Brotherly Love at Daytona

   Brian Keselowski didn’t have a teammate to race with on Thursday.

   He didn’t need one. He had a brother.

   Brian, the older brother of Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski, found his brother during the second Gatorade Duel 150-mile qualifying race and the two worked together to form a fast two-car tandem, which has become commonplace in the racing here this week.

   Late in the race, the brothers managed to even contend for the race lead before eventually Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer took control of the outcome.

   Brain Keselowski, with Brad’s help, still finished fifth – good enough to ensure a starting position in Sunday’s Daytona 500. Brad ended up seventh and was already assured a spot in the field.

   As the cars stopped on pit road following the race, Brad walked over to Brian’s car and stuck his head inside. As Brad left, Brian could be seen wiping tears from his eyes.

   Good things still do happen to good people.

   “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him,” Brian said of Brad. After Brian's midrace difficulty, "I went back there with him to make sure that he could get up behind us. We tried to work together to find a hole (through the field).”

   Brian Keselowski, 29, will be making his first career Sprint Cup start on Sunday. Brad, 26, already has a Cup victory and on a fast track to a big time NASCAR career.

   Brad will race Sunday in a well-prepared, top-of-the-line Dodge from Penske Racing - not a bad deal when Penske teammate Kurt Busch has so far won all the races he's entered at Speedweeks.

   Brian came to Daytona Beach with a car built in 2006 by Evernham Motorsports, engine help from Ernie Elliott and no full sponsorship.

   Asked after the race if he and his brother ever talked about racing in the Daytona 500 together, Brad said, "I’m not sure if we dreamed about it, but I did dream about the day that we didn’t beat each other up.”

   No matter the result on Sunday, Brad Keselowski will continue racing the rest of the 36-race Cup season.

   Now that he's assured a spot in the field, Brian Keselowski will make enough money in the 500 regardless of where he finishes to continue racing at Phoenix next weekend.

   In that sense, Brad has already made Brian a winner this week.

Earnhardt Jr. wrecks pole-winning car

   Dale Earnhardt Jr. will remain credited with the pole for this season's Daytona 500 but will not lead the field to the green flag.

   Earnhardt and Martin Truex Jr. were involved in a wreck during practice on Wednesday, forcing both drivers to have to use backup cars for Thursday's qualifying races and Sunday's 500.

 

   Jimmie Johnson and Earnhardt were running in a two-car tandem with the tandem of Truex and Brian Vickers behind them when Johnson needed to slow because for traffic coming on the track. Truex hit Earnhardt from behind, sending both cars spinning into the infield wall.

 

   "You got to pay attention out there. If you're going to come out and race, you got to pay attention," Earnhardt said.

NASCAR rule changes are underway

    NASCAR wasted no time in making some changes to limit the abundance of two-car tandems that dominated much of Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

 

   Sprint Cup Series crews were issued technical bulletins on Sunday afternoon outlining changes to the size of the openings of the cars' front grills and the addition of a pressure relief valve to the water system.

 

   Both are designed to help limit the amount of time cars would be able to "hook up" together before engine temperatures get dangerously high.

 

   Jimmy Makar, vice president of racing operations for Joe Gibbs Racing, says the changes should decrease the distance drivers can maintain in the two-car tandems.   There could still be additional changes prior to Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races or even Sunday's Daytona 500 if needed, NASCAR officials said.

 

   "Basically, they’re going to restrict the amount of air that’s going to flow through the radiator with a smaller opening in the grill so you’re going to get less cooling through your radiator,” Makar said. “That will tend to make your cars run hotter when you’re in the draft too long. It’s going to make you have to step out more often.

 

   “The valve is going to keep you from being able to run a pressurized water system to where you don’t boil water as quickly. You’re not going to have the ability to run a lot hotter than 220 to 230ish. It will drop that number down a little bit as to how hot you can run the motor before you start pushing water out.”

 

 

   Officials will continue to monitor speeds, which topped upwards of 206 mph by some drivers on Saturday night.

Yellow line rule: Here we go again

   It's become almost as much of a trademark of restrictor-plate racing as "the Big One."

   We can't get through a season without a controversy - or creating one - having to do with NASCAR's yellow-line rule.

   For those new to the sport - since the rule has been in place for nearly a decade now - that means drivers cannot advance their position on the track at Daytona or Talladega by passing below the yellow line (drivers can also be penalized for forcing others below the yellow line).

   So, here we are at the 2011 season's first event, the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, and on the last lap Denny Hamlin dives below the yellow line to pass Ryan Newman in hopes of winning the race. NASCAR calls him on it and black-flags him. Kurt Busch becomes the winner.

   Kurt Busch won at approximately 10:03 p.m. Saturday night. The first motorsports media member lamented about the finish and took up Hamlin's cause at 10:12 p.m. (I was shocked it took that long).

   The rule is silly when racing for the win, they say. Anything should go at the end of a race, they say. Hamlin eventually chimed in himself later, claiming he would have sent Ryan Newman's car airborne if he didn't duck under the yellow line at the last minute.

