KIDWCKED
02-15-2010, 03:09 PM
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c\p by Dave Blount from espn
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Greg Biffle hit it on three consecutive laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scraped his car across it several times.
Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and others blamed it for damage.
Those guys zipping around Daytona International Speedway at nearly 190 mph Sunday found themselves in a position much like any everyday driver -- trying to dodge a pothole and then waiting for it to get fixed. The small hole between turns 1 and 2 took center stage at NASCAR's marquee event, marring an otherwise spectacular Daytona 500 and prompting officials to apologize for more than two hours of delays that had some fans heading home.
Daytona International Speedway, last paved in 1978, developed a pothole during Sunday's Daytona 500.
The stoppages came at a critical time for NASCAR, which began this season by making several on-track changes designed to boost sagging TV ratings.
"This is not supposed to happen," track president Robin Braig said. "But we can come back from this. We know how to fix it. ... We know how to do it right. I apologize for it. This is hallowed ground. We understand that. We accept the responsibility."
Whether the hole damaged the sport's credibility will play out over the next few weeks and months. Drivers, crew chiefs and owners said the frantic finish -- with Jamie McMurray holding off Earnhardt on the final lap -- certainly helped overcome the two delays that totaled 2 hours, 24 minutes.
"I don't think it will have an effect on it at all," Earnhardt said. "Track surfaces are going to have problems from time to time. This wasn't a fault of NASCAR. It wasn't a fault of Daytona's or nobody's. It was probably more or less everybody's cars beating on the racetrack with trailing arm mounts and tailpipes. That's going to knock a hole in some asphalt, I don't care where you're at.
"They'll patch it or whatever they'll do, and it won't have this problem again, I promise you that."
NASCAR and track officials said all the right things afterward, calling it an isolated problem and vowing to reach out to fans who might have felt cheated by a race that took more than six hours to complete.
c\p by Dave Blount from espn
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Greg Biffle hit it on three consecutive laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scraped his car across it several times.
Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and others blamed it for damage.
Those guys zipping around Daytona International Speedway at nearly 190 mph Sunday found themselves in a position much like any everyday driver -- trying to dodge a pothole and then waiting for it to get fixed. The small hole between turns 1 and 2 took center stage at NASCAR's marquee event, marring an otherwise spectacular Daytona 500 and prompting officials to apologize for more than two hours of delays that had some fans heading home.
Daytona International Speedway, last paved in 1978, developed a pothole during Sunday's Daytona 500.
The stoppages came at a critical time for NASCAR, which began this season by making several on-track changes designed to boost sagging TV ratings.
"This is not supposed to happen," track president Robin Braig said. "But we can come back from this. We know how to fix it. ... We know how to do it right. I apologize for it. This is hallowed ground. We understand that. We accept the responsibility."
Whether the hole damaged the sport's credibility will play out over the next few weeks and months. Drivers, crew chiefs and owners said the frantic finish -- with Jamie McMurray holding off Earnhardt on the final lap -- certainly helped overcome the two delays that totaled 2 hours, 24 minutes.
"I don't think it will have an effect on it at all," Earnhardt said. "Track surfaces are going to have problems from time to time. This wasn't a fault of NASCAR. It wasn't a fault of Daytona's or nobody's. It was probably more or less everybody's cars beating on the racetrack with trailing arm mounts and tailpipes. That's going to knock a hole in some asphalt, I don't care where you're at.
"They'll patch it or whatever they'll do, and it won't have this problem again, I promise you that."
NASCAR and track officials said all the right things afterward, calling it an isolated problem and vowing to reach out to fans who might have felt cheated by a race that took more than six hours to complete.