2017 Daytona 500 Recap: What a Wreckfest

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I hope you all watched and enjoyed the 2017 Daytona 500. Man what a race. It was for sure filled with a lot of great racing, and a lot of wrecks. Yes, wrecks were a big talk coming out of this weekends action as the Xfinity and Truck Series races were also filled with big crashes. The Xfinity race had 3 big crashes, and two red flags to make the race run for a little over 3 hours. And Ryan Reed would come out of the action to win his second race at Daytona. Well let's recap the Daytona 500. When I last left, I had recapped the clash and previewed the Can Am Duels. Chase Elliott won the first duel and Denny Hamlin won the second after a last lap pass on a dominating Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kaz Grala in the #33 truck won a wild Truck Series race which saw 2-time champ Matt Crafton flip over on his roof and land on Johnny Sauter's tailgate in a stunning last lap crash.

The winner of the first stage of the 500 was the #18 M&M's Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch. He led Kevin Harvick and the rest of the field to the green and white checkered flag to signify the end of the first stage.

The first incident came early in stage 1 as the first group of cars came into the pits before pit road would be closed before the stage would end. As shown in the picture above, courtesy of Google images, as #83 Corey Lajoie came in the pits, he would carry way too much speed and almost collide with newcomer to the #14 Clint Bowyer. Both drivers were ok however Lajoie would be out of the race following NASCAR's new damage rule for this year. If your car cannot be repaired on pit road, then you are out of the race.

The first big crash came out in the second stage as stage 1 winner Kyle Busch would blow a tire going into turn 3 causing a 6 car crash. Drivers involved included the returning Dale Earnhardt Jr and rookies Eric Jones and Ty Dillon. All drivers were ok.

The winner of stage 2 would be none other then the #4 Jimmy John's Ford of Kevin Harvick after he finished second in the first stage. But his luck would run out in the final stage.

The second big crash came out shortly after the start of the final stage which would be the last 80 laps of the Great American Race. Jamie McMurray would make a bold move on the backstretch as he would have a run to the outside of 7-time champ Jimmie Johnson and eventually cause a multi car wreck into turn 3. McMurray had been making aggressive moves and it would eventually cost him a shot at his second Daytona 500. Drivers involved include stage 2 winner Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Clint Bowyer, and Martin Truex Jr.

As we continue the topic of crashes, another big wreck came out with 58 laps to go. And Jamie McMurray would be the one to cause the crash after another aggressive move on Chase Elliott on the backstretch. The wreck included another 10 cars to send to the garage.

At the end of the day, we would once again see a first time 500 winner as Kurt Busch would make a last lap pass on Kyle Larson to win the race. So Busch will be in the 2017 playoffs. Yes playoffs as the name was changed from Chase to playoffs.



Well I hope everybody enjoyed. It was a crazy race filled with crashes but at the end of the race we saw an emotional reaction from Kurt's crew chief known as the "old man" Tony Gibson. I must note that all pictures come from Google Images. That's all for now. I will try to recap each race this year. Have a great week everyone. Good night.

It's Time For: Trivia Day Is Back!

Welcome back once again to my blog! As noted in the title, trivia day is back! Not sure if it will be every Friday like before but it has returned for now. And if you have looked at the picture above which I'm sure you have, you can probably guess what this trivia is about. That's right this will be on the history of "The Great American Race" the Daytona 500. As the 59th annual race comes up this Sunday I couldn't resist doing some trivia to get revved up for the new season. Now it will be the same as before. I will list a few multiple choice questions and you will answer in the comments below. I will post the answers after a couple days. Now there is a new twist this time. You can only use Google for 1 question. That's it. And no I won't know if you use it for every question but try to answer them. You never know you might get it right. OK here we go!


Question 1.
In what year was the first Daytona 500 held?

A. 1955
B. 1979
C. 1959
D. 1948

Question 2.

Who has the most Daytona 500 wins?

A. Jeff Gordon
B. Richard Petty
C. David Pearson
D. Dale Earnhardt

Question 3.

In what year was the first time the race was televised live flag to flag? Hint: there was a fight at the end.

A. 1979
B. 1960
C. 1980
D. 1990

Question 4.

Which driver is known for driving "the gray ghost" to the 1980 Daytona 500 victory?

A. Bobby Allison
B. Ned Jarrett
C. Buddy Baker
D. Davey Allison

And last but not least, a bonus question.

Bonus:

Which driver won the 1989 Daytona 500 after 17 years of trying?

A. Darrell Waltrip
B. Dale Earnhardt
C. Richard Petty
D. Sterling Marlin

Good luck and remember, only use Google for 1 of the questions if you get stuck!

