KIDWCKED
02-19-2012, 04:21 PM
By David Caraviello,Nascar.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The No. 29 car of Kevin Harvick was missing all of its front-end sheet metal as it was pushed through the garage area late Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. The No. 17 car of Matt Kensethwas up on jacks, its nose smashed in as if it had recently taken a punch to the face. The No. 51 car of Kurt Busch looked as if a giant animal had taken a bite out of its left-rear flank. And then there was the No. 24 car of Jeff Gordon, hanging from the hook of a wrecker, scraped and dented and crumpled in almost every way possible after tumbling again and again and again near the end of the Budweiser Shootout.
The only thing louder than the roar of the 13 remaining Sprint Cup cars restarting to finish the race was the gnashing of a power saw, which Hendrick Motorsports crewmen used to cut away chunks from Gordon's mangled vehicle. All eyes and mobile phone cameras were pointed in the direction of the mechanical carnage -- until Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch barreled wheel-to-wheel toward the finish line, leaving spectators cheering an apparent victory by the three-time champion, and then showing shocked expressions when a red No. 18 blinked atop the infield scoring tower.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/nascar/dam/assets/120219053644-shootout-wrecks-nosyn-story-body.jpg
Goodness. Pack racing is back, and with it all the glory and calamity that is so often synonymous with it, all of that very evident in 82 laps Saturday night at NASCAR's most famous track. Now take a deep breath, multiply everything by a factor of two or three, and pull tight on those belts in anticipation of the Daytona 500.
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af275/toddr1/s1_1.jpg
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The No. 29 car of Kevin Harvick was missing all of its front-end sheet metal as it was pushed through the garage area late Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. The No. 17 car of Matt Kensethwas up on jacks, its nose smashed in as if it had recently taken a punch to the face. The No. 51 car of Kurt Busch looked as if a giant animal had taken a bite out of its left-rear flank. And then there was the No. 24 car of Jeff Gordon, hanging from the hook of a wrecker, scraped and dented and crumpled in almost every way possible after tumbling again and again and again near the end of the Budweiser Shootout.
The only thing louder than the roar of the 13 remaining Sprint Cup cars restarting to finish the race was the gnashing of a power saw, which Hendrick Motorsports crewmen used to cut away chunks from Gordon's mangled vehicle. All eyes and mobile phone cameras were pointed in the direction of the mechanical carnage -- until Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch barreled wheel-to-wheel toward the finish line, leaving spectators cheering an apparent victory by the three-time champion, and then showing shocked expressions when a red No. 18 blinked atop the infield scoring tower.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/nascar/dam/assets/120219053644-shootout-wrecks-nosyn-story-body.jpg
Goodness. Pack racing is back, and with it all the glory and calamity that is so often synonymous with it, all of that very evident in 82 laps Saturday night at NASCAR's most famous track. Now take a deep breath, multiply everything by a factor of two or three, and pull tight on those belts in anticipation of the Daytona 500.
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af275/toddr1/s1_1.jpg