What Lincoln is Thinkin’ - Wednesday night at Daytona

What Lincoln is Thinkin' - Wednesday at Daytona

Practice? We're talkin' about practice?

Yes, an exciting session in the late afternoon led a few drivers going to their backup cars. Mike Bliss lost control and wound up ruining the day of few drivers who actually have a chance of winning Sunday. Four time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was caught in the wreck and wound up rear ending Denny Hamlin. Johnson will turn to a backup car but Hamlin's crew is frenetically working to save the #1 car. Clint Bowyer, looking to bounce back from a dismal 2009, blew a tire, and took David Reutimann out with him.

Danica takes plenty of laps

Danica Patrick took advantage of her first Nationwide practice as much as she possibly could, taking 38 laps around Daytona, more than any other driver. Her fastest time was 26th among the over 50 drivers who took the track, including Sprint Cup regular Carl Edwards. She also dodged the rush of reporters after the session.

Early crowd number down

I asked one of the security guards as a German Shepherd was sniffing my News13 vehicle for WMD's and weed (he found neither) how the early crowds were... and he said "Down... waaaay down." Driving in today in mid-afternoon there was definitely a lack of buzz in the infield. Sure, there are a few diehards out there in the campers, and drinking PBR in their lawn chairs at 2pm, but not as many as from when I was here two years ago. It's an early sign.. but not a good one, for a sport that was hoping for a bump in attendance after last year's disappointing numbers.

Let me know if you are coming down for the race!

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