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HEMBREE: Release The Hounds
After months of calm – too much calm, NASCAR noise returns…
The green flag waves on last year's Daytona 500. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
When NASCAR last gathered in jousting mode, Brad Keselowski was chugging copious amounts of beer, Jimmie Johnson was enduring a rare pit-road mistake, and Jeff Gordon was proving to the doubters out there that, yes, he can.
That was almost three months ago.
Engines have been quiet since then – at least in a competitive sense.
It has been too long.
Time to release the hounds.
The renewal comes this week at Daytona International Speedway, where, on Friday, drivers are scheduled to practice for Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited, the new name of the race once called the Bud Shootout and, still earlier, known as the Busch Clash.
The race isn’t real, at least when one thinks of fender-to-fender battles for Sprint Cup points, but it always serves as a lid-lifter for the season and a salve for the angst of fans who have gone too many weeks without a fix of speed.
It’s time.
The season begins with a bit of uncertainty, and that’s a good thing.
There is a new car – the much-ballyhooed Gen-6. It is sleek and powerful and fast (so far, faster than its predecessor everywhere it’s been), and it looks, as we’re frequently reminded, like a race car.
If it can help to solve the issues surrounding the all-too-predictable racing at NASCAR’s 1.5-mile tracks, where competition has lagged in recent seasons, the Gen-6 will be hailed as the greatest achievement since the roll cage. If not, it will be just another car in a long line of cars that have raced in NASCAR since the ragged beginnings in 1949.
Soon, we know.
First, though, there is Daytona, an animal unto itself because it requires restrictor plates and smothered engines, and because no other race is as spotlighted or as important.
Win Daytona and a certain amount of fame is attached to your name for most of forever. Ask Trevor Bayne, who still carries around the “2011 Daytona 500 winner” tag wherever he goes.
The 10 days leading to the 500 will be filled with speculation and contemplation and examination as teams wrestle with the new car and with the expectations of sponsors, fans and car manufacturers – the Detroit steelmen who sit entranced by the possibility of hanging out in victory lane with a mechanical wonder (bearing their emblem) that has won stock car racing’s biggest event and could help ring up some bigger numbers in the sales columns.
In the end, the win likely will come from the smallest of moves – a quick decision in the pack, a smart switch from one lane to another, a pick of the best partner to ride with in the demanding draft. The last two laps are likely to be frantic, and a wreck of some sort in the final 10 is virtually certain.
But when? In what turn? And involving which car numbers? And producing miles beyond the scheduled 500?
Soon, we know.
Release the hounds.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
That was almost three months ago.
Engines have been quiet since then – at least in a competitive sense.
It has been too long.
Time to release the hounds.
The renewal comes this week at Daytona International Speedway, where, on Friday, drivers are scheduled to practice for Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited, the new name of the race once called the Bud Shootout and, still earlier, known as the Busch Clash.
The race isn’t real, at least when one thinks of fender-to-fender battles for Sprint Cup points, but it always serves as a lid-lifter for the season and a salve for the angst of fans who have gone too many weeks without a fix of speed.
It’s time.
The season begins with a bit of uncertainty, and that’s a good thing.
There is a new car – the much-ballyhooed Gen-6. It is sleek and powerful and fast (so far, faster than its predecessor everywhere it’s been), and it looks, as we’re frequently reminded, like a race car.
If it can help to solve the issues surrounding the all-too-predictable racing at NASCAR’s 1.5-mile tracks, where competition has lagged in recent seasons, the Gen-6 will be hailed as the greatest achievement since the roll cage. If not, it will be just another car in a long line of cars that have raced in NASCAR since the ragged beginnings in 1949.
Soon, we know.
First, though, there is Daytona, an animal unto itself because it requires restrictor plates and smothered engines, and because no other race is as spotlighted or as important.
Win Daytona and a certain amount of fame is attached to your name for most of forever. Ask Trevor Bayne, who still carries around the “2011 Daytona 500 winner” tag wherever he goes.
The 10 days leading to the 500 will be filled with speculation and contemplation and examination as teams wrestle with the new car and with the expectations of sponsors, fans and car manufacturers – the Detroit steelmen who sit entranced by the possibility of hanging out in victory lane with a mechanical wonder (bearing their emblem) that has won stock car racing’s biggest event and could help ring up some bigger numbers in the sales columns.
In the end, the win likely will come from the smallest of moves – a quick decision in the pack, a smart switch from one lane to another, a pick of the best partner to ride with in the demanding draft. The last two laps are likely to be frantic, and a wreck of some sort in the final 10 is virtually certain.
But when? In what turn? And involving which car numbers? And producing miles beyond the scheduled 500?
Soon, we know.
Release the hounds.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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