Travis Pastrana, right, celebrates with former racer Kurt Busch after qualifying for the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway. (USA Today/Reuters)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Conor Daly’s first call after being offered a chance to race into the Daytona 500 was with a guy named AJ.
It’s supposed to be the Allmendinger. He accidentally called Foyt.
Daly panicked and hung up before the four-time Indy 500 champion and 1972 Daytona 500 winner could respond.
“That would be an interesting call,” Daly said.
There will probably be more information as well, as Foyt is one of only two open-wheelers (along with Mario Andretti) to win the two most prestigious races in North America — the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500.
However, Daly, a regular IndyCar user, has managed to gain knowledge from anyone and everyone (besides Foyt) on how to navigate around the Daytona International Speedway efficiently and effective.
Daly ended up having to wait a day to get on track after an electrical problem punctured a hole in the oil line that made it impassable. repair in time for the one-round qualifying runs on Wednesday night. Seven times NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson and action sports star Travis Pastrana had no problems and were the fastest of the six drivers vying for the final four places.
Johnson and Pastrana landed in the starting position and joined 36 riders who were locked in a 40-car field based on NASCAR’s charter system. Daly and youngsters Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith will vie for the last two coveted spots in the doubles qualifying races on Thursday.
Daly considers himself a long shot to do his 50th speed race chevrolet for The Money Team, mainly because he had so little experience at Daytona. And he is right: FanDuel Sportsbook lists his odds of winning the race as 200-1.
Daly raced go-karts at a smaller track inside the Daytona as a teenager and has run two long distances as part of the Rolex 24. But Daly has yet to cycle on the high-sloping highway on a Cup car.
Daly said: “Spend a lot of time here growing up and am just excited about the opportunity to absorb a lot of knowledge at a very high speed. “It will be very difficult. It was the biggest uphill battle I’ve ever had in a race.”
He turns to Allmendinger, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Corey LaJoie and Chase Briscoe for help. He even listens to the podcast of three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin for a better understanding.
“Everybody says the same thing: ‘It’s going to be hard, but why not try?’” Daly said.
Daly spent two hours in Chevylast week’s NASCAR simulator, all trying to hone in on shifting points and how to get up and down the tunnel. As for everything else?
“It can’t be simulated,” he said.
Johnson could actually have the same problem even though the two-time Daytona 500 champion knows the track as well as anyone who attends the event. He didn’t race in the latest version of the Cup Series car but did have two test sessions in it, including one at Daytona.
Co-owner at Heritage Motor Club, Johnson posed both of his drivers, Erik Jones and Noah Gragson, questions about the bike. He compared the situation to 2002, when he had to race into the Daytona 500 as a rookie at Hendrick Motorsports.
“I think it’s the same on paper,” Johnson said. “There is a lot of risk here for me, I would say. But personally between (two) years, man, I’m sitting here with seven championships and 83 wins. Yes, it would be completely bad not to be in the race.
“But the pressure I put on myself in 2002, life seemed over if I hadn’t entered that race. I’m somewhere else, although this is the first step for me as a concurrent owner of this car.”
Johnson actually started on the pole for that first Daytona.
“Maybe lightning will strike twice,” he added.
Pastrana can be considered the biggest wild card of the six even though he is driving for 23XI Racing. He last raced at Daytona a decade ago. But he and Daly talked about racing at Daytona for several years.
Like Allmendinger (or indeed Foyt), Pastrana was one of the first people Daly called when his deal was signed this month.
“I finally got the green light and I thought, ‘Dude, I’ll do it,’” Pastrana said. “He said, ‘That’s great.’ And then he called me just a few weeks ago and he said, ‘I agree!’
“I wanted to punch him on the phone, like, ‘Damn, what are you doing?’ He is a good friend. … Someone asked me what you would be willing to give up to win the Daytona 500. I said: ‘All my friends are racing on that track.’”
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
