Huge Wreck Takes Out Most Of Field In Sunday’s “Clash”: What You Need To Know For February 11, 2019

What you need to know …

… about Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash

• Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s rain-shortened Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway
• The Advance Auto Parts Clash is a non-points, exhibition race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
• Rain shortened the event by 16 laps after bringing out the red flag twice during the actual event
• A few minutes prior to the last rain-shower that would cause NASCAR to declare the event official, a 17-car wreck ensued after Paul Menard and Johnson made contact while battling for the lead (there were only 20 total cars in the field to begin with)
• Kurt Busch finished second, followed by Joey Logano (third), Ryan Blaney (fourth), and Alex Bowman (fifth)
• Johnson had failed to finish the Clash in the prior six races

For more information: Full race recap … Full results … Kurt Busch explains the single-file racing seen during Clash

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… about Daytona 500 qualifying

• William Byron will start on the pole for the Daytona 500, alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman
• Byron and Bowman will make up the youngest front row in Daytona 500 history
• Hendrick Motorsports swept the top four speeds in qualifying, with Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott earning the third and fourth fastest times, respectively
• Byron has a new crew chief for the 2019 season in veteran Chad Knaus — Knaus worked with Johnson from 2002 through 2018, winning seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championships and 83 races together
• The starting lineup for third through 40th for the 2019 Daytona 500 will be determined in Thursday’s Gander RV Duel races (6PM ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

For more information: Daytona 500 qualifying results … Starting lineups for Thursdays duels … Full story from Kickin’ The Tires’ Caleb Whisler

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… about the car chiefs who have been ejected

• The car chiefs for these three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams have been ejected for the remainder of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway: the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (driver Chase Elliott); the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (Austin Dillon); and the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet (Ty Dillon).
• Each team failed pre-qualifying inspection twice, resulting in the ejection of each car chief
• Each team will also lose 15 minutes of practice time on Saturday, Feb. 16th
• In 2018, teams were given three chances to pass pre-qualifying inspection before the car chief was ejected
• All three teams were eventually able to pass inspection and make their qualifying run for the Daytona 500
• Speedweeks will conclude with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17th

For more information: Full story from NASCAR.com … Full story from Racer.com’s Kelly Crandall … Story from Shane Walters on RacingNews.co

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… about the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona

• Rain forced the postponement of Sunday’s season-opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals from Pomona until Monday morning
• Only six Top Fuel races were run on Sunday in between rain showers
• Racing will resume at Auto Club Raceway on Monday, February 11th at 10:00AM
• Fox Sports 1 will air tape-delayed coverage on Monday evening at 8:00PM ET
• Weather.com calls for a high of 60 degrees, with sunny conditions, and 0% chance for precipitation on Monday

For more information: Official NHRA story … Story from Larry Stewart at DailyNews.com … Story from Elliott Stern at LompocRecord.com

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… Max Verstappen’s public service penalty

• F1 driver Max Verstappen has completed the “public service” sentence he was given following an incident with another driver in the Brazilian Grand Prix last season
• The 21-year-old Red Bull driver completed phase one of his public service when he observed stewards during a Formula E race in Marrakesh last month
• Phase two was completed when Verstappen went to Geneva to participate in “interactive case study sessions” with international race stewards
• Verstappen was sentenced with public service after shoving Force India driver Esteban Ocon following an on-track incident in November of 2018

For more information: Max Verstappen’s F1 page … Story from SpeedCafe.com’s Mat Coch … Story from Reuters’ Alan Baldwin

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