Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2011 Daytona 500 Race Recap
They said with the new surface and rules, this Daytona 500 was going to be unpredictable. Well, it was all that and then some.
They said with the new surface and rules, this Daytona 500 was going to be unpredictable. Well, it was all that and then some.
Stick glue up each nostril, inhale deeply and come up with the most ridiculous set of rules you can. NASCAR’s actual Daytona 500 qualifying is more insane.
If NASCAR folks didn’t know that speeds with the new cars and surface were going to be north of 200 mph at Daytona, they must have been partying with JC France.
When Martin Truex Jr. fell off the pace at Homestead, Carl Edwards lost the only competition that could keep him honest and drove on to an easy win.
With 47 laps left, Carl Edwards passed Denny Hamlin to take a lead he’d never relinquish at Phoenix.
Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin squared off in a three-lap shootout at the end of the race that had the fans at home and in the stands at Texas on their feet.
Juan Pablo Montoya pushed Clint Bowyer past Kevin Harvick just as the caution lights illuminated at Talladega, freezing the field on the last lap of the race.
After the two of them were running side-by-side for a dozen laps at Martinsville, Denny Hamlin finally passed Kevin Harvick for the lead on lap 471.
Tony Stewart ran out of gas coming to the white flag at New Hampshire, handing the win back to Clint Bowyer, who had dominated the first two-thirds of the event.
Was the roar of the crowd after the race at Richmond a tribute to local boy Denny Hamlin or his detractors expressing their glee Kyle Busch had lost again?
Tony Stewart managed to keep his tires from spinning, pulling ahead of Carl Edwards to score his long-awaited first victory of 2010 in the Emory Healthcare 500.
Ticket sales at Bristol are sort of like the canary in the coal mine that were once used to signal danger to the miners.
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