means and we think we can get us a win
before the Chase. But even if we don't, we aren't that far out of it
points-wise (37)."
1 JAMIE MCMURRAY, Chevrolet
Team: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
WHERE HE STANDS: 21st, 41 points out of the Chase. Lost two spots
last week.
DAYTONA RECORD: Finished seventh last year. Overall has two wins and
five top-10 finishes in 23 starts.
LOOKING AHEAD: McMurray is noted as being one of the top
restrictor-plate racers in all of NASCAR. But he won't even start
thinking about this weekend "until we get to the track. There really
isn't a lot that you can do to the car once you get to the track.
The team prepares the car in the shop, then we just fine-tune it at
the track. You just have to hope that you can avoid trouble and be
in a position to race to the front in the closing laps."
LOOKING BACK: McMurray was running seventh when rookie Alex Bowman
spun right in front of him. McMurray jammed on his brakes to miss
the spinning Bowman. But Aric Almirola was blinded by the smoke
created by Bowman's spin and slammed hard into McMurray. The damage
to McMurray's car was bad enough to send him to the garage area for
repairs. He returned 17 laps later to finish 37th and severely
damage his hopes of making the Chase. "I hate it for everyone on
this Lexar team that worked so hard this weekend to have a car that
was fast in qualifying and in tonight's race," said McMurray. "It
was going to be a good night, but now we'll try and rebound at
Daytona."
ETC.: The wreck at Kentucky was a big blow to McMurray and his team
in their bid to make the Chase. "We were in pretty good shape, but
now we've got to make up a lot of ground in a short period of time
(nine races)," said McMurray. "Naturally, a win would put us in, and
we've been running well enough to get a win. But if we don't get a
win, we can't afford any more deals like Kentucky."
47 A J ALLMENDINGER, Chevrolet
Team: JTG Daugherty Racing
WHERE HE STANDS: 22nd, 60 points out of the Chase. Gained one spot
last week.
DAYTONA RECORD: Two top-10 finishes in 10 starts.
LOOKING AHEAD: Allmendinger feels "Daytona is tough compared to
Talladega in a certain extend. Talladega is only .16 longer
(2.66-miles compared to 2.5-miles) but it just seems so much wider.
I feel like you can hide a little bit more, get away from the pack a
little bit and have more options on lanes to run. Daytona it almost
feels like a little short track when you get in that big pack.
Overall it's a tougher place to race."
LOOKING BACK: Allmendinger finished 22nd at Kentucky. "It was the
most competitive mile-and-half car we had all season," said a
disappointed Allmendinger. "We had a top-10 car. We were running
just outside the top 10 when all of a sudden I thought I had a
right-rear tire going down. The back end was moving around and when
I went into turn three, it turned sideways on me and I smelled
smoke. Because I thought I had a flat, I pitted and then the caution
came out. We ran out of laps to get back where we should have
finished. That's tough when you have a good car."
ETC.: On Tuesday, Allmendinger and the team visited Barium Springs
Home for Children in Statesville, NC. The purpose of the visit is
"to bring a smile to the children and also bring awareness on how
donations can be made to Barium Springs, which cannot operate
without them," said Allmendinger. "This place is in the NASCAR's
community backyard and we want to help however we can."
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43 ARIC ALMIROLA, Ford
Team: Richard Petty Motorsports
WHERE HE STANDS: 23rd, 68 points out of the Chase. Lost one spot
last week.
DAYTONA RECORD: Best finish in six starts is 13th.
LOOKING AHEAD: Almirola calls Daytona "the holy grail of motorsports
and two hours away from my hometown, so of all the places that I
would want to run well or win, that's the place. I would love
nothing more than to win at Daytona. I've been in position where
I've had really good cars and where I feel like I was in the right
spot to run up front and something out of nowhere happened. Daytona
is so much about circumstances."
