A processing of the unknown was the theme on Wednesday for Daytona 500 Media Day.
In what feels like a generation ago, reaching this point of the week at Daytona International Speedway would have marked the halfway point of Speedweeks instead of the opening salvo of what is increasingly Speedweekend.
The very first lap anyone will turn this week will come on Wednesday night when Chandler Smith is released for his Daytona 500 qualifying attempt. That will also be his first lap ever in a Cup Series car. That’s because there is no practice until Friday after the qualifying races. The Busch Clash has since moved to a temporary short track at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
To get familiar with the Cup car, to even learn how to get through the gears, Smith drove circles around the Kaulig Racing parking lot over the weekend. That’s the closest thing even a rookie driver gets to practice before qualifying for the biggest race of the year.
“If we lived in a perfect world, we’d have practice before qualifying because who’s to say right off the bat we had a problem with the clutch or anything,” Smith said. “If we had practice, we’d be able to identify a problem and fix it before qualifying. It’s been like this for years, so it’s not going to change and that’s fine.”
It’s not just the youngest driver in the field, and a completely fresh rookie that is caught off guard by the unknown, but a seven-time champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner in Jimmie Johnson as well. Johnson spent the past two years driving in IMSA and IndyCar and is completely new to the Next Gen racing platform.
Unlike Smith at least, Johnson did complete a test at Phoenix Raceway last month, so at least he’s capable of getting through the gears without worry. But there is still a lot of new about what he’s about to do without any practice.
“Driving it at Phoenix, there is a much different experience driving the car in the way you create speed, the way the car rides at the bump stops, the ride quality of the vehicle,” Johnson said. “The sim session that I had getting ready for here – although it’s silly to do a sim for Daytona running by yourself – I did notice that the content in the track due to how the cars ride on bump stops is really rough.
“That was not the case my last time here.”
He’s actually still worried a little bit about getting through the gears.
“Mentally, I’m going to be ready for that…
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