Willy Auchmoody says The Money Team is going to subject themselves to liver damage on Thursday night after making the Daytona 500 in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Conventional wisdom says Auchmoody, the general manager, and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. should actually be pulling an all-nighter of a different kind and doing whatever it takes to get the ride height issues addressed on the No. 50 and for driver Conor Daly.
Pace laps for the second qualifying race began with Daly bouncing along the backstretch. This came one night after the car even failed to make it on the track for Daytona 500 qualifying when an electrical short burned a hole in the oil line.
The car only cleared tech at 4:50!
Daly was a lap down by 30 laps to go and was two laps down and unlikely to overcome Austin Hill, the only other driver racing for an open spot, when a crash at the front of the field eliminated the Beard Motorsports team and immediately put the Money Team into the Daytona 500.
In a span of seconds, they were two laps down with no shot to immediately in the Great American Race before the checkered flag.
“Well, we were inherently unlucky for the last 36 hours, but we got lucky,” Daly said. “I wish I could have said that I drove it in on pure pace, but it was just crazy.
“When we went out there, the car was bouncing around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drivetrain was broken, and Tony just made it better every time. We got lucky with the yellows to try to get some experience, but it is pretty crazy.”
Auchmoody is understandably excited, even while expressing equal disappointment for his friends at Beard Motorsports, because making this race two years in a row is a major victory for the development of the organization.
“I worked with (Beard Motorsports) and they’re family,” Auchmoody said. “Everyone who works on that car is a dear friend. Linda and Mark (Beard) Sr., may he rest in peace, I loved that man and he taught me a lot and it made its way into our effort here.
“This was like the worst-case scenario for us getting into the race at their expense basically. … Now we have two days to get this thing better so we can make it to 500 miles. We’re in our second Daytona 500. It’s only our fifth race and two of them are the Daytona frickin’ 500 so we’re excited.”
Making the car better falls on Tony Eury Jr., who won the Daytona 500 in 2004 as car chief with his father and Dale…
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