   Nice one Hamlin. Defending your actions by claiming you may have sent a competitor's car airborne - the greatest fear at tracks like Daytona and Talladega - was self-serving at it's best, but I digress.

   Back to the yellow line rule. In the 2008 Trucks season opener at Daytona, three trucks crossed the finish line three-wide, with one below the yellow line. All were allowed to keep their respective finishing positions because "they were racing for the win on the last lap."

   Months later, Regan Smith used that same move to pass Tony Stewart for the win at the conclusion of a Cup race at Talladega, Ala., but that time NASCAR said no. To help end the confusion, NASCAR President Mike Helton issued the following statement:

   "Since the end of the race there has been some confusion as to what is allowable during the last lap at Daytona and Talladega. To be clear, as we go forward, there will be no passing under the yellow line at any time during NASCAR races at Daytona or Talladega, period. This includes any passing below the yellow line near the start/finish line on the final lap."

   Folks, that's about as clear cut as it gets. And by the way, that's how rules should be - the less ambiguity the better.

   Because some fans and media didn't like the finish of the Shootout - or perhaps who won it - NASCAR is being prompted to flip-flop its rule again.

   I don't have any problem with people who think the yellow line rule itself should be changed. The fact it is, however, it exists and existed Saturday night, so that argument in respect to what took place in the Shootout is irrelevant.

   The only question is did NASCAR follow its own rules it has laid out in this case and it certainly did.

   Case closed.


  

What did Dale Sr. do for Jeff Gordon?

   There's no question once Jeff Gordon debuted in NASCAR in 1992, it wasn't long after fans and media began connecting him to Dale Earnhardt Sr., particularly as a rival on the track.

   And while Earnhardt may never intended it (or maybe he did), he may have helped Gordon connect with a lot of NASCAR fans and establish his own fan base.

   "Absolutely there's no doubt I wouldn't have been as popular, and this is something we talk about today with the sport, with a guy like Jimmie (Johnson) winning five in a row, there just isn't that rivalry. It wasn't made up. It just happened," Gordon explained.

   

   "Here's this young kid from California growing up in modern day motorsports, just growing up being interviewed on ESPN and all those things, to old-school, hard-knocks Dale Earnhardt. It was just black and white, just two total opposites in a way, even though later, as Dale and I got to know one another, we weren't as opposite as maybe it was perceived from the outside. Still, that's the way the fans thought of it and the way the media thought of it. It heightened the excitement of those races, those championship battles."

   Gordon said it was his objective to avoid rivalries, much like his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson appears to do. But that changed with Earnhardt.

   "Dale was just one of those kind of guys that it worked really well for him to have a rival. He had several throughout his career and he thrived on it. You know, that was never really my style.  I didn't ever feel like, 'Hey, you know, Dale's not here, now I've got to take over that role.' It was, We all have our personalities, our jobs, and let's do them the best that we can," Gordon said.

   "He helped build this sport to a level we're proud of and need to keep going. I miss that. We need it. We can't create it. It's going to happen. I mean, I think that's some of the excitement about Kyle (Busch), is he brings a uniqueness that people either love or hate. You get Kyle battling for the championship with somebody like Jimmie or myself, it's definitely going to stir that up."

 

Budweiser Shootout Lineup

33^rd Annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona

Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 8:10 p.m. EST

Starting Lineup

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
   
2. Tony Stewart
   
3. Carl Edwards
   
4. Denny Hamlin
   
5. Kasey Kahne
   
6. Bobby Labonte
   
7. Clint Bowyer
   
8. Ryan Newman
   
9. Derrike Cope
   
10. Michael Waltrip
    
11. Greg Biffle
    
12. Jeff Gordon
    
13. Juan Pablo Montoya
    
14. Jamie McMurray
    
15. Jeff Burton
    
16. Kevin Conway
    
17. Kurt Busch
    
18. Kevin Harvick
    
19. Matt Kenseth
    
20. Mark Martin
    
21. Kyle Busch
    
22. Joey Logano
    
23. Jimmie Johnson
    
24. Regan Smith

NASCAR places Annett on probation for the entire 2011 season

    NASCAR on Friday announced it has placed Nationwide Series driver Michael Annett on probation for the entire year as a result of his drunk driving arrest early Sunday morning in Mooresville, N.C.

   According to a NASCAR release, in addition to steps already undertaken by Annett’s team, Rusty Wallace Inc., Annett will be evaluated by a certified substance abuse professional at NASCAR’s discretion and will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing.

   Annett was charged with DUI, failure to reduce speed, texting while driving and resisting an officer last week. The car he was driving rear-ended another car, which was stopped at a traffic light.

  According to the police report, Annett had a blood-alcohol level of .32 – four times the N.C. legal limit of .08.

   In the past, NASCAR has placed drivers involved in such incidents on probation. In 2009, NASCAR forced driver AJ Allmendinger to take a breathalyzer test before allowing him on the track following a DUI arrest.

   Annett’s team said it was instituting several sanctions of its own, including a zero-tolerance alcohol policy, completion of a comprehensive alcohol awareness program and a yearlong community service program.

   Annett’s first court date is March 18 in Iredell County, N.C.