Nationwide Series - Drive4COPD 300

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DanicaFan

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As we all know, Danica makes her Nationwide Series debut this Saturday at Daytona for the Drive4COPD 300. The race will be televised at 1pm Eastern on ESPN2.

I cant wait. I think Danica will have another great race!

After today's first practice session, Tony Stewart was on top of the speed chart. He had a lap time of 48.729 with a speed of 184.695. Danica was 26th fastest with a lap time of 49.183 and a speed 182.990.

The top 10 were..

1. #4 Tony Stewart 48.729 / 184.695
2. #43 Scott Lagasse Jr. 48.768 / 184.547
3. #40 Mike Bliss 48.834 / 184.298
4. #66 Steve Wallace 48.836 / 184.290
5. #27 Greg Biffle 48.949 / 183.865
6. #1 James Buescher 48.983 / 183.737
7. #22 Brad Keselowski 49.001 / 183.670
8. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 49.008 / 183.643
9. #20 Joey Logano 49.013 / 183.625
10. #18 Kyle Busch 49.019 / 183.602
 
It's not just you looking forward to the race, it has to be ESPN as well. The numbers released yesterday show that they should be. An 87% increase in viewers for the ARCA race over 2009, pretty impressive. That number surely has to fall but whether people are tuning in to watch her fail or root for her to be successful, people are tuning in.

Danica's ARCA start lifts TV Ratings to record level: SPEED coverage of the ARCA Racing Series season opener from Daytona scored a Nielsen Household Rating of 2.30 (1,723,000 households), a 59% increase over last year's 1.45 (1,062,000 households). Highlighted by the stock car debut of Danica Patrick, race coverage peaked at 2.66 (1,997,000 households), up a stunning 72 percent from last year's peak of 1.55 (1,137,000 households). According to Nielsen Media Research, 2.4 million viewers tuned in to see the Saturday afternoon race, an 87% increase over last year's audience of 1.3 million. The Nielsen ratings, which positioned SPEED as the No. 1 network in basic cable during the time slot, were the highest ever for an ARCA race and rank only behind SPEED's exclusive coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race as the highest ratings ever for the network.
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Nothing but rain at Daytona. Not looking good for qualifications at the moment.
 
Well, the qualifications have now been rained out. Danica will start 15th. The lineup is determined by the rulebook.
 
Does anyone else think ESPN's missing a big opportunity by airing this race on ESPN2?

Not that they care about racing or anything.
 
Due to qualifying being rained, the rulebook was used to set the starting grid. This is how it should look for tomorrow's race..

1. #18 Kyle Busch
2. #60 Carl Edwards
3. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4. #33 Kevin Harvick
5. #21 John Wes Townley
6. #20 Joey Logano
7. #32 Brian Vickers
8. #38 Kasey Kahne
9. #16 Colin Braun
10. #6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11. #1 James Buescher
12. #12 Justin Allgaier
13. #66 Steve Wallace
14. #43 Scott Lagasse Jr.
15. #7 Danica Patrick
16. #62 Brendan Gaughan
17. #99 Trevor Bayne
18. #15 Michael Annett
19. #28 Kenny Wallace
20. #34 Tony Raines
21. #40 Mike Bliss
22. #10 Jason Leffler
23. #01 Mike Wallace
24. #22 Brad Keselowski
25. #81 Michael McDowell
26. #24 Eric McClure
27. #23 Robert Richardson
28. #26 Brian Keselowski
29. #61 Josh Wise
30. #87 Joe Nemechek
31. #4 Tony Stewart
32. #27 Greg Biffle
33. #05 Jeff Green
34. #97 Jeff Fuller
35. #04 Brad Teague
36. #41 Chrissy Wallace
37. #02 Danny Efland
38. #11 Brian Scott
39. #48 Johnny Sauter
40. #09 Scott Riggs
41. #89 Morgan Shepherd
42. #31 Stanton Barrett
43. #5 Bobby Gerhardt

Would Not Qualify

#0 Clements
#35 Keller
#42 Kligerman
#49 Green
#52 Nuenberger
#56 Lepage
#70 Howard
#73 Cope
#75 Rowe
#83 Borneman
#92 Chapman
#96 Setzer
#98 Menard
 
DanicaFan said:
Yep. When will they run the truck race?
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According to a friend on facebook, via twitter, they plan on running the truck race tonight, regardless of how late. Looking at the weather, it might be a 10 pm start time.
 
VaDirt said:
According to a friend on facebook, via twitter, they plan on running the truck race tonight, regardless of how late. Looking at the weather, it might be a 10 pm start time.
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Cool. I will have to watch it. Thanks.
 
It will be MUCH harder for her to get a top 10 when you have guys like Smoke, Busch, Logano, Edwards and about 15 other Cup guys.
 
It's interesting to see that five teams decided to withdraw from the race, which put Paul Menard into it. I think how NASCAR has the rain out rules for the first race year of the year is kind of stupid. You should not be in or out due to the luck of the draw on qualifying. They should have it set to be based on practice speeds for those drives not in by last years points, wins, or past champions.

