Daytona 500
Mark Martin knows where he’ll be sitting when the Daytona 500 opens next week. His car already is sitting at the pole, just waiting for the race to begin. Martin has been a qualifying machine throughout his career, with 49 poles – 7 last year alone, but this is his first time leading the pack at the Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., also no stranger to the front row, will be in the next car over. It’s safe to say that Hendrick Motors is feeling good about owning all of the front row for the biggest race in NASCAR.
After that…...
Junior’s Bad Day
It looked like it was going to be a good day for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He started in the front row and held the lead for 41 laps of the Price Chopper 400 on Sunday, until a loose lug nut turned into a monkey wrench for the number 88 car. As Junior pulled away from a routine pit stop, the NASCAR official in the pit pointed emphatically to the tire left behind in pit row. The crew had not reattached one of the lug nuts on the left rear tire. In short order, the...