Darlington Stripes

"The Lady in Black" continues to be "Too Tough to Tame" and the first Darlington stripe came barely five minutes into the first session. According to @NASCAR, Joey Logano was the first driver to get a stripe.
 
Our View Here is a ongoing list of who has scraped the wall so far:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (backup) and then he striped the backup as well. Practice 1
Clint Bowyer (backup) Practice 1
Scott Speed (backup) Practice 1
Greg Biffle (backup) Happy Hour
Joe Nemechek, hard crash (backup) Happy Hour
Casey Mears, hard crash (backup) Happy Hour
Marcos Ambrose, crash (backup) Happy Hour

Joey Logano Practice 1
Travis Kvapil Practice 1
Jamie McMurray Practice 1
Kyle Busch Happy Hour and qualification

Juan Montoya, very slight Practice 1
Kurt Busch, spin without contact Happy Hour

Darlington International Raceway 1950-1967



Darlington Raceway: 50th Anniversary

Bliss, Speed race into Daytona 500 and lock in Waltrip

Mike Bliss and Scott Speed were the two highest finishing drivers from outside the top 35 in points and they transfer into the Daytona 500. Since Speed will not need to fall back on his time, that also locks in Michael Waltrip—who had the fifth fastest time in qualification.

Our View Speed and Waltrip should be considered solid dark horses for the 500.

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Kansas pit stall selections

Jayski.com has posted the pit stall selections, and as expected pole sitter Mark Martin took the final box at the exit of the pits.

Our View Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski also have openings in front of them and will be able to pull straight out. Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Scott Speed, Brian Vickers and Jeff Gordon have openings behind them and can pit shallowly to give themselves a little more room.

Kansas has a wide, long pit road, however, and no one should have too much trouble.

Complete List

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Official tweets from the track

Bristol pit stalls

Jayski has published the pit stall selections for the Bristol race.

Our View There are really only four good stalls at either end of the front and back pits. Pole sitter Mark Martin took the final pit stall before turn one, Greg Biffle has the final stall before turn three while Matt Kenseth and Scott Speed have the first stalls entering the pits. However, Clint Bowyer also is in a nice position; he is in pit stall four with the start and park Dave Blaney immediately ahead of him.

For a complete list of the stalls, visit Jayski.com.

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Speed notably fast

Scott Speed was the fastest "go-or-go-home" driver in Chicagoland's first practice session by a wide margin. His lap of 180.060 was third best overall, which reinforces his teammate Brian Vickers's fastest lap of 180.234.

Our View: Toyota has been strong on this style of track, so while Speed lacks the experience and history to make him even a dark horse, fantasy owners should watch him closely all weekend and take notes. He could have a strong run.

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Complete Results

Dysfunction at Red Bull Racing

Heading into Daytona this week, Brian Vickers and Scott Speed have issues to work out after an incident on the final lap of the Nationwide race, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Vickers took the first shot immediately following the Saturday race, saying that Speed was frustrated because he was running so badly in the Cup series. Speed responded by suggesting that someone paid Vickers to wreck him on Sunday.Teammates don't have to get along, but if they are going to share notes, it certainly helps. More importantly on the restrictor-plate superspeedways, Speed needs a drafting partner and those are hard to come by for rookies.

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Busch, Speed test Daytona prototype

In advance of this week's Brumos Porsche 250 road course race at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch and Scott Speed tested their Chip Ganassi Lexus at Putnam Park in Indiana, according to Grand-Am.com.

Our View: This is going to be a grueling schedule with the road course race wedged between the NASCAR Cup and Nationwide activity—particularly for Busch, who will participate in both stock car races.

Extra seat time on the twisty tracks is always beneficial for the Cup drivers, which slightly improves their odds at Watkins Glen in a couple of weeks.

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Red Bull buys Speed a ride

As expected, Red Bull Racing has struck a deal with Joe Nemechek to get Scott Speed into the show, according to a tweet from @DustinLong.

Our View: Normally, we approach these agreements with skepticism, but at least Speed will try to run the full event and not "start and park" as Nemechek has done in recent weeks. Before failing to qualify, Speed was on a top 10 pace, so he could be a decent value.

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Busch, Speed to race in Grand Am

Chip Ganassi will field a second car in the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway during the Fourth of July weekend, according to NASCAR.com. The two drivers will be Kyle Busch and Scott Speed.

Our View: The road course at Daytona is unlike Infineon and Watkins Glen, but seat time on this track type is always helpful.

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Pocono "go-or-go-homers"

This week's entry list features 46 cars. In the event that qualification is canceled, the following drivers would make the show: Sterling Marlin, Scott Speed, David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek, Patrick Carpentier, Dave Blaney, Mike Wallace and Regan Smith.

Our View: That means Trevor Boys, Dexter Bean and Derrike Cope would be going home—and those are also the drivers most likely to be the slowest on speed as well.

Trucks: Dover's last five races

There is a long history of part time drivers finding success in the Camping World Truck Series at Dover. From last year's winner Scott Speed, to Tony Stewart who finished second in 2005, Cup and Nationwide drivers have used this race to get the rhythm of the week started.

Partly due to their success, Truck regulars have not dominated the top of the average finish grid. Only Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Benson Jr. enter the weekend with at least three consecutive top-10s, which makes them best bets to highlight your roster. That also leaves the field wide open for the remaining spots—and given the strength of interlopers, this might be a good week to gamble on Max Papis.

Notably, this track has not been kind to Kyle Busch. He won there in 2005, but has slowly been sliding down the grid since until he bottomed out with a 27th-place finish last year. In the Cup series, he's also been hit or miss with a victory last spring, but two 40-something finishes in his last five starts.

