DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona International Speedway has begun installing reinforced concrete in Turn 2 today, Track President Robin Braig announced.

Following a comprehensive review of Turn 2, by a team of engineers and asphalt specialists with North American Testing Corporation (NATC), it was decided to repair the damaged portion of the track as an immediate first step. NATC is conducting a thorough evaluation of the entire track and upon completion will implement all necessary solutions (including repaving if necessary) to ensure the long-term integrity of the track.

“This is the correct course of action to repair the track,” Braig said. “Our team of engineers and asphalt specialists with North American Testing Corporation has previous experience with concrete being used on an asphalt track and it is a proven solution.”

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The damaged area of the track is along the 31-degrees of banking in Turn 2, making the utilization of concrete the best solution. The repairs will begin today and take about two days to complete followed by several days of cure time.

The engineering team concluded that a combination of unusually cold and wet weather exacerbated by race cars bottoming out in that section of the track contributed to the breakdown of the pavement.

Daytona International Speedway will next host a full schedule of motorcycle racing during Daytona 200 Week, February 25th through March 8th.

TRACK STATS | CALIFORNIA
Distance: 2.0 Mile Oval
Banking/Turns 1-4: 14°
Banking on Trioval:11°
Banking/Backstretch: 3º
Length/Frontstretch: 2,500 ft.
Length/Backstretch: 3,100 ft.
Miles/Laps: 500 mi. = 250 laps
2009 Polesitter: Brian Vickers 2009 Winner: Matt Kenseth
The Race: Auto Club 500
The Place: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA
The Date: Sunday, Feb. 21
The Time: 3 p.m. (ET)
TV: FOX , 2 p.m. ET

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In a word, hardly…in each of the last four season-openers, Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Chevrolet) has begun his title defense with a stinker. Weird, but true. And apparently, not at all season-threatening. Johnson’s Daytona 500 clunkers haven’t seemed to phase him all that much.

In 2007, Johnson finished 39th in the 500. In 2008, he finished 27th. Last year, he was 31st. Now, once again, he finished outside the top 25, ending Sunday’s race 35th. But Johnson’s early-season Rx has been Auto Club Speedway, where he has followed up a bad Daytona 500 with a top-10 finish — or better.

Johnson has finished in the top five in two of the last three February ACS races, and has been the class of the field at Fontana practically every race since 2007. In the last six ACS races, Johnson has three wins, a Driver Rating of 134.7, an Average Run- ning Position of 3.4, 619 Laps Led and 347 Fast- est Laps Run. He has led at least 31 laps in every race since 2007.

Actually, in one race, dominance morphed into perfection. In the summer race of 2008, Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150, posting an Average Running Position of 1.2 and leading 228 of the 250 laps. It was Johnson’s first perfect Driver Rating since the Loop Data statistic’s inception in 2005. He has since scored another one, at the May Dover race last season.

NASCAR goes coast-to-coast this week, from the season-opening “Speedweeks” at Daytona International Speedway to the nation’s second-largest market, home to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., just east of Los Angeles.

It’s huge weekend, with new Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitors into Sunday’s Auto Cub 500.

On Saturday, Danica Patrick will make her second NASCAR Nationwide Series start, in the Stater Brothers 300.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, meanwhile, has an early-season break, returning to the track March 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Todd Parrott Named Crew Chief of Roush Fenway’s No. 17 Sprint Cup Team

CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 17, 2010) – Veteran crew chief Todd Parrott has been appointed crew chief of Roush Fenway’s No. 17 Sprint Cup team with driver Matt Kenseth. Parrot will take over the role effective immediately.

Drew Blickensderfer, who has served as crew chief on the No. 17 since the start of the 2009 season, will assume a role in Roush Fenway’s research and development department.

Parrott, who won a Sprint Cup championship with Dale Jarrett in 1999, is the third winningest active crew chief in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with 29 career wins.

Last year at this time Matt Kenseth had just won the Daytona 500 and was headed to Auto Club Speedway where he would win again. The off-the-bat win streak seemed to bode well for Kenseth’s 2009 season,

Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating eight motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and four in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Colin Braun, and Paul Menard.