Seating reduction at Daytona is reality check for NASCAR
Gentlemen, start your steam shovels. Daytona International Speedway, aka the Holy Grail of NASCAR, aka The House That Petty Built (with a small assist from the France family), has announced a massive redevelopment project. It also has announced it will be removing some seats. More on that during the next caution period.
When Daytona rose from the beach in 1959, it cost only $3 million to build. The 2½-mile oval with the gravity-defying high banks was state of the art. Now it’s getting longer in the tooth than a mastodon, or one of those 600-mile races at Charlotte. Or Cashman Field. Daytona doesn’t have climate-controlled batting cages, either. COMMENTARY
The cost of this redevelopment project would have made Fireball Roberts’ head jump right out of gear. Estimated at $375 million to $400 million, it is said to be the same amount the Bud Light movers found between Roger Penske’s
“I still can’t believe that finish. Oh my God, we never quit,” Crawford said. “I never lost confidence. No one in our room ever did.”
Trailing 2-1, Crawford went off for an extra skater and the Blackhawks converted when Toews fed it in front and Bickell scored from the edge of the crease to tie the score with 1:16 to play.
Perhaps the Bruins expected it to go to overtime, as three of the first four games in the series did. They sure seemed to be caught off-guard on the ensuing faceoff. Chicago skated into the zone, sent a shot on net, and after it deflected off Michael Frolik and the post, it went right to Bolland, who put it in the net.
The Blackhawks on the ice gathered in the corner, while those on the bench began jumping up and down. It was only a minute later, when Boston’s Tuukka Rask was off for an extra man, that Chicago withstood the Bruins’ final push and swarmed over the boards, throwing their sticks and gloves across the ice.
“It’s unbelievable, man,” Crawford said. “So much hard work to get to this point. Great effort by everyone on the team.”
The Bruins got 28 saves by Rask, who was hoping to contribute to an NHL title after serving as Tim Thomas’ backup when Boston won it all two years ago.
“It’s obviously shocking when you think you have everything under control,” Rask said quietly, standing at his locker with a baseball cap on backward and a towel draped over his shoulders.
The sold-out TD Garden had begun chanting “We want the Cup!” after Milan Lucic’s goal put the Bruins up 2-1 with eight minutes remaining, but it fell silent after its team coughed up the lead. The team came out to salute its fans as they streamed out of the building for the last time, from the air conditioning into the summer air.
“Probably toughest for sure, when you know you’re a little bit over a minute left and you feel that you’ve got a chance to get to a Game 7,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “And then those two goals go in quickly.”
The arena was almost empty — except for a few hundred fans in red Blackhawks sweaters who filtered down to the front rows — when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman handed the 35-pound Cup to Toews, who left Game 5 with an undisclosed injury and wasn’t confirmed for the lineup until the morning skate.
The Chicago captain skated the Cup right over the crease in which the Blackhawks mounted the comeback and in front of the fans in Blackhawks sweaters who lined the front row behind the net. Toews banged on the glass while the remaining Bruins fans headed up the runways.
He then continued the tradition of handing it from player to player before the team settled to the side of the faceoff circle for a picture with the trophy it will possess for the next 12 months.
Just like in 2010, the Blackhawks won it in a Game 6 on the road.
“In 2010, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We just, we played great hockey and we were kind of oblivious to how good we were playing,” said Toews, who scored his third goal of the playoffs to tie it 1-1 in the second period.
“This time around, we know definitely how much work it takes and how much sacrifice it takes to get back here, and this is an unbelievable group. We’ve been through a lot together this year,0 and this is a sweet way to finish it off.”
The Blackhawks opened the season on a 21-0-3 streak and coasted to the Presidents’ Trophy that goes to the team with the best regular-season record. But regular-season excellence has not translated into playoff success: Chicago is the first team with the best record to win the Cup since the 2008 Detroit Red Wings.
The Blackhawks went through Minnesota in five games and Detroit in seven, rallying in the Western Conference semifinals from a 3-1 deficit and winning Game 7 in overtime. They got through the defending NHL champion Los Angeles Kings in five games to return to the Cup Finals, where Boston was waiting.
Chicago won the first game at home in three overtimes but dropped Game 2 — another overtime — and fell behind 2-1 in the series when it returned to Boston. After that, it was all Blackhawks. The tightly contested Finals — with three games going a total of five overtimes — might help fans forget the lockout that shortened the season to 48 games and pushed back the opener to Jan. 19. That left the teams still playing ice hockey on a 95-degree day in Boston on June 24, matching the latest date in NHL history.