SRT Motorsports - Nationwide Race Recap - Daytona

 
DAYTONA, Fla., (Friday, July 6, 2012)  – Sam Hornish Jr. earned his ninth top-10 finish of the season in a late-race, wreck-filled Subway Jalapeno 250 Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.

In a race that featured a record 42 lead changes among 16 different race leaders (ties event record), the 250-mile will be more remembered for it’s calamity on cars than leaders. 

“Yeah, it was a strange race,” said Hornish.  “We were able to miss a lot of the carnage and that helped us a lot.  I’m not sure how good our car was, but we got a lot of breaks that helped us get track position back.” 

Hornish battled back from a post-qualifying engine change that sent the Penske Racing driver to rear of the 43-car field that took the green-flag for the scheduled 100-lap contest.

“The guys worked their butts off all weekend,” added Hornish.  “We changed a transmission and an engine.  We started from the back and were able to claw our Würth Dodge Challenger back up to the front.  At the end of the day, we’re looking for wins and we fell short today.  We’ll take a 10th-place finish but we always want more.”

Crew chief Chad Walter used early pit strategy after the race’s first caution on Lap 9, keeping his Dodge driver on the track while most of the field came in for service.  The moved paid off as Hornish not only regained track position but took the race lead.

Hornish made a scheduled green flag stop for tires and fuel on lap 39.  Three laps later, a two-car wreck brought out the race’s second caution, giving the driver of the No. 12 Würth Dodge the Lucky Dog free pass back on the lead lap.

From there, Hornish would use a fast Dodge and some good fortune to pick his way through four cautions during the final 41 laps, including a 14 car pileup on lap 67.  A caution for debris on lap 98 extended the race beyond the scheduled distance for a green-white-checkered finish.

Hornish restarted seventh for the two-lap dash to the checkered flag but wasn’t able to advance in the running order.  He was credited with a 10th-place finish and avoided a multiple car accident as the checkered flag waved.

“Our car wasn’t good enough to push like we needed,” said Hornish.  “Every time that we got into traffic we just got pulled off the car ahead of us,”
 
Brad Keselowski (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger) was on target to win his first restrictor-plate race at Daytona International Speedway until the former Nationwide Series champion was collected in big accident on lap 67.  Keselowski’s was running inside the top 10 when two cars slowed at the front of the pack causing a chain reaction that the driver of the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge couldn’t avoid.

“Somebody switched lanes in front of me,” said Keselowski.  “It looked like they were overheating or something, switched lanes in front of the field and checked everybody up.  We’re going too fast when somebody switches lanes or breaks apart a two-car tandem.  They’re going 10 miles an hour slower and just can’t keep up with it.  Somebody ran into one of ‘em and I thought I had it cleared.  Somebody came up from the bottom and clipped me in the left-rear and got the Discount Tire Dodge involved.  That’s racing, just the way it’s gonna go.” 

Kurt Bush won the race, his second Nationwide win of the season and fifth of his career.

Race Results
NASCAR Nationwide Series   
Subway Jalapeno 250
Daytona International Speedway  
1. Kurt Busch       
2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.       
3. Michael Annett
4. Austin Dillon
5. Joey Logano
6. Elliott Sadler
7. Justin Allgaier
8. Mike Bliss
9. Timmy Hill
10. SAM HORNISH JR.   
35. BRAD KESELOWSKI

NASCAR Nationwide Series           
Point Standings
(After 16 of 33 events)
  1. Elliott Sadler  591
  2. Austin Dillon  -2
  3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  -18              
  4. SAM HORNISH Jr.  -35
  5. Justin Allgaier  -72  
  6. Michael Annett  -95
  7. Cole Whitt  -103
  8. Mike Bliss  -164
  9. Danica Patrick  -208  
10. Tayler Malsam  -222 

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