A bump in the corner sent Michael Waltrip to the garage and Carl Edwards to pit road for a one-lap aggressive driving penalty. The #99 Aaron's Dream Machine finished 38th in the Winn-Dixie 250, tonight's Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
The command to start engines came at 7:58pm ET. Aaron's Dream Machine rolled off pit road from the 35th position; although Mikey had qualified 37th, he gained a spot when Jamie McMurray had to drop to the rear of the field at the beginning. JJ Yeley starting on the pole.
The green flag waved at 8:10pm. Yeley jumped ahead of Menard, and the front-runners ran single-file for half a lap. Menard was dumped out halfway through the first lap and fell far back.
One lap into the race, Mikey gained 34th from David Green. Cars returned single-file through the first ten or twelve. Lap 3 saw Mikey passing Stacy Compton and Tim Sauter for two more spots. He passed Danny O'Quinn for another spot the next time around the track. Getting around Steadman Marlin on lap 5 advanced Mikey to 30th.
Mikey fell to 32nd on lap 7, but he gained both spots back two laps later. Cars were beginning to bump-draft. Denny Hamlin took the lead on lap 10.
The Aaron's Dream Machine was up to 28th on lap 12, passing Burney Lamar and Jon Wood. At the front of the field, Dale Earnhardt Jr took to the outside lane and attempted to pass for the top spot. He dropped to 4th instead. Meanwhile, Mikey gained another position to Todd Kluever. Lap 15 saw Mikey pass Kenny Wallace, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne for 24th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr jumped back up to the top groove, outside Hamlin. Getting a run off Turn 4, he got a run and made side contact; however, Hamlin maintained the lead. The pair remained beside one another. Mikey passed Scott Wimmer as Junior took the lead going into lap 17. The Aaron's Dream Machine was 23rd.
Mikey moved to 20th on lap 19, having passed Jason Leffler, Paul Tracy, and Kevin Hamlin. He picked up another spot the next time around the track, as Ashton Lewis Jr fell a few spots. The Aaron's Dream Machine got around Mike Wallace and Regan Smith for 17th on lap 21. Two laps later, he was up another two spots; he'd passed Jamie McMurray and Reed Sorenson. Junior had jumped out to a half-second lead over JJ Yeley, with no drafting help.
On lap 25, Mikey advanced to 14th by getting around Greg Biffle. FOX took notice of his progress. Lap 27 saw the #99 move into 13th, after manuevering around Kyle Busch. Junior was nearly two seconds ahead of Edwards in 2nd. Reports of debris on the back straightaway arose over radios starting on lap 31, and Junior was now three seconds ahead of Edwards.
Mikey gained 12th to Martin Truex Jr on lap 34. Two laps later, he was 11th; he got around Paul Menard. The Aaron's Dream Machine was nine and a half seconds off the lead, as Junior rode a steady three seconds over 2nd.
Lap 40 saw Mikey fall back to 12th, as Menard repassed him. He was just one-hundreth of a second behind Menard's #11 at the stripe, and was still that close to the #11 the next time the pair crossed the start/finish line.
"Let's try not to pit when everybody else pits," Mikey told his crew. "Staying out an extra lap won't hurt anything."
Truex Jr passed him on lap 43, but he got around Johnny Sauter. He remained 12th. Lap 44 saw him pass both DEI cars of Menard and Truex Jr for 10th.
Denny Hamlin, Stephen Leicht, and JJ Yeley all pit on lap 46, allowing Mikey to gain 7th. They were the first of the lead lap drivers to make scheduled green flag stops. Others followed suit. Mikey was 4th on lap 47. NASCAR assessed a penalty to Leicht for pitting outside the box. Menard passed Mikey, dropping him to 5th on lap 49.
The Aaron's Dream Machine hit pit road on lap 50, along with Sorenson and others. Earnhardt Jr made his stop the next time around the track. The #66 team pushed their car back down pit road, costing Edwards a significant amount of time as he maneuvered around the crew to get to his stop. The #5 missed his box, and the #4 stalled.
Junior retained the lead during stops. He was nearly ten seconds ahead of Yeley in 2nd, as Mikey rode 11th and 22 seconds behind the #8. Mikey gained 10th on lap 54.
The yellow flag waved for the first time on lap 56 for debris on the backstretch. Just prior to the caution, Reed Sorenson had just dropped Mikey to 11th. Jon Wood received the free pass onto the lead lap; he was 25th. Some drivers chose to pit; Mikey did not. He advanced to 2nd, and everyone 5th on back on the lead lap made stops. Kyle Busch's #5 car sat on pit road with the hood up.
Racing resumed on lap 61. Junior led, and Mikey rode on the #8's rear fender. Carl Edwards had passed a few cars and was hot on Mikey's tracks when a multi-car wreck erupted
The second caution came on lap 62. Reed Sorenson had squeezed into a space where there wasn't enough room. He made contact with the #34 of Paul Tracy and collected Kevin Lepage, Clint Bowyer, Danny O'Quinn, Johnny Sauter, Ashton Lewis Jr, and Regan Smith. He noted that one of the cars he was racing, the #56 of Kevin Lepage, was lapped. NASCAR brought out the red flag at 9:13pm to repair Gate 7; a piece of sheet metal was lodged between the gate and the wall.
At 9:24pm, NASCAR told drivers they could crank their engines, and the yellow flag removed a minute later. PJ Jones received the free pass, but his car would not refire. Steadman Marlin was helped out of his car on pit road; the driver was suffering heat exhaustion.
Earnhardt Jr led the lap 67 restart. Stephen Leicht's lapped #90 dropped in front of Mikey, who had Edwards riding his rear fender. Leicht blocked the #99, allowing John Andretti and Brian Vickers to pass. Mikey fell to 4th on lap 69. Mikey ran to the inside with Edwards pushing. Edwards ran over the back of the #99 and spun him.
The yellow flag waved for the third time on lap 70. Edwards had bumped the #99 in the corner, spinning the Aaron's Dream Machine down the track. Mikey's rear bumped off Denny Hamlin, and he made hard impact with Paul Menard and Stephen Leicht as he came back up the track.
"My car was slow, but I didn't deserve to be wrecked," Mikey replied. "He just spun me out."
"Typical Jack Roush asshole, that was him," someone on his team said a few minutes later.
Carl Edwards was held one lap for aggressive driving.
When Mikey was interviewed after he came out of the infield care centre, he said, "Well Carl... that was bump drafting gone bad. I mean, I love Carl. He's a great racer; he just made a mistake." He joked that he had loaned Carl his body for the Men's Health magazine, referring to the cover picture that Carl has this week. When wished good luck tomorrow, he raised his Coke and said, "Cheers!"
The green flag returned without the Aaron's Dream Machine with about 26 laps to go.
Be sure to watch Mikey tomorrow in the Pepsi 400! Coverage starts at 7:30pm ET on FOX.