LOOKING BACK: Almirola was running in the top 10 when rookie Alex
Bowman spun in front of him. "When he spun, he lit up his rear tires
and made a huge smoke cloud," said Almirola. "My spotter was telling
me to go high and I was kind of in the middle of the race track, so
I veered high and McMurray (Jamie) was out there. I honestly had no
idea he was out there and I ran into him. I feel horrible because
our Eckrich Ford Fusion was decent, we had a solid top-10 car. I'm
just mad at myself. I realize circumstances weren't in our favor,
but I should have done a better job of getting slowed down and not
running into the 1 car." Almirola ended the night in 39th place.
ETC.: Richard Petty's wife, Lynda, was recently honored by the North
Carolina General Assembly. Lynda, who died in March, was recognized
by the General Assembly for her service to her community and NASCAR.
She served on the Randolph County Board of Education for 16 years
and found several philanthropic organizations and served on several
charitable boards throughout Randolph County.
78 MARTIN TRUEX, JR., Chevrolet
Team: Furniture Row Racing
WHERE HE STANDS: 25th, 88 points out of the Chase.
DAYTONA RECORD: Only one top-10 finish in 18 starts.
LOOKING AHEAD: Despite finishing last in the Daytona 500, Truex
heads back to Daytona with high, high hopes. "Daytona is a place
where I think we can get that first (restrictor-plate) win," said
Truex, who qualified second fastest for the 500. A broken oil pump
on lap 30 ended his day in February. "Going from the potential of
winning the 500 to last place was a very humbling experience," adds
Truex. "But we're coming back to Daytona with the same enthusiasm
and optimism that we had going into the 500."
LOOKING BACK: A rash of pit-road problems resulted in a 19th-place
finish for Truex at Kentucky. Early in the race he was hit from
behind as he tried to get into his pit box. The contact sent Truex
spinning and he ended up facing the wrong direction in his pit box.
This forced a second pit stop to repair the damage to the car. Later
in the race crew chief Todd Berrier called for a two-tire stop to
gain track position, but Truex was blocked in his pit stall and lost
valuable time before he was able to return to the race. "We didn't
need those (pit road) problems tonight," said Truex. "But we had
other problems, too - mainly a lack of grip. We fought for every
inch to finish 19th."
ETC.: Truex calls the Daytona race "a cerebral race with mostly
two-wide racing. You have to be totally aware of the openings and
drafting partners the entire race, especially in the closing laps
when it gets pretty hairy. Daytona is always exciting and I am sure
it will be the same on Saturday night."
41 KURT BUSCH, Chevrolet
Team: Stewart-Haas Racing
WHERE HE STANDS: 26th. Will make the Chase because of his
Martinsville win.
DAYTONA RECORD: Finished sixth in the July race a year ago. Overall
has 13 top-10 finishes including 10 top-five's in 27 starts. Has
finished second three times.
LOOKING AHEAD: Crew chief Daniel Knost feels he will be a lot more
"comfortable" this time around at Daytona. "I have more of an
expectation for the way that practices lay out and how the week lays
out. I'm more comfortable with making decisions." When Knost went to
Daytona in February, it was his first race as a crew chief. "As far
as Daytona goes, there is a lot that's out of my control," adds
Knost. "I guess I knew that going in, but now (after the 500) I
really know that. From that perspective I guess I would say that I
just have more of an idea in terms of expectations."
LOOKING BACK: Busch finished 12th at Kentucky for his fourth
straight top-15 finish. "It was an okay night for the Haas
Automation team," said Busch. "We've found some consistency, which
is a good thing, but we need to take that next step. We've visited
four very different tracks the last four weeks and come back with
decent finishes inside the top-15."
ETC.: While Busch is happy with the team's performance in recent
weeks, he wants a lot more. "We'd love to start seeing more of those
top-five finishes or wins," said Busch. "We are working on it and
finding new things each week, so hopefully that breakthrough is
right around the corner."
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