NASCAR teenager takes on K&N Pro Series

Gray Gaulding, a teenage rookie taking his first steps in NASCAR, is off to a great start.
He was second in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series UNOH Battle of the Beach at Daytona International Speedway.
He followed with a top 10 finish at Phoenix International Raceway in the K&N Pro Series West.
He will be racing the entire K&N Pro Series East schedule starting at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
Go to the K&N website for more on Gaulding.

Photo: Gray Gaulding was the highest-finishing rookie in both NASCAR K&N Pro Series races this season.

Matt Kenseth visit Pink's in Los Angeles before heading out to Arizona for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kenseth won his second Daytona 500 on Monday, a race delayed a day by rain and red-flagged for more than two hours after Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer safety vehicle and set the track on fire.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will visit Auto Club Speedway in Fontana from March 23-25.

Three minutes with Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth

Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth visited Los Angeles on Wednesday. He was at Pink's on Melrose and La Brea where he created his own Daytona Dog, complete with guacamole and jalapenos.
It looked more like something Oscar the Grouch would sneeze on to a hot dog bun, but there weren't many complaints from the fans who showed up to see and meet Kenseth and grad a dog.
He won his second Daytona 500 on Monday, a race that was delayed a day by rain and for more than two hours when Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer during a caution period. The crash caused a fire and red-flagged the race, forcing the finish well past midnight in Florida.
During the red flag, Brad Keselowski became a Twitter star. He was Tweeting from the track and gained tens of thousands of followers.
Kenseth has about as many followes, 75,000, as Keselowski gained at the Daytona 500. The two-time Daytona 500 winner compared his two Daytona 500 wins, showed off his newest Daytona 500 ring, and discussed the penalty Jimmie Johnson's team received after the Daytona 500.

Pace car for the Daytona 500 unveiled

The 2011 Ford Mustang GT will be the pace car for the Daytona 500 next month. Ford released a photo of it today.
Enjoy!

Here are some interesting notes about the Mustang, courtesy of Ford:
·        The new 2011 Mustang GT, powered by the all-new 412-horsepower 5.0-liter V-8, will serve as the pace car for this year’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14.

·        This will mark the first time in 40 years that a Ford has served as the pace car for ‘The Great American Race,’ with the last time being in 1970 when a Ford Torino GT convertible did the honors.  It is Mustang’s first time as pace car for the Daytona 500.

·        Fifty special pace car editions of the 2011 Mustang GT will be built and sold to the public.

·        The actual Race Red Mustang will be auctioned at the 39th Annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector Car Auction on Jan. 23, with the help of Richard Petty, the newest member of the Ford Racing family.

Strange finish in Daytona 500

Because of the rain and because Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were fighting to stay on the lead lap, the Daytona 500 produced a strange list of finishers, with some unfamiliar names and unlikely teams in the top 10.
Matt Kenseth made the NASCAR world right by winning the race and Kevin Harvick, a former Daytona 500 winner, came in second.

“I think in the garage it will definitely be a popular win,” Harvick said. “I think Matt’s obviously a pretty stand up person and a great racecar driver, accomplished a lot in this sport. I think a lot of us can relate to Matt for kind of going out of the spotlight. I think he’s one of those guys that he can win seven or eight races in a year and never receive any credit. He’s a really good racecar driver. He’s a champion, Daytona 500 champion. I think a lot of times some of those things are overlooked.”

After the top-two drivers, the list of finishers gets a little curious. A.J. Allmendinger was third and Elliott Sadler was fifth, giving the newly formed Richard Petty Motorsports two drivers in the top five. This coming days after Kyle Petty criticized the new team. This coming weeks after Sadler had to fight and threaten a lawsuit to keep his seat in the No. 19 Dodge.
“I’m going to be honest with you. I’m not going to lie to you. I was getting pretty emotional under the caution when it was raining a little bit in turn one and two,” said Sadler, who was leading moments before rain started falling on the race track. “I thought it was going to be called a little bit earlier than it was. I was getting emotional in the car thinking, Wouldn’t this be the coolest story? I came down here as a fan the first time in 1979 and finished second to Ward Burton, and now to have a chance to win the race.”
David Ragan was sixth, Michael Waltrip was seventh, Tony Stewart was eighth and Reed Sorenson was ninth.
It shouldn’t be that surprising to see Ragan in the top 10. He has been expected to be a top 10 driver, even a contender to win races, since joining Roush Fenway Racing last year.
It was Waltrip’s best finish since winning a rain-shortened Daytona 500 in 2003.
Stewart, driving for his own team for the first time in his NASCAR career, and driving a back-up car because he wrecked with teammate Ryan Newman in practice on Saturday, actually led the Daytona 500 for a time and looked like he might have a car that could win the race.
Sorenson, driving another one of the Richard Petty Motorsports cars, made it quite a debut for the newly formed team.