Not shown in this photo is the instigator of this spin, instigator of another large wreck, he who steals candy from small children, and he who eats the cute baby animals from all of those online photo galleries -- not to mention former Formula 1 driver: Nelson Piquet Jr.
This exact sentence came out of my mouth not long after the eye-searingly green car of some rookie lady driver named Dan...er...Dani...er...Danica-something flying across the infield of the Daytona tri-oval: "The only thing Nelson Piquet Jr. has ever done right in a race car is crash it when his boss told him to."
The kid kept his F1 job for an extra six months because of his ability to follow a team order to throw a multi-million-dollar machine into a wall...AND THAT'S IT. Tonight, his incompetence nearly derailed the aforementioned "rookie" Danica's attempt to make a little history in her first-ever stock car race.
Coming through Daytona's fourth turn, Nelson and some other guy had to check up for some reason or another, opening the door for many cars to pass. Nelson, having not been trained in English as his first language, obviously didn't understand the concept of "car low" as relayed by his spotter. He cut back down to the inside where a certain Ms. Danica happened to be driving and sent her careening sideways around the tri-oval. (by the way, if you can find the in-car video of Danica as she goes through this spin, it's quite a lesson in how to work through a spin)
However, not to be perturbed, and with a fresh set of tires, Danica found her way into fifth position in the closing laps before dropping back into a bump-and-grind fight with supercross legend Ricky Carmichael to finish sixth. Impressive, and possibly good for open-wheelers who have to take crap from pro-NASCAR media all the time for not being able to drive a car or something.
Of note to this blogger were Leilani Münter and Milka Duno, drivers of open-wheelers in Indy Lights and IndyCar, respectively, who were moving up through the field when all hell broke loose in front of them. Two cars wrecked, then two more cars wrecked, then spotters apparently took a union break because nobody slowed down and a lot of drivers went the wrong way, making the wreck larger and more dangerous by the second. Leilani and Milka both found their cars bashed to bits when the smoke cleared.
Also of note was the frankly terrifying wrecks of Barry Fitzgerald and Jill George (no relation to Citizen Tony). Fitzgerald lost control coming off of the second turn and the car immediately came off its wheels, rolling five times before coming to a rest. Jill George's accident looked similar to Fitzgerald's in that, after going low to avoid a car with a flat tire and losing control herself, her car simply left its wheels. George's car was pointed towards the wall when it left the ground and the front end caught the catch fence, causing a lengthy repair.
Also notable was the drive of Allison Owens, who ran third for a good chunk of the race before getting a shove out of the way and losing ground. The attention will remain on Danica, but I think Owens might beat her to the punch on putting a lady in a stock car victory lane.
Oh, and some old-timer named Bobby Gerhardt won the race. Congrats.
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