New Beginnings

I am proud to announce that I am starting a new internship with CombatRadio on LAtalkradio.com. I am so excited to start this new adventure with such a great program with fantastic guest. I have a secondary twitter account so head over and follow me @stephen_combat, and tune into combatradio tomorrow morning on LAtalkradio.com

Vicotory for the Small Teams

Hendrick Motorsports may have taken the Harley J. Earl trophy of the Daytona 500 home but Drivers Michael McDowell and J.J. Yaley were celebrating like they just won the 500 after McDowell finished 8th and Yaley 9th in the Great American race. This is a huge victory considering the size of there teams. McDowell driver for Phil Parsons Racing a one car Operation and Yaley Driver for Newly two car team Tommy Baldwin Racing. A top ten at the Daytona 500 for these small teams means a big pay day for these small teams that may have to live race by race. A big congratulations to Phil Parsons Racing and Tommy Bladwin Racing for there individual victories at Daytona.

- Stephen Appell  

The Smoke Has Settled

The smoke has settled over Speed Weeks at Daytona International Speedway and there was smoke. Speed Weeks 2013 was filled with wrecks, starting with testing; then The Inaugural Battle at the Beach which had controversial finishes in each. The biggest wreck came Saturday coming to the checked flag when Regan Smith and Brad Keselowski tangled when Smith went to block. This caused the big one coming to the line it also sent rookie Kyle Larson air born slamming nose first into the catch fence. The fence did its job correctly by keeping Larson’s car out of the grandstands yet debris went flying into the stand injuring fans. Tony Sterwart was the one who made it through the wreck to take yet another victory in the Nationwide series at Daytona. The 500 also had a last lap wreck in which Nascar made the correct call by not throwing the caution since no cars were in danger if they ran to the checkered in which Jimmie Johnson held off a last lap charge from Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to end a six year 20^th or worse 500 drought.

            Although the 500 was not the race most were probably expecting most of the race was spent in a straight line lacking the action that the past few years have supplied. The small spoilers and longer bumpers lead to the end of tandem drafting. We can most likely expect a rules change by the time we get to Talladega. The Nationwide series has it down tandem drafting to pack racing there speedway package works so hopefully we will see a pack for the cup cars like that. One thing is for sure the season will sure be interesting off to Phoenix.

-Stephen Appell

5 Races Down 5 to Go

Were half way through the Races during Speedweeks at Daytona. The ARCA Racing Series kicked off the races with a usual Daytona style race with the big one in which Jon Wes Townly too the victory, later that night the Sprint Cup cars took the track for there first race in the Sprint Unlimited. This was the first chance for fans to see how the new GEN 6 car would fair during a race and it was not what we were used to seeing, as the passing was not as present unlike years past although Kevin Harvick had an impressive win over Greg Biffle. The following races of the first ever Battle at the Beach had fireworks for the first two. In the Late Model race rising star Kyle Larson had a controversial bump to leader CE Faulk, followed by Larson spinning CE exiting turn 4 coming to the checkered flag. Tuesday nights Modified was dominated by Todd Szegedy who lead 126 laps before a lower right front ball joint broke on his car, handing the lead to Mike Stefanik who lead until the last lap when second place Steve Park was bumped by third place which forced him into the back of Stefanik turning him around exiting turn two. Following the modified rac was the K&N Pro Series East and West race which was as exciting compared to the previous two races. Gene Price Motorsports new comer Cameron Haley was victorious in the final Battle at the Beach race.
We have 5 more races to go wit the Budwiser Duels, Camping World Truck, Nascar Nationwide Series, followed by the Daytona 500