By Pete McCole
Aric Almirola (10) was one of 16 cars involved in a lap 14 crash during Sunday s NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Aric Almirola just can’t seem to catch a break at Daytona.
Just four days after taking the checked flag in one of the two 60-lap qualifying races on Thursday, Almirola found himself in a familiar spot in Sunday’s Daytona 500 – standing in the infield grass beside a wrecked race car through no fault of his own.
After starting third in the season-opening race, Almirola was running second on lap 15 when he was sent spinning off the front bumper of Christopher Bell, sending him up the track and into polesitter Alex Bowman, triggering a crash that collected 14 cars, including Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Newman, William Byron and Martin Truex, Jr.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Ryan Newman was lying in bed one morning, his two daughters still tucked in down the hall, when a YouTube video of his death-defying c
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says the entire 2001 NASCAR racing season takes residence in a heavily fogged area of his memory because of his father’s death in the season-opening Daytona 500.
“I don’t remember much about that year,” Earnhardt said in an exclusive interview with the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “It was just very heavy, very weighty; cloudy and it was a dark mood.”
His father’s race team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., had reached a new high as Michael Waltrip won the 2001 Daytona 500 and was followed across the finish line by 26-year-old Earnhardt Jr.
Yet that definitive high would soon turn into the ultimate despair after Earnhardt Sr. hit the outside, concrete retaining wall in Turn 4, sparking a mass pileup
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Ryan Newman was lying in bed one morning, his two daughters still tucked in down the hall, when a YouTube video of his death-defying crash popped up as a recommended watch.He hit play, absorbing every angle of the terrifying.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Shocked on Podcast Hearing Story About NASCAR President Talking With His Dad on Radio During Races, Including 1998 Daytona 500
February 11, 2021
Dale Earnhardt was the definition of NASCAR, winning seven Cup Series championships in his legendary career. For Earnhardt, being the face of the sport included special privileges, like close ties with the top bosses at NASCAR headquarters.
In the latest
Dale Jr. Download podcast, Larry McReynolds genuinely shocked Junior when he revealed just how cozy his father got with some of NASCAR’s top brass. McReynolds detailed an unbelievable incident that happened mere minutes before Earnhardt won the 1998 Daytona 500 and how that moment almost cost him his job and career in NASCAR.