Qualifying for NASCAR’s Super Bowel event started out as a disaster Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
Within minutes into the first round of a five-minute session, a nasty multi-car wreck destroyed four cars, including those of Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Reed Sorenson. Session leader Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley, and Bobby Labonte also sustained damage in the incident. Jeb Burton attempting to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut somehow masterfully crafted his way through the carnage, barely from the spinning cars of Bowyer and Sorenson.
Bowyer climbed from his mangled No. 15 5-HOUR Energy Toyota and had a shouting conversation with Sorenson through his No. 44 Golden Corral Chevrolet driver’s window, visibly angry after Sorenson who was in front of him blocked.
Earlier in the session, Sorenson had run into the back of Justin Allgaier, which shot Allgaier’s No. 51 up the track. Bowyer in a chain-reaction format got into in the back of the No. 44 of Sorenson.
Bowyer was obviously livid after being evaluated and released from the infield care center and quickly voiced his option, pointing the finger at NASCAR for using this format to set its field for the biggest race of the year.
“First of all, I wasn’t behind the 44 (Sorenson). He comes flying around, comes up on the apron, jumps in front of me, then runs over the 51, stacks us all up and I run into him.
“It’s idiotic to be out here doing this anyway. There’s no sense in trying to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is. Then you’ve got a guy out there in desperation doing this crap like this. There’s no reason to be out here. These guys have spent six months working on these cars, busting their (rears) on these cars, to go out there and have some guy out of desperation do that crap.
“But it ain’t his fault. It’s not. It’s NASCAR’s fault for putting us out here in the middle of this crap for nothing. We used to come down here and worry about who was going to sit on the front row and the pole for the biggest race of the year. Now all we do is come down here and worry about how a start-and-park like this out of desperation is going to knock us out of the Daytona 500. We’ve been at meetings for 45 minutes just to try and figure out what in the hell everyone is going to do, just so we can make the race. It’s stupid. There’s no sense in doing this. ”
Reed Sorenson admitted he was trying to block, something he watched Matt Kenseth do to win Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited.
“I was just trying to block,” said Sorenson in his one-race deal with Team XTREME Racing. “That’s what got Matt Kenseth to win last night. I was doing everything I could to stay in front of Clint (Bowyer). Pretty obvious what I was trying to do. I didn’t mean to wreck anybody or anything like that.
“Just a product of this qualifying, trying to get that one lap. I didn’t want it to end that way, that’s for sure. I apologize to all the guys. Try to get a car here and try to get in the race on Thursday.”
The session was red-flagged for 15 minutes, 43 seconds, with a minute and 22 seconds remaining on the clock. When it restarted, the remaining cars in the group failed to leave pit road in time to compete only full lap so none of those times counted.
Announced late last year, this is the first year NASCAR has not used traditional single-car qualifying format for the “Great American Race.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
