2013 Sprint Unlimited

2013 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona

Race details[1]
Race 1 of 2 exhibition races in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date	February 16, 2013 (2013-02-16)
Location	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance	75 laps, 187.5 mi (301.8 km)
Weather	Temperatures averaging around 57.2 °F (14.0 °C); wind speeds approaching 22 miles per hour (35 km/h)[2]
Average speed	177.538 mph (285.720 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	40
Winner
No. 29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Network
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Larry McReynolds

The 2013 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on February 16, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 75 laps, it was the first exhibition race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing won the race, while Greg Biffle finished second. Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

Report

Background

Daytona International Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

The track, Daytona International Speedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[3] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.^[4] The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.^[4]

A total of twenty-two drivers were eligible to compete in the race, including 2012 pole position winners and previous winners of the race who had qualified for at least one race during the 2012 season,^[5] but only nineteen drivers participated in the race.^[6] Notable drivers not invited to the race were Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer, the 2012 champion and champion runner up, who didn't collect any pole positions in 2012. In yellow are previous Daytona Shootout winners without pole wins in the 2012 season.

Unlike other races, the race format was chosen by a fan poll, and was 75 laps long, with three segments of 30, 25, and 20 laps.^[7]

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held before the race, which was on February 15, 2013. The first session lasted 45 minutes, while the second lasted 60 minutes.^[8] Kevin Harvick was quickest with a time of 45.601 seconds in the first session, less than two-hundredths of a second faster than Aric Almirola. Greg Biffle with a quickest time of 45.660 seconds was third, ahead of Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex, Jr., and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh, still within a second of Harvick's time.^[9] Also in the first session, five cars were involved in an accident after Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch collided.^[10] In the second and final practice session, Denny Hamlin was quickest with a fastest time of 45.906 seconds. Joey Logano followed in second, ahead of Biffle and Harvick. Almirola was fifth quickest, with a time of 46.027. Montoya, Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, and Terry Labonte rounded out to the first ten positions.^[11]

Results

Qualifying

Race results

References