DAYTONA, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson calls his Daytona 500 from last year, when he crashed on the second lap, “about as bad as it gets.”
And that’s saying something, with the way his Daytona 500s have gone over the last six years.Johnson has been 42nd, 27th, 35th, 31st, 27th and 39th — crashing in ’07, losing a rear axle in ’10 — in NASCAR’s premier race since he won it in 2006.“My memory says a lot of DNFs,” he said. “Last year’s was about as bad as it gets — leaving the first lap crashing, that wasn’t a good one. We will hopefully make 2.7 miles this year before anything happens.”Johnson will start ninth for Sunday’s race after finishing fourth in his Duels run.He remembers the impact a win in the Daytona 500 can have on a young driver.“My dreams were to try to be the best in this sport,” he said. “The way you do that is by winning big events and championships. ... First realistic goal on my list was a 500 win or a Brickyard win.”Night duelsNASCAR must be taking a liking to night-time racing at Daytona.The series announced Thursday that the Budweiser Duel qualifying races will move to prime time next year, out of their traditional Thursday daylight start.The twin 150-mile races, which set the third through 32nd spots in the Daytona 500, will be televised by Fox. No start times were announced. The daytime races usually start at 1:15 and 3:30.Last year, rain postponed the Daytona 500 more than 24 hours, moving it to its first night start ever, a Monday prime time race that earned high ratings.‘Lame’ HarvickKevin Harvick has started his “lame duck” year with Richard Childress Motorsports with two wins in two races — the Sprint Unlimited last weekend and the first Budweiser Duel on Thursday.He credited the professionalism of his team and crew chief Gil Martin, despite the driver’s widely expected move to Stewart Haas Racing or another team next year.“Everybody was focused on building race cars. There wasn’t really any drama,” he said. “The drama was over once Richard and I talked about everything that was going to happen at the end of this year. The emotional side of it was gone. ... Gil and these guys, they just want to win races. They’re going to work on the car, whether it’s a guy that’s going to be here for tomorrow or for 20 years. Their job is the same.”Busch planKyle Busch won the second Budweiser Duel, and he identified his top lesson from the 60-lap exhibition race in the new car — it will be hard to pass the leader.“I hate to say that,” he said. “These cars so far have shown it’s a little bit harder to pass the leader, especially if you’re the guy that’s on the top side.”Busch said patience ran out for him and some drivers on Lap 40. He said experience will pay on Sunday.“If you can keep the good restrictor-plate guys like Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon out of the lead, it might be anybody’s race,” he said. “But any time you get a good smart racer up there like that, it’s going to be hard to beat them.”
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Don’t forget — Jeff Gordon is starting on the front row at the Daytona 500, too
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