Daytona 500/Speed Weeks

RUSH TO JUDGMENT? NASCAR suspends Kurt Busch from Sunday's Daytona 500 race

Dayton 500 / Speedweeks / Headline Surfer®
NASCAR driver Kurt Busch & ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR suspended Kurt Busch indefinitely Friday in the wake of a Delaware family court's findings that "by a preponderance of the evidence" that the 36-year-old driver "committed an act of domestic violence" against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll on Sept. 24 of last year.

NASCAR media Day at Daytona: Dale Earnhardt Jr. says goal is to perfom well in The Chase

Dale Earnhardt Jr wins the 2014 Dayton 500 / Headline Surfer®
Headline Surfer YouTube download / Video by FOX Sports
Fox Sports interviews Dale Earnhardt, Jr., reigning Daytona 500 champion during Wednesday's Media Day at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- HeadlineSurfer.com was denied media credentials for Speedweeks 2015 because of its exclusive coverage of the billionaire France Family's (and proxies ) of a quarter million bucks in the campaign coffers of politicians in hopes of obtaining $250 million in taxpayer subsidies. So the internet newspaper turned to YouTube to provide coverage of what drivers like 2014 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to say.

Video REWIND: Dale Earnhardt Jr. funny on Jimmy Kimmel

Dale Earnhardt Jr appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows how to get the job done when it comes to racing at Daytona as the countdown begins for Speedweeks and the 500 race on Feb. 22. But Earnhardt was nervous as all nervous heck in the hours leading up to his appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," last September to hype NASCAR's Chase championship format.

Attendance booster: Sprint Unlimited race at Daytona to be split into 2 segments; select fans paired with crew chiefs

Headline Surfer® Youtube download / Video by Full NASCAR Races /
Enjoy thecomplwte race coverage of the 2014 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. In hopes of beefing up attendance at this year's Sprint (notice empty seats in image below) as shown during spin-out crash involving Jimmy Jognson in rthe No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, NASCAR will pare select fans with crew chiefs of the racers. 

Jimmy Johnsaon wrecks in 2014 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona / Headline Surfer®Jimmy Joghnson's car torn up in crash in Sprint Unlimited 2014 race from Daytona / Headline Surfer®DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Select fans will be paired with crew chiefs foe the Sprint Unlimited, a new way to boost attendance for the opening Speedweeks race at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR has announced that the Speedweeks 75-lap Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday will be split into two segments. A competition caution at lap 25 will separate the segments in the non-points event, scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. ET start . 

And brand new this year, select fans will be paired with each crew chief for a random drawing to determine starting and pit road positions. The drawings will take place 3:30 p.m. Friday at the FDOT Main Stage inside the Sprint FanZone.

Video ReWind: Dale Jr.'s 2014 Daytona 500 win from in-car cam

Video by NASCAR / For Headliner Surfer® / A view of the finish of the 2014 Daytona 500 from inside-the-car cam of winning driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Here's an entirely different view of Dale Earnhardt, Jr's woin in the 2014 Daytona 500: from the inside-the-car cam in the closing laps of the race.

DAYTONA 500 THROUGH THE YEARS: 1961, Marvin Panch wins after Fireball Roberts blows engine & lead

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Pettys fly over wall in preliminary races; Arizona driver killed in practice

Marvin Panch, winner of the 1961 Daytona 500 / HeadlineSurfer.comMarvin Panch, NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers / HeadlineSurfer.comVideo by NASCARAllOut / Use by Headline Surfer® / Pontiac was the dominant car for the 1961 running of the Daytona 500, and Marvin Panch who didn't even have a ride for the season, won the race as a last-minute driver behind the wheel of a year-old Pontiac for race car owner Smokey Yunick on the recommendation of fellow driver Fireball Roberts, who had the pole and led the most laps before blowing an engine in the closing laps.
 
SPECIAL FEATURE: Headline Surfer® brings you a snapshot of every Daytona 500 race, from 1959 to the present. This segment: 1961...
 

DAYTONA BEACH -- Fireball Roberts led the most laps -- 170 -- but on lap 187, it was the driver he recommended team owner Smokey Yunick also sponsor for the Daytona 500 who passed him to go on and take the checkered flag after 13 laps out front.

It was the first 500 without a caution, though tensions were high going into the 500 with some big crashes and a fatal during Speedweeks.

Greatest NASCAR Race Ever: Dale Earnhardt takes checkered flag in 1998 Daytona 500

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Dale Earnhardt all smiles after winning the 1998 Daytona 500 / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH -- It can easily be argued to a jury of 12 NASCAR fans that the single greatest race in the history of stock car racing beyond a reasonable doubt has to be the 1998 Daytona 500.

First Person: Oops! Nationwide winner not in Daytona 500

Regan Smith not in the Daytona 500 / Headline Surfer®David Ragaan is the 43rd entrant in the Daytona 500 / Headline Surfer®

Headline Surfer® video / The intrepid reporter mixed up Regan Smith, (shown in the white and orange uniform), who is not in Sunday's Daytona 500 with David Ragan (brown and yellow uniform), who is the 43rd and final entrant in the Great American Race.

DAYTONA BEACH -- This certainly wasn't one of my finest moments in a long, distinguished journalism career, but it's better to be honest than to pretend otherwise: Fresh off his thrilling victory in the Nationwide race earlier today at Daytona International Speedway, I asked Regan Smith how he liked his chances for a repeat in Sunday's Daytona 500 as one of 43 drivers in the field.

Video ReWind: Junior Johnson wins 1960 Daytona 500 race marred by 37-car pile-up

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SPECIAL FEATURE: Headline Surfer® brings you a snapshot of every Daytona 500 race, from 1959 to the present. This segment: 1960...
Junior Johnson wins 1960 Daytona 500 / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH -- Fireball Roberts was the early leader of the 1960 Daytona 500 run on Feb. 14, but he would end up out of the race with engine problems and Junior Johnson took over and won the crash-marred affair.

He started ninth and was at home in North Carolina until a week earlier when he was convinced by Masoni to race. Masoni even supplied him with a car, a 1959 Chevrolet, sponsored by the Daytona Kennel.

Starting Line-up for 2014 Daytona 500: No. 3 Austin Dillon on the pole

Austin Dillon on the pole for Daytona 500 / Headline Surfer®Daytona 500 logo for starting line-up / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® / Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet has the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Sunday's line-up for the Daytona 500 features the traditional and the non-traditional.

For example, the No. 3 is on the pole. That's tradition, as it was the number of NASCAR's greatest driver, Dale Earnhardt, the 1998 Daytona 500 winner, tragically killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.