Cinderella Stories For The Daytona 500!

Making the Daytona 500 is one of the hardest things to do in the Sony Cup Series. It requires having a fast car in qualifying to qualify your way in, and a fast car to drive in the pack and race your way in. It's not often you see teams with little to nothing race their way into the Daytona 500 but we do have some story lines coming out of the Daytona Duels that are like that.


Wake Motorsports attempting to make the Daytona 500
Wake Motorsports a part time team joined up with veteran Zaedin Davidson, Davidson returning to the SCS field for the first time in 2 seasons wasn't expected to have a good run. Making the field would be an up hill climb however Zaedin Davidson was battling for the lead in the closing stages of his duel finishing a remarkable 5th place finish to start 9th.


Fisher Motorsports loses the main pack, still race their way in!
Fisher Motorsports with Jordan Fisher and Maalik Nevins both lost the main pack during the race. That didn't stop Fisher Motorsports from giving up and racing their way in. Nevins in Duel 1 hit the wall like other drivers and lost the main pack. Nevins drafted with Dom Caps all race long afterwards and faught hard with other drivers to muscle his way to a 14th place finish. Fisher got shuffled out before pitstops however a caution flag flying, a spin off turn 4, and also a blown motor by Jordan Davis, kept Jordan Fisher in the main pack and in the game. Fisher made a charge late in the going to get inside the Top 15 and never looked back, finishing 9th.


Stephen Pollard III shows he's a good driver
Pollard III one of the 24 drivers in the series history to have 5 or wins in his career. Pollard III is known to drive for underfunded teams because that's how he prefers to race, likes being the underdog. Possibly could be a top series driver with multiple championships and multiple race wins had he had the equipment on Sundays. Stephen Pollard III showed his start up #89 Racing with Jesus Dodge was there to make the race. He raced in the pack all race even during pitstops his crew took gas only to keep him upfront. It paid off. Pollard III got shoved all the way up to 3rd late in the race but got shuffled late in the going, lucky for him the lead pack was only 11 drivers, he finished 11th in Duel 1.


CM Racing will race in their first ever Daytona 500
After not even qualifying inside the Top 50 in qualifying it looked bleak for the small team to make the race. Team owner and driver, Chris Dodd, drove the #3 IKEA Chevy up to the front at the beginning of Duel 2. Caution came out and like Pollard, Dodd made some strategy to keep him up near the front. Only taking right side tires on his pitstop moved him back into the Top 10 on the restart where he stay most the remainder of the race. Dodd came home 12th to make the 500.


Hood Hudelson Racing Shocks The Sony Cup World
Hood Hudelson Racing was wrote off as nothing more than just a driver everyone expected to race for a little paycheck for racing in the duel, however, Hood Hudelson Racing will race in the Daytona 500! Beka Haddix came off an outstanding qualifying effort for their race team to even qualify 47th of 56 cars. Haddix hung onto the main pack all race until pitstops. Haddix took right side tires hoping to hang onto the lead pack. The rookie team struggled to find the pit speeds everyone else had with putting 4 tires on. Haddix lost the draft and found herself in a pack of 4 other race cars who all took 4 tires. Haddix had it to the floor board as fast as she could go and a hole opened up late in the run to follow Maalik Nevins by Ryan Acosta and Treck Tauger for the final transfer position. Haddix for the last couple laps hugged the inside line til the checkered flag flew. Beka Haddix shut out a hungry Treck Tauger who was poised to make his final Daytona 500 start.


Cloud9 Racing Finds A Way Into The Daytona 500!
Cloud9 Racing was outside the Top 50 in qualifying and afterwards was wrote off as one of the teams that will miss the race. After White's car was disallowed through tech inspection, Cloud9 was forced to adjust the car to SCS standards. Going to the rear for his Duel he lost the draft after lap 2, he couldn't even keep up with Aidan Shepherd, the Crayola team who was the slowest team by far all speed weeks. Just before pitstops a debris caution came out with Michael White half a straight away from going a lap down. The caution saved him, he took only right side tires to leap him right up to 16th just outside the transfer position on the restart, a bad restart shuffled White out of the draft once again however, Scott Roush spinning off turn 4 slowing the field brought him back into the pack. He lost the draft again with Mason Gordon and Hayden Kline until Jordan Davis blew a motor and bunched the field back up once again. Giving Michael White a 3rd chance to make the field. Michael White's car suffered from a lack of speed in the car however he was able to get just enough suck up on the car infront in the final 2 laps of Kyle Collins to bring him along side Emma White for the final spot. Emma White on the far highside being at a disadvantage was battling to keep up but it wasn't in her favor. Michael White managed to make it back to the start finish line ahead of his competition to finish 15th in the final transfer position!











All of these were amazing stories but the lower down you go, the more incredible they are. Good job to these guys!

Great job for Chris Dodd and my former driver Michael White, hope you guys put on a good show!