---------------------------

1 18 Kyle Busch
2 60 Carl Edwards
3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4 33 Kevin Harvick
5 21 John Wes Townley
6 20 Joey Logano
7 32 Brian Vickers
8 38 Kasey Kahne
9 16 Colin Braun*
10 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*
11 1 James Buescher*
12 12 Justin Allgaier
13 66 Steve Wallace
14 43 Scott Lagasse Jr.
15 7 Danica Patrick
16 62 Brendan Gaughan
17 99 Trevor Bayne
18 15 Michael Annett
19 28 Kenny Wallace
20 34 Tony Raines
21 40 Mike Bliss
22 10 Jason Leffler
23 01 Mike Wallace
24 22 Brad Keselowski
25 81 Michael McDowell
26 24 Eric McClure
27 23 Robert Richardson Jr.
28 26 Brian Keselowski
29 61 Josh Wise
30 87 Joe Nemechek
31 27 Greg Biffle
32 4 Tony Stewart
33 05 Jeff Green
34 104 Brad Teague
35 41 Chrissy Wallace
36 102 Danny Efland
37 11 Brian Scott
38 148 Johnny Sauter
39 09 Scott Riggs
40 89 Morgan Shepherd
41 31 Stanton Barrett
42 275 Bobby Gerhart
43 98 Paul Menard


Did not qualify: #0-Clements, #35-Keller, #56-Lepage, #70-Howard, #73-Cope, #75-Rowe, #83-Borneman, #92-Chapman

Withdrew: #97-Fuller, #52-Neuenberger, #96-Setzer, #49-Green, #42-Kligerman.
 
Stewart Fan said:
It will be MUCH harder for her to get a top 10 when you have guys like Smoke, Busch, Logano, Edwards and about 15 other Cup guys.
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That's just silly.Of course she won"t score a top ten finish against those guys.It's her first race for pete's sake.I can understand folks who don't know Nascar saying this stuff...but really, Nascar fans know how good this competition is and Dale Sr. himself couldn't come into Nascar and beat guys on this level in his first race.Geez cut her some slack.A lead lap finish would be a great start.Top tens may come this year,her team may put a winning car under her and she might stay out of trouble and together they may score a top ten.
 
The field sure is 'Wallace' heavy! I'm surprised that Rusty didn't come out of retirement for this one.
 
ted@economy said:
That's just silly.Of course she won"t score a top ten finish against those guys.It's her first race for pete's sake.I can understand folks who don't know Nascar saying this stuff...but really, Nascar fans know how good this competition is and Dale Sr. himself couldn't come into Nascar and beat guys on this level in his first race.Geez cut her some slack.A lead lap finish would be a great start.Top tens may come this year,her team may put a winning car under her and she might stay out of trouble and together they may score a top ten.
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Right on. Comparing her against the likes of those in Cup at this stage doesn't make any sense at all.
 
That was a wild race. Lots of wrecks. Unfortunate for Danica, that crash caused her to get out of a good race.

She ended up 35th.
 
I'm surprised the race wasn't called the Danica Patrick 300.considering the constant coverage and every commerical featured her.
 
dannynascar said:
I'm surprised the race wasn't called the Danica Patrick 300.considering the constant coverage and every commerical featured her.
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Heh I tuned in around lap 12 and within 3 laps they had said her name/showed her pic 20 times! I tuned out after that. The highlights looked good, glad Dale Jr is okay after that wreck.
 
Thanks Carl, what the hell was he thinking about, he tore damn near half the field. It's not like anyone would've beaten Tony anyway, but Carl turned it into a yawner...
 
dannynascar said:
I'm surprised the race wasn't called the Danica Patrick 300.considering the constant coverage and every commerical featured her.
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Because I was working, I had to listen to the race on MRN. Danica's name was only mentioned when they did a run down of positions, and two other times coming out of commercial about NASCAR.com.
 
buckaroo said:
Because I was working, I had to listen to the race on MRN. Danica's name was only mentioned when they did a run down of positions, and two other times coming out of commercial about NASCAR.com.
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Yeah,I totally agree.It seems to be the thing to do to be anti Danica right now because she is getting more attention than (insert favorite driver here) but really that is what networks do.They totally ignore most of the field and follow a few drivers who are popular with the viewers.Always have,always will.Most of the time real fans have to watch the ticker going accross the screen to see where their driver is running.Just the way it is.
 
So who won the race? With all the replays of Danica wrecking and Junior flipping, no highlights of the winner taking the checkered flag. :(
 
dannynascar said:
I'm surprised the race wasn't called the Danica Patrick 300.considering the constant coverage and every commerical featured her.
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LOL, this coming from a Jr Fan...That's too funny. My mon always told me to think before I open my pie hole!!!!
 
Well I will have to say it was the only time I've watched what was going on in the back of the field. I didn't see it as being "the danica race" as everyone keeps saying it was if it was the cameras would have been on her the entire time she was on the track. The cameras were on the leaders, so that we didn't actually see her pass 6 cars from 27th to 21st before the wreck.

Danica may single handedly get more of an audience to watch the Nationwide series than ever before, and may even get some of us watching that series more closely than the Cup series. Some because we're pulling for her, some because they want to see her fail.
 
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