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CUP: Friday Daytona Notebook (UPDATE 8)
Six cars are involved in a crash just minutes into the first practice for the Sprint Unlimited...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 15, 2013   Daytona Beach, FL
Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya are involved in a wreck during Sprint Unlimited practice one. (Image: SPEED)
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THURSDAY, FEB. 14

[FRIDAY 7:32 pm ET]

Unlike the opening round of Sprint Unlimited practice, Friday’s second session was a quiet affair, with few drivers taking any risks.

Practice speeds in the final session:

1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 196.053 miles per hour
2. Joey Logano, No. 22, Penske Racing Ford, 196.014 mph
3. Greg Biffle, No. 16, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 195.656
4. Kevin Harvick, No. 29, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 195.656
5. Aric Almirola, No. 43, Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, 195.537
6. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing With Felix Sabates, Chevrolet, 193.582
7. Kasey Kahne, No. 5, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 193.017
8. Marcos Ambrose, No. 9, Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, 192.868
9. Kyle Busch, No. 18, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 191.612
10. Terry Labonte, , No. 32, FAS Lane Racing Ford, 191.408
11. Jeff Gordon, No. 24, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 190.961
12. Jimmie Johnson, , No. 48, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 190.118

DID NOT PRACTICE:

Martin Truex Jr. , No. 56, Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
Dale Earnhardt Jr. , No. 88, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Kurt Busch, No. 78, Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
Matt Kenseth, No. 20, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Mark Martin, No. 55, Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
Carl Edwards, No. 99, Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Tony Stewart, No. 14, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

[FRIDAY 6:02 pm ET]

Practice speeds in the opening session:

1. Kevin Harvick, No. 29, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 197.364 miles per hour
2. Aric Almirola, No. 43, Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, 197.316 mph
3. Greg Biffle, No. 16, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 197.109
4. Kasey Kahne, No. 5, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 197.040
5. Martin Truex Jr. , No. 56, Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, 197.036
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. , No. 88, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 196.751
7. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing With Felix Sabates, Chevrolet, 196.640
8. Kurt Busch, No. 78, Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, 196.610
9. Matt Kenseth, No. 20, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 196.374
10. Kyle Busch, No. 18, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 196.374
11. Joey Logano, No. 22, Penske Racing Ford, 196.027
12. Denny Hamlin, No. 11, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 195.984
13. Mark Martin, No. 55, Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, 195.912
14. Carl Edwards, No. 99, Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 195.822
15. Jeff Gordon, No. 24, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 195.037
16. Tony Stewart, No. 14, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, 195.033
17. Marcos Ambrose, No. 9, Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, 194.393
18. Terry Labonte, No. 32, FAS Lane Racing Ford, 190.929
19. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 188.486

[FRIDAY 5:26 pm ET]
VIDEO: FIRST CRASH SPRINT UNLIMITED PRACTICE
















[FRIDAY 5:36 pm ET]

FIRST CRASH — Eight minutes into the first practice for the Sprint Unlimited, a multi-car crash occurred at the exit of Turn 4, with Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards , Joey Logano, Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya among others getting into it. The accident was triggered when Kenseth, who was second behind Kyle Busch, moved down from the outside lane and into Kurt Busch. From there, the crash was on.
Matt Kenseth is involved in a wreck during Sprint Unlimited practice one. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“I was outside just looking at Kyle and didn’t realize Kurt had a run on me,” said Kenseth. “I guess it’s my fault. I had no idea anybody was even close to me, to be honest with you. I was just moving up on the 18 (Kyle Busch) and trying some different things to get a run and Kurt got a run there to the bottom and I kind of came down in front of him it looks like.”

“It’s tough. A lot of hard work that goes into these cars over six weeks can be trashed in six laps,” said Kurt Busch.

