The Champ Is Ready
By Bob Pockrass
2014 Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick reflected on his title and how special it would be to capture another Daytona 500.
Brad K: Edwards 'the best driver'
By Bob Pockrass
Brad Keselowski was asked during Daytona 500 media day where he stacked up among Sprint Cup drivers. In pure Keselowski fashion, he gave a blunt assessment. At this time, he feels he's third, behind Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. \"Carl Edwards is the best driver in Sprint Cup,\" Keselowski said. \"That is my personal opinion. It doesn't make it law or fact, but I think to go with that you could probably place an argument for Kevin as the second best. It is a bit subjective.\" Harvick won the 2014 Sprint Cup title. But Edwards, who struggled last year despite two wins, is the best? \"I have seen what Carl has done in cars that didn't have the speed,\" Keselowski said. \"He has a very diverse skill set. ... [He] has won at every type of track, and I feel like he does the best job of any driver I have seen out there at taking a car that is not fast and finding speed out of it. \"I think when the times have come that he has had dominant cars, he has showed dominant performances.\" As far as Keselowski's assessment of himself, he did say he wasn't a top-three driver every week. \"I feel like I am a top-three driver in the Sprint Cup Series,\" he said. \"I feel really good about my position week to week. Based on whether it is the track or rules changes, I feel like I can be either the best driver or all the way back to a 10th-place driver.\" NASCAR clarifies some rules
By Bob Pockrass
NASCAR, which announced this past month that teams would not be allowed to flare the side skirts, released the penalty for that violation and other unapproved adjustments teams make during a race.
Teams who make unapproved adjustments under caution will have to come back in under caution, fix the car, restart at the rear of the field and then do a pass-through on pit road under green at pit-road speed.
Teams who make unapproved adjustments under green will have to come in under green and fix their cars to NASCAR's satisfaction.
If NASCAR identifies a crew member who makes the illegal adjustment, it will issue that person a warning on the first offense and increase the sanctions for additional offenses.
The procedure was released Thursday morning in a wide-ranging bulletin issued to teams.
NASCAR also put into writing what happens if two drivers tie at the finish of a race, a rarity considering the combination of NASCAR's timing system and cameras at the finish line typically allows NASCAR to determine finishing order.
If NASCAR can't break a tie, the driver who has led the most laps will be awarded the higher finish. If no driver has led a lap, the driver who spent the most laps in second will be higher. Then if still tied, whoever has run the most laps in third, then fourth, etc.
In another rule clarification, NASCAR put into writing that it could take away a driver's qualifying time if it determines the driver impacted the qualifying lap of another driver -- for instance, by coming off pit road and cutting in front of a driver already on the track during the group qualifying session.
Behind the wall
By Bob Pockrass
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