The Shocker Of The Winter: Carl Edwards "Retires"?

Hello everyone and welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Two blogs in a night. I'm on a role. This topic is on some shocking news we received during the winter as Carl Edwards announced that he was "retiring"? That's the question is he really retiring? During a press conference that was held in January, Edwards listed 3 reasons on why he made the decision. He stated that his health was his concern. Not that he was unhealthy, but he wanted to prevent anything bad happening to his health. His 2nd reason was that he felt he had accomplished what he wanted to to do. Which sounded odd to me. He had come so close the Monster Energy Cup title that I feel he could've won it all. And his 3rd reason was that he had other interests outside racing. Including politics. He also wanted more time with his family. He is also known for being a private person, as he is not on Twitter like other drivers. I don't think that's a bad thing as drivers are always under a radar from all the cameras and social media and the internet. I hope Carl finds what he's looking for and I will always be a fan of him. That's all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed the blog. Good night everyone.

I'm Back!!!!

Hello everyone guess what? I'm baaaaacck!! I know its been a while since my last blog and I apologize for that. I haven't had much access to a computer so its been hard to post without a computer. Also we have had some life changes as far as moving to our apartment and other issues. But we have worked though all of that and here I am. I will try to update everyone as much as I can. And I hope I still have some followers. Thanks for sticking with me. And speaking of updates, man what an interesting 2016 season. We now have a 7-time champion in Jimmie Johnson. I still can't believe it for sure. We had the closest Daytona 500 finish in history between Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Hamlin was the winner after having a strong car all week. We also had Carl Edwards stepping away from the sport. More on that on another blog. And yes I will post about that. We also had Dale Jr set out the last part of the season due to a concussion. And we had the first ever foreign born NASCAR champion in Daniel Suarez who won the 2016 Xfinity Series title. Johnny Sauter won the Camping World Truck Series title.  But as we begin 2017, we have A LOT of changes. Including a new series sponsor in Monster Energy, new rules to the races being broke up into 3 stages. But after all the changes, I still have the same passion and excitement for the upcoming racing season. So let's preview the upcoming season and recap the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona.

So as usual, the Clash (formerly known as The Sprint Unlimited, Budweiser Shootout) begins the new season. With a familiar name and a short format, you can surely feel a nostalgic feel when it comes to this years race. Add the rain postponing it to Sunday morning and it really brings back memories as the race used to be run in the day. The race is 75 laps which is broken down into 2 segments. The first is 25 laps with a caution at the end and the 2nd is 50 laps to end the race. No points on the line as this is an exhibition race.












As the race was 17 laps in, Jimmie Johnson got loose off of turn 4 and got into Kurt Busch. The Hendrick Motorsports teams have struggled with their cars pushing up off of turn 4, getting loose and spinning out. It has been reported as an aero loose that the teams haven't been able to figure out. Dale Jr. and Chase Elliott who replaced Jeff Gordon last year after Gordon retired after the 2015 season, both crashed in last years 500 with the same issue. Kurt was uninjured and was out of the race.

The restart after the Kurt Busch crash came with a couple laps to go before the caution at lap 25. There was some great racing all day and it was exciting. A couple drivers hit pit road right before the caution to get some tires and fuel before the pits were closed. Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez (the driver replacing  Carl Edwards in the #19 car), Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr, and Alex Bowman (taking over for Dale Jr since Bowman got the pole for the fall Phoenix race).

Into the 2nd segment, the races 3rd caution was once again caused by Jimmie Johnson who spun off the same corner with the same aero push/loose issue that the Hendrick cars have had. This time he didn't have anyone inside to catch him and he spun and hit the inside wall as shown above. Johnson was ok but with NASCAR's new no damaged cars on track rules this year, he was out of the race. He was also ok and uninjured. He also was required to go to the infield care center which is now required even if the driver can drive his or her car back to the garage. There is also a new rule where drivers are to be checked for concussions after Dale Jr's issue last year.

The finish was great! Joey Logano won after Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski got together on the

last lap in Turn 1. The Penske Fords and the Joe Gibbs Toyotas looked to be the class of the field.

After the Clash, it was time to set the field for the 59th running for The Great American Race. At the end of the day, Chase Elliott won the pole for the 2nd year in a row with the returning Dale Jr. starting alongside on the front row. The rest of the field will be determined in the Can-Am Duels at Daytona. The first race will determine the inside row and the second race will determine the outside row.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed my new blog. I will try to update it as much as I can. Can't wait for the new season and I hope everyone has a great 2017!