The Final Lap – NASCAR News, Radio, Podcast

 Danica Patrick will pull double duty in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races on Saturday and Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Patrick ranks 10th in Nationwide points where she’s racing for the series championship.

She’ll make her third NASCAR Sprint Cup start of the season in the Coca-Cola 600 in which only one female driver has previously competed.

Janet Guthrie finished 15th in her NASCAR Sprint Cup debut in 1976.

PHOTO CREDIT: NASCARMEDIA (USED WITH PERMISSION)

Coke Zero Makes Danica the Newest Face in the Coca-Cola Racing Family

ATLANTA (May 10, 2012)–Coke Zero is welcoming a new member into the Coca-Cola Racing Family, and it’s one of the most talked about athletes in professional sports. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series&™ rookie Danica Patrick has signed a multi-year endorsement deal to represent the Coke Zero brand.

“Joining the Coca-Cola Racing Family is one of the really cool things that’s happened so far in my career. I’m a Coke Zero drinker and fan, so with this partnership, I really get to have it all”

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NASCAR Drivers Counting On Their “Lucky Charms” at Bristol This Weekend

NASCAR heads to Bristol, Tenn., this weekend for the fourth stop on both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series schedules. And, as luck may have it, the Nationwide Series race falls on St. Patrick’s Day.

As excitement and anticipation build among the competitors, have you ever wondered what some of them use as their go-to lucky charms? Dale Earnhardt’s lucky penny, one of the most iconic lucky charms in the world of sports, played a part in his 1998 Daytona 500 win. So, in the spirit of St. Patty’s Day, what do drivers plan to carry with them or do on race day for a little luck o’ the Irish at Bristol this weekend?

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The spotlight was bright in Daytona for Danica Patrick. She started strong but didn’t end up with the hoped-for results. Although she is down, she isn’t out. One driver who can attest to that is Elliott Sadler, who faced nearly the same circumstance last season following the season opener at Daytona.

Patrick, a Phoenix resident, became just the second woman in national series history to win a Coors Light Pole when she did so in Daytona. But a potential strong run was cut short when her JR Motorsports teammate, Whitt, tapped her from behind, causing extensive damage to her No. 7 Chevrolet. She was able to return, but finished 38th. She comes home 26th in points.

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ESPN Breaks Cable Viewership Record with NASCAR Telecast from Daytona

With an average of 4.4 million people watching, ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 25 has broken the previous record as the most-viewed race ever on cable television for the series.

The race telecast earned a household coverage rating of 3.3, averaging 4,433,249 viewers in 3,304,012 households, breaking the record of 4,271,365 viewers in 3,170,109 households set for ESPN’s telecast of the Daytona race in 2010.

Ratings and viewership for the Daytona telecast were up 37 percent from ESPN’s telecast of last year’s race, which earned a 2.4 household coverage rating and averaged 3,246,875 viewers.

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By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a weekend of unlikely winners, James Buescher took the checkered flag under caution in Saturday’s Drive4COPD 300 Nationwide Series race with wreckage from the cars of the likely winners strewn behind him in Turn 4 at Daytona International Speedway.

Buescher, a first-time winner in the series, took advantage of a last-lap wreck involving front-runners Trevor Bayne, Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch to score the victory, one day after rookie John King won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in his first trip to Daytona.

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