| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 2 exhibition races in the2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
| Date | February 16, 2013 (2013-02-16) | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway,Daytona Beach, Florida,United States | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.5 miles (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 | 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, andLarry McReynolds | ||
The2013 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona was a non-championshipNASCARSprint Cup Seriesstock car race that was held on February 16, 2013, atDaytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 75 laps, it was the first exhibition race of the2013 Sprint Cup Series season.Kevin Harvick ofRichard Childress Racing won the race, whileGreg Biffle finished second.Joey Logano,Tony Stewart, andMatt Kenseth rounded out the top five.
Daytona International Speedway is one of sixsuperspeedways to holdNASCAR races, the others beingMichigan International Speedway,Auto Club Speedway,Indianapolis Motor Speedway,Pocono Raceway andTalladega 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 31degrees, 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 2012pole 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 wereBrad Keselowski andClint Bowyer, the2012 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. Which was chosen over a format that would have seen a 35, 30, and a 10 lap segments and a 40, 20, and 15 lap segments.[7] Fans also voted to mandate drivers to perform a 4-tire pitstop after the first segment over a 2-tire stop or no mandatory pitstop. Fans also voted for no cars to be eliminated following the second segment over 2, 4, and 6 cars being eliminated (though 7 cars were out due to crashes or mechanical issues before that point.) Fans also voted for the firesuit miss Sprint Cup appeared in victory lane in.[8]
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.[9]Kevin Harvick was quickest with a time of 45.601 seconds in the first session, less than two-hundredths of a second faster thanAric Almirola.Greg Biffle with a quickest time of 45.660 seconds was third, ahead ofKasey Kahne,Martin Truex Jr., andDale Earnhardt Jr.Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh, still within a second of Harvick's time.[10] Also in the first session, five cars were involved in an accident afterMatt Kenseth andKurt Busch collided.[11] 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, andTerry Labonte rounded out to the first ten positions.[12]