2011 Race 2 - AAA 200 @ Daytona

Race
Results
Points Standings

Spoiler:

Knowitall: "You know what, I'm used to it at this point. I'm not even angry..."
Crompton: "Hope for more runs like this in the future"

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Wilkinson Pleased With Top 10 Run in Second Start

"That was awesome, man, I mean, that has got to be one of the best races at Daytona I've ever seen. These type of racetracks usually aren't my strong point, I can't run so close together like that. We had fun all night, we missed both wrecks during the course of the night, we ran up front early on, and we get seventh. We'll take that, and we'll try to repeat such a good run next week at Boston."

On radio during crash:

Daniel: "********* not this s*** again!"
Devin Slade (Crew Cheif): "You ok?"
Daniel: "yeah, but what the hell just happened? did people think that beacause it's Daytona means that you don't need brakes?"

Jen Smith: "The track just chewed us up in that wreck. I just wanted a taste, but we got spit out and...put in our place. It was really no mistakes tonight, but some guy made one thinking there was nothing left to lose."

Herb Cilantro: "I figured we done got lucky after those two big crashes n' what not...I mean, we were up in the top 10, top 15 for a good ol' part of the race right there...I don't know, man. We just fell off a bit on that last restart, I don't know if something happened to the car or what. Jen n' I 'll go to Boston, see what happens then."

@Mike - Sure.

Ritcher pleased with Daytona run; News from AAA 200

Fred Ritcher was pleased with his 2nd place run after scraping the wall on lap 21. The 13 crew went to work in the pits and it was no surprise he came out with a top 5.

"I don't think we could have done any better." Ritcher said, " We got the right side busted up pretty good there, and my crew went to work and got me out quick."

Ritcher now sits 3rd in AERS points standings, 30 points behind 1st.

"We're looking forward to Boston, I think we have a good setup for there next week. Last year we struggled from the lack of preparedness and now I think we're ready to roll. We'll see."

Gerrelds struggles at Daytona

Kenny Gerrelds has had the worst runs at Daytona of any driver, excluding 2009, where he came home with a solid top 10 finish. This race was no different, as Gerrelds was taken out on lap 10 regulating him to his second 41st place finish at Daytona in a row.

"Its tough. We are not performing well at all and I just don't know what to do at this point."


No injuries reported after lap 21 smash

Per David Stone on his FaceUpdate:
"No injuries reported after lap 21 wreck, we understand all drivers involved are okay, including Jerry Richson."

With the big hits on lap 21, it is safe to say the AARO is getting better at the safety aspect of racing.


Next week the AERS drivers will be in Boston for what should be an exciting race. Boston offers three lanes of racing. We will expect to see drivers racing all over the track. Last years winner: Herb Cilantro.

14th, not too bad.

15th not bad after I was involved in the first crash.

The second wreck looked like a combination of ARCA and the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series.
Anyway, great race and great series!

I so wanted to be in that.

Donnelly rebounds from missing opener with 9th, Tellez salvages Top 20

When LT Motorsports came into Daytona, some people had the team as favorites to challenge for the win and they did perform well... until "The Big One" changed everything.

Louis Tellez, who came to the track he calls his 2nd home, seemed to be in contention to defend his AAA 200 title and go back-to-back, but then he was caught up in "The Big One" and right then and there his chance to win was gone. Even though the win was out of reach, he was still able to come home with a 19th place finish, 3 laps down, mainly due in part to the 2nd Big One and lack of cars on track. After the race, he got a chance to talk with the media after the race:

"I couldn't see anything, I saw some smoke and just as I was gonna make it through, car clipped me and went around. Though the damage wasn't as bad, there was no way we were gonna win, but at least we got Top 20, good enough for me."

Whlie Tellez was just making laps around the track, Shawn Donnelly, who missed the season-opening Livonia 200, was redeeming himself big time by running with the leaders, but the restart after Big One #2 hurt him in the end as he lost the draft with the leaders and faded to a 9th place finish, the last car on the lead lap. He spoke afterwards:

"Had a good car, but that restart hurt us in the end. We could've had something for the leaders but that's the way these superspeedways are. Overall, this was a good rebound for the Bud guys, ain't complaining."

Now LT Motorsports heads to their home track, Boston, where the team will be looking to run well and possibly see either car in victory lane in beantown.