Speedweeks notes: Daddy needs a new Daytona trophy
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The most recent of the many trophies won by NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson sits in his youngest daughter’s bedroom, where it likely will remain until Daddy can bring home new hardware.
Lydia is only 6, too young to remember almost any of Johnson’s 83 Cup Series victories. So she claimed the Busch Clash trophy Johnson earned in last year’s exhibition opener at Daytona International Speedway, where he’ll try today to earn a second straight win in the 75-lap shootout.
That win is the only trip to victory lane Johnson has made since early in the 2017 season, and he decided last year to make this season his last as a full-time NASCAR driver. The record-tying seven-time series champion feels the sting of his long losing streak, with no tougher critic than young Lydia.
“That trophy is still sitting in my daughter’s room. She asked me to bring her a trophy home and we did, and it’s still sitting on her nightstand in her room,” Johnson said. “My wife suggested that we move it to the trophy room in my man cave, and (Lydia) said ‘Nope, not until Daddy brings another one home’, so I have the pressure.”
Johnson is a two-time winner of both the Daytona 500 and the Clash, a staple of Speedweeks, which sets up the season opener each year. Today’s Clash will follow qualifying for the Daytona 500, which is next Sunday.
Harvick gets two-year extension
Kevin Harvick has agreed to a twoyear contract extension that will keep the 44-year-old Cup Series driver with Stewart-Haas Racing through 2023.
Harvick, who won the 2014 season championship, said Saturday that he had been signed through 2021. The SHR No. 4 Ford driver’s 49 career wins on the top-tier circuit include the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick has finished third in the final series standings each of the past three seasons.
“I really like racing with the group of guys and the organization that I’m at,” Harvick said. “I’ve worked my whole career and feel like I got here with a group of guys and people that I’ve had success with, and for me, going through a few more years in the car just made sense.”
SHR was glad to keep Harvick in its four-car lineup that also includes Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Cole Custer as drivers.
“Kevin Harvick is a world-class wheelman, leader and steward of the sport,” team president Brett Frood said in a released statement. “We are very fortunate to have him as an integral part of Stewart-Haas Racing.”
Harvick started at SHR in 2014 after a successful career at Richard Childless Racing, where he took over for Dale Earnhardt after the NASCAR legend’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Deegan impresses in ARCA race
Michael Self won the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona, edging rising star Hailie Deegan for his eighth victory in the feeder series since 2017.
The 29-year-old Self held off Deegan and fellow Venturini Motorsports driver Drew Dollar over the final four laps for his second win at the famed track in three years. Self also won the ARCA opener in 2018.
The 18-year-old Deegan stayed in line behind Self instead of pulling out and trying to make a pass. The DGR-Crossley driver settled for second, matching the best finish for a woman in an ARCA race and tying the best finish by a woman at Daytona. Shawna Robinson started fifth and finished second in the 1999 ARCA race at Daytona.
Deegan celebrated the runner-up finish with her parents on pit road.
“Nothing could have been better for me,” she said. “Of course you want to win, but this was a victory for me.”
Dollar, a 19-year-old from Atlanta, was third.
Self is a former development driver for Richard Childress Racing who has made seven Xfinity Series starts for JD Motorsports. He also has eight wins in the K&N Pro Series West, a regional circuit for NASCAR.
Deegan’s career took off after she won three times over the past three years in K&N Series events.