Results, last five years

Driver	Avg Fin	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Scott Speed	1.00	1
Tony Stewart	2.00				2
Hank Parker Jr	3.00					3
Mark Martin	3.50		6	1
Ron Hornaday Jr	3.75	3	1	7	4
Mike Bliss	4.50		5	4
Dave Blaney	6.00					6
Ricky Craven	7.00				7
Andy Houston	7.00					7
Travis Kvapil	7.67	4	3			16
Colin Braun	8.00	8
Carl Edwards	8.00			2		14
A J Allmendinger	9.00		9
David Reutimann	9.00			5	5	17
Mike Skinner	10.00	7	7	22	10	4
Aaron Fike	10.00		10
Timothy Peters	10.00			14	6
Rick Crawford	10.60	9	23	8	11	2
David Starr	11.60	6	25	11	8	8
Terry Cook	12.00	13	8	16	3	20
Deborah Renshaw	12.00				12
Aric Almirola	12.00			12
Jon Wood	12.50	15				10
Stacy Compton	12.50	23	2
Kyle Busch	12.50	27	12	10	1
Bobby Hamilton Jr	13.00			13
Johnny Benson Jr	13.50	10	4	6	34
Willie Allen	14.00		14
Shane Sieg	14.50	14				15
Chad Chaffin	15.00	21			23	1
Ryan Matthews	15.00		15
Jack Sprague	15.40	2	28	9	29	9
Ted Musgrave Sr	15.60	11	20	18	17	12
Chad McCumbee	16.00	12	13	23
Justin Marks	16.00	16
Blake Bjorkland	16.00		16
Matt Crafton	16.80	5	26	15	9	29
Donny Lia	17.00	17
Tim Sauter	17.00		17
Bobby East	17.00			17
Ken Schrader	17.33		33		14	5
Dennis Setzer	17.60	18	19	20	13	18
Todd Bodine	17.75	29	11	3	28
Shelby Howard	19.00	19
Bobby Hamilton Sr	20.00				21	19
Todd Kluever	20.00				20
Andy Lally	22.00	22
Ken Weaver	22.00					22
Regan Smith	22.00				22
Brad Keselowski	22.50				15	30
Erik Darnell	22.67	25	18	25
Brendan Gaughan	22.75	20	36	19	16
Robert Huffman	23.00				35	11
Shane Hmiel	23.00					23
Chase Montgomery	23.00				18	28
Tracy Hines	23.00				25	21
Steve Park	23.33			21	36	13
Kevin Lepage	23.50			28	19
Landon Cassill	24.00	24
Shane Huffman	24.00		24
Erin Crocker	24.00			24
Jimmy Spencer Sr	24.00				24
Kevin Love	24.00					24
Jason White	26.00	30	22
Robert Pressley	26.00				26
Derrick Kelley	26.00					26
Marcos Ambrose	26.00			26
Scott Lynch	27.00		27
Rich Bickle	27.00				27
Kyle Krisiloff	27.00			27
Scott Lagasse Jr	27.33	26	21	35
Morgan Shepherd	29.00		29
Kerry Earnhardt	29.00			29
T J Bell	30.00		30
Bill Lester	30.00		35	30	30	25
J C Stout	31.00	31
Kraig Kinser	31.00		31	31
Kelly Sutton	31.33			36	31	27
Brandon Whitt	31.50				32	31
Brian Scott	32.00	32
Dana White	32.00		32
Jerry Hill	32.00					32
Joey Miller	32.00			32
Ryan Seaman	33.00	33
Wayne Edwards	33.00				33
Boston Reid	33.00			33
Lance Hooper	33.00					33
Larry Gunselman	34.00	34
Clint Bowyer	34.00		34
Phil Bonifield	34.00					34
Johnny Chapman	34.00			34
Nick Tucker	35.00	35
Mark McFarland	35.00					35
Butch Miller	36.00	36
Robert Richardson	37.00			37
Ryan Moore	38.00			38

Speed to replace Nemechek

Scott Speed will replace Joe Nemechek in the No. 87 car, which will allow him to start the Southern 500 after failing to qualify on Friday, according to a Tweet from Dustin Long.

Our View: Part of Nemechek's stable of cars are some on Red Bull Racing Toyotas, so Speed should be right at home.

Happy Hour stripes

Here is a partial list of the cars that received stripes in Darlington's Happy Hour:

In Happy Hour:

Sam Hornish Jr. scraped the wall and spun
David Stremme slammed the wall; into backup
Denny Hamlin got a light stripe
Max Papis striped his car
Greg Biffle striped his car
A.J. Allmendinger striped his car
Scott Speed got another stripe
Reed Sorenson changed an engine
Bobby Labonte striped his car
Marcos Ambrose big stripe (backup?)

Practice 1 stripes

Here is a partial list of the cars that received stripes in Darlington's first practice session:

In Practice 1:
Kurt Busch scrapped the wall and spun.
Tony Stewart striped his car
Jeremy Mayfield striped his car
Brad Keselowski striped his car
Scott Speed crashed his primary and then striped the backup
Dave Blaney spun
David Reutimann crashed and rolled out a backup
Kasey Kahne striped his car
Sam Hornish Jr. striped his car

Speed crashes in Practice 1

Scott Speed became the first driver to sustain significant damage at Darlington in the first practice session. He not only "striped" his car, he looped and crashed. Speed will have to roll out a backup car.

Our View: This is an even bigger issue for Speed since he is one of the drivers required to qualify on time. As a rookie, however, Speed would not be a great value even if he makes the show.

Keselowski gets back to business

Winning a Cup race was nice, but this week Brad Keselowski's focus returns to running strong in the Nationwide Series at Richmond, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: It is easy to lose perspective, but drivers like Joey Logano and Scott Speed are proof of how difficult it can be to jump series without enough seat time to perfect their craft.