Daytona 500 will be Thompson’s last run
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The oldest driver in this year’s Daytona 500 field is truly a veteran. Mark Thompson did a tour of duty in Vietnam two decades before his first NASCAR race.
Thompson, 66, made his Cup Series debut at Pocono Raceway in 1992 against the likes of Dale Earnhardt and Alan Kulwicki. But when he fires the engines next week, it will be at his day job as a pilot for Phoenix Air Group, which he founded in 1978.
“I think the quality of driver in Cup is really quite outstanding,” the Air Force veteran said Friday. “Even though I might be running around with some younger people, they are seasoned. I’ve known some young pilots that were really good pilots, and I’ve known some old pilots that were never all that good.”
Thompson — thin, fit and looking younger than his years — decided to give it one final run in the No. 66 (get it?) Ford, but he said Sunday’s season opener will be his last race in any series.
“I’m in reasonably good shape,” he said, “and I have other things I’d like to do.”
Thompson is a veteran of the ARCA Series and became the oldest pole position winner, at age 63, in any race at Daytona International Speedway in ARCA’s 2015 opener. He was 39 when he made his ARCA debut at Daytona in 1991 and won two races in the series over 100 career starts.
He failed in his attempts to qualify for the 1993 and 1994 Daytona 500. His realistic goal is to finish Sunday’s race in the Ford he got from Richard Petty Motorsports while staying out of the way of the leaders.
He may have a caught a small break for “The Great American Race” when the entry list featured only the maximum 40 cars. He will start 40th.
“I think we maybe would have approached things a little bit differently if we had to get in through the (qualifying) 150s,” he said. “But I think we would have gotten in anyway.”
NASCAR has no age limit. James Hylton is the oldest driver to start a NASCAR race. He was 76 when he competed in the 2011 Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono.
Special crew to return
Fox Sports will again use a lineup of current NASCAR drivers as analysts for a race.
Working the April 28 Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway will be Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr.
All but Keselowski and Wallace were part of the crew of drivers who called last year’s Xfinity Series race at Pocono.
Keselowski won and Blaney interviewed him in victory lane. The next day, when Fox returned to its traditional crew, Blaney scored his first Cup Series victory and Keselowski rushed to interview Blaney in victory lane.
Harvick will call the Talladega race alongside analysts Bowyer and Logano. Blaney, Jones and Wallace will work pit road, while Keselowski and Stenhouse Jr. will host coverage from the network’s “Hollywood Hotel.”
Sauter first in trucks
Johnny Sauter won the season-opening Camping World Truck Series race Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, his third career victory at the famed track.
Sauter used a big run to pass David Gilliland for the lead with eight laps to go, then held off Justin Haley, Joe Nemechek, Ben Rhodes and Scott Lagasse Jr. None of those chasers provided much of a challenge down the stretch.
Sauter dedicated the win to crew chief Joe Shear Jr., whose wife died unexpectedly in late December.
It was Sauter’s 18th victory in 222 starts in the series. He previously won at Daytona in 2013 and ’16.
Sauter took the No. 21 Chevrolet to victory lane after a series of late crashes wiped out about half of the 32-truck field. Only 15 trucks finished on the lead lap, and only nine of those were in the lead pack in the closing laps.