The 45-minute practice session will be followed a one-hour session at 6:30 p.m., which will be televised live on SPEED. Tomorrow night’s race will be televised live on FOX and on FOX Deportes, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

[FRIDAY 2:36 pm ET]

DRIVER CHANGE — Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte will replace Ken Schrader behind the wheel of the No. 32 Fas LANE Racing Ford for tomorrow night’s Sprint Unlimited non-points race at Daytona International Speedway. Labonte, who won his Sprint Cup series titles in 1984 driving for Billy Hagan and 1996 with Hendrick Motorsports, won the Sprint Unlimited in 1985, back when it was called the Busch Clash.

[FRIDAY 1:46 pm ET]

THAT NEW CAR SMELL — NASCAR fans have seen the Sprint Cup version of the 2013 Chevrolet SS since it was unveiled late last year in Las Vegas during the NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet week. Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET in the Daytona International Speedway Fan Zone, Chevrolet will take the wraps off the production version of its 2014 SS. The new Chevy sedan will be a rear-wheel-drive V-8 car, marking the first time in 17 years that the automaker has offered a production sedan in that configuration.
The new Chevy SS Sprint Cup car was unveiled in November. (Photo: Getty Images)

The Chevy SS is based on the Australian-built Holden VF Commodore SS V, which was introduced in the Land Down Under on Thursday. Both the Chevy and the Holden are very similar to the now-defunct Pontiac G8 sedan. The G8, of course, is not to be confused with the Generation-6 NASCAR car.

NASCAR SELLS CARS — Why do General Motors, Ford and Toyota spend tens of millions of dollars in NASCAR every year? Simple: It helps them move product. And the new G-6 Sprint Cup cars, which look much more like their production counterparts than the dreaded “Car of Tomorrow” that raced from 2007-12, should really be a shot in the arm.

In fact, the old adage, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” is very much alive.

“We know nearly 40 percent of new car intenders are race fans, and of those fans, almost 84 percent of them follow NASCAR,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “Racing helps drive our business. We know Ford race fans consider, shop and buy more Fords than the general public. So bringing back this kind of relevancy to NASCAR is the ‘X Factor.’ Fans may be at the races because they love cars, but then to add the relevancy of the cars we race looking like the cars they own, well, it just adds that emotional connection between us and the fans that we all seek.”

[FRIDAY 7:57 am ET]

The four most beautiful words every race fan wants to hear are: Cars on track today. And so it is at Daytona International Speedway, where the 2013 NASCAR season officially opens this afternoon.

There are two rounds of practice for Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited (8 p.m. ET, FOX and FOX Deportes). The first session is from 5-5:45 p.m., with the second taking place from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Both of today’s practices will be televised live on SPEED.

The weather forecast is cloudy and cold with no rain this evening. But temperatures in the mid-40s mean speeds will be wicked fast on the famed Daytona 2.5-mile trioval.

Nineteen drivers are entered in the Sprint Unlimited, a 75-lap, non-points race. They are all drivers who either won a pole last year or are past event winners.

The race format, which was determined by fan vote, will consist of three segments: 30, 25 and 20 laps, respectively.

Fans have until the green flag drops at the start of the race to vote for the type of pit stop each team must make after the 30-lap first segment. The three choices are a required four-tire pit stop, a required two-tire pit stop or no stop at all. Fans also have until the start of the second segment to vote for the number of cars that will be eliminated after the 25-lap second segment. The four choices are none, two, four or six.

Votes for the remaining two categories can be cast on NASCAR’s new official mobile app – NASCAR Mobile ’13 – or at NASCAR.com/SprintUnlimited. All votes made through the NASCAR Mobile ’13 app will count twice.

RACING FOR A CURE — Chip Ganassi Racing will help driver Charlie Kimball with his quest to raise diabetes awareness by partnering with sponsor Novo Nordisk and the Race with Insulin program in all three of its racing series.

Kimball was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2007. He races in the IndyCar Series for Ganassi with Novo Nordisk as his sponsor.

He'll have his traditional Race with Insulin paint scheme during the weekend of April 5-7 at Barber Motorsports Park. NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray will use Kimball's paint scheme on his Sprint Cup car the same weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

In addition, all of Ganassi's cars will race with blue rims to help launch the "Race with Insulin Unites" campaign. The rims emulate the blue circle that is the International Diabetes Foundation's global symbol.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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