Champ Trail - February 21, 2016

  New Smyrna Speedway is hosting its 51st World Series of Asphalt Racing. The nine days of racing is highlighted by the nightly action of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing, and like its Daytona counterpart, the week serves as an unofficial kickoff to the NASCAR short-track season. Likewise, fans around the world are focus on the nightly racing on the high-banked half-mile. FansChoice.tv is there to bring the fans the action.
  The online home for live racing, FansChoice.tv, everything from powerboats to AMA Pro motorcycles, IMSA and NASCAR, is once again streaming live eight nights of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing from New Smyrna. It started on Friday, Feb. 17 and will run through this Saturday, Feb. 25, with the live stream beginning each night at 7:30 p.m.
  The Jet Tools 150, the season-opener for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, on Sunday, Feb. 19 was the only night not on FansChoice.tv. The race will air on NBCSN on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10 p.m.
  At New Smyrna on Friday night Spencer Davis was the winner of the Super Late Model feature. Rain washed out Saturday’s action and Ronnie Bennett Jr was the NASCAR K&N Series opening 150 lapper held on Sunday night.

  Saturday night’s second annual Kickoff to Speedweeks 50-lap Tour-Type Modified event at the Bronson (Fla) Speedway had a surprise finish after the two leaders came together in the closing moments. Ryan Preese and Matt Hirschman were battling for the lead and win when the two came together on lap 45 of the event. New York’s Jimmy Zacharias, in the right place at the right time inherited the lead and went on to take the win. Greg Narducci a veteran Modified crew chief and observer stated that the tangle of the two was the result of hard racing. “Preece was leading coming out of the fourth turn when Hirschman went low to pass”, he said. Hirschman moved up a little and Preece moved down a little and that was that”, he added.
  Chris Young Jr finished second with JR Bertuccio, third and Jeremy Gerstner, fourth. Hirshman was able to make the restart after the crash and finished fifth. Preece was credited with an eighth place finish in the ten-car field.

  In Speedweek action at the Daytona International Speedway, Joey Logano won the rain delayed Clash when Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin collided in Turn 2 on the final lap of Sunday's rain-delayed Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway. Logano was there to seize the moment. Charging to the outside and grabbing the lead near the entry to the backstretch at the 2.5-mile speedway, Logano took the checkered flag 1.121 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch, who beat third-place finisher Alex Bowman to the stripe by .018 seconds. Danica Patrick dodged the Turn 2 melee to surge from 10th to fourth on the final lap to post her first top-five finish in any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, though the result is not official because the Clash is an exhibition event with a limited field. Kevin Harvick, driving a Ford for the first time at NASCAR's highest level, came home fifth. Daniel Suárez, in his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start, finished eighth.
  Second generation driver Chase Elliott won the Coors Light pole for the Daytona 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway with a speed of 192.872mph, his 2nd Daytona pole and 3rd career pole. Elliott has never won from the pole. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 2nd after running 192.864mph. The front row is locked into those spots. Forty two cars attempted to qualify as a very paltry crowd looked on.

  The 2017 season for the unified NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour received another race date. Bill Mullis made the big news announcement Friday: He had purchased Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, and the historic track will re-open in 2017 to racing.
  He announced the .4-mile oval will host the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and newly unified NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour this season. In addition, the track will return to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series with its weekly racing program.
  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will race at Langley on Saturday, May 13, while the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will make its return on Saturday, Sept. 2.

  Congratulations to the Thompson Motorsports Park as they have been awarded the RPM Outstanding Annual Short Track Event Award for their season ending World Series of Auto Racing.

  On the speedway stock market scene this week two of the three speedway stocks ended the week on the positive side. The International Speedway Corporation went up 0.25 to 38.05 and Dover Entertainment went up 0.05 to 2,30 while Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.15 to 21.76. NASCAR cup sponsor Monster Beverage dropped 0.38 to 43.63 while NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 0.25 to 38.33 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 2.35 to 36.07. The car builders had a mixed week. Ford went up 0.07 to 12.58 and Toyota went up 0.77 to 113.66 while General Motors dropped 3.95 to 31.22. In the home improvement sector it was a banner week as Home Depot went up 3.22 to 143.07 and Lowes went up 2.74 to 76.71. With the exception of Aarons Rentals which dropped 3.12 to 26.93 the big team’s sponsors stocks did quite well for the week. McDonalds went up 1.96 to 127.78, Coca-Cola went up 0.06 to 177.06, Target went up 0.06 to 65.79 and Fedex went up 2.75 to 193.61.

  On the tube this week:

  Wednesday, February 22
3:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
7:00 AM, MENCS Daytona 500 qualifying re-air, FS1
9:00 AM, Daytona 500 Media Day, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net

  Thursday, February 23
2:30 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
4:30 AM, The Day: Daytona Primtetime, FS1
5:30 AM, Classic NASCAR: 1979 Daytona 500, FS1
6:00 AM, A Perfect Storm: 1979 Daytona 500, FS1
7:00 AM, Classic NASCAR: 1993 Daytona 500, FS1
8:30 AM, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona practice re-air, FS1
12:00 PM, MENCS Daytona practice, FS1
1:00 PM, MENCS Daytona practice, FS1
2:00 PM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Daytona practice, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
4:00 PM, NCWTS Daytona final practice, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Day, FS1
5:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 PM, MENCS Cam Am Duel at Daytona, FS1
10:00 PM, Refuse to Lose: Jeff Gordon and the 1997 Daytona 500, FS1
11:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 1997 Daytona 500, FS1

  Friday, February 24
3:00 AM, Untold Stories: Daytona, FS1
4:00 AM,NCWTS Daytona practice re-air, FS1
5:00 AM, NCWTS Daytona final practice re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, MENCS Cam Am Duel at Daytona re-air, FS1
9:00 AM, Classic NASCAR: 1979 Daytona 500, FS1
12:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Daytona practice, FS1
1:00 PM, MENCS Daytona practice, FS1
2:00 PM, NXS Daytona final practice, FS1
3:00 PM, MENCS Daytona practice, FS1
4:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
4:30 PM, NCWTS Daytona qualifying, FS1
5:00 PM, American Pickers - NASCAR Challenge, HISTORY
6:00 PM, Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS1
7:00 PM, NCWTS Set Up, FS1
7:30 PM, NCWTS Daytona race, FS1

  Saturday, February 25
2:00 AM, Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS1
5:00 AM, NXS Daytona practice re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, MENCS Daytona practice re-air, FS1
7:00 AM, NXS Daytona final practice re-air, FS1
8:00 AM, NCWTS Daytona race re-air, FS1
10:30 AM, NXS Daytona qualifying, FS1
12:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
1:00 PM, MENCS Daytona final practice, FS1
2:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR Race Day: XFINITY, FS1
3:30 PM, NXS Daytona race, FS1
6:00 PM, NXS Post Race Show, FS1
11:00 PM, Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS2

  Sunday, February 26
1:00 AM, NXS Daytona race re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, A Perfect Storm: 1979 Daytona 500, FS1
7:00 AM, Classic NASCAR: 1979 Daytona 500, FS1
7:30 AM, Untold Stories: Daytona, FS1
8:30 AM, Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS1
11:00 AM, NASCAR Race Day, FS1
1:00 PM, MENCS Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show, FOX
2:00 PM, MENCS Daytona 500, FOX
6:00 PM, Undercover Boss - NASCAR, OWN
9:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
11:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

  Monday, February 27
3:00 AM, MENCS Daytona 500 re-air, FS1
6:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
7:00 AM, NXS Daytona race re-air, FS1
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 PM, Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS1

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: February 21, 2017