FOFC Sprint Cup Series Season 17 - Now Underway
 

Daytona Beach, FL - After a three year hiatus, fourty drivers have made their way to Daytona International Speedway for the 17th running of the FOFC Daytona 500. Many familiar faces have returned for the 17th season. Past champions and rivals Chris Snow and Nick Phillips both are running again in their familiar #4 and #51 cars. The always tough Sterling Silvers makes his return to the circuit. Former race winners Mustafa Henderson, Travis Elkin, Alejandro Murrieta, Kyle Kappe, Rob Nielsen, Daniel Schoonover, and C.R. Anderson also are returning for another season. Absent though are former stars Jeeber D Mack, Telle Snow, It's Craptacular and Billy Bushinhimer. Though Phillips Racing would love to put Billy back in a car for this season they cannot get around the FOFC officials and their two cars per team policy.

Never before has the FOFC had this many rookies. Anyone of them may come up and challenge with the big names on the circuit this season. It's hard to predict just who that may be though.

FOFC Sprint Cup Series Past Champions



FOFC Sprint Cup Series All-Time Win Leaders




Season 17 FOFC Sprint Cup Series Schedule








Once again this season as always, our esteemed panel of racing experts will return to bring you their predictions and thoughts on the upcoming races. Today our panel will make their predictions on the final Top 5 FOFC Sprint Cup Series standings.


Season Predictions from the Expert Panel:




Marty Smith - ESPN

1. Alejandro Murietta #15
2. Nick Phillips #51
3. Sterling Silvers #34
4. Chris Snow #4
5. Kyle Kappe #47



Richard Petty - Former NASCAR Champion

1. Nick Phillips #51
2. Robbie DeWeerd #6
3. Duke Mcwerter #32
4. Chris Snow #4
5. David Gonzalez #20



Conan O'Brien - Former Late Night Talk Show Host

1. Travis Elkin #19
2. Daniel Schoonover #8
3. Mustafa Henderson #20
4. Ron Towers #7
5. Cash Vest #5



Hurley Reyes - Plane Crash Survivor, Lottery Winner

1. Chris Snow #4
2. Ken Schoonover #8
3. Alejandro Murrieta #15
4. Silas Ryle #16
5. C.R. Anderson #23

Phillips Racing is excited for the new season. The legend Nick Phillips looks for yet another title and to defend his season 16 Championship. Nick Phillips Jr. is not racing this season as he has been enjoying his time racing in various series. Phillips racing had a tough time deciding on who would be the wheel man for the second car, but it decided on the always reliable Mustafa Henderson.

Looking forward to the season. Lets hope Nick Phillips still has what it takes.

Drivers and teams headed down to Daytona for the first practice sessions before the official race weekend begins. Ken Schoonover posted the top speed followed by Ron Towers, Rob Nielsen, Steve Bollea and Dean Houston, Jr. Past champs Nick Phillips and Chris Snow were mediocre, posting the 19th and 22nd best time respectively.



Daytona 500 Testing Session #1

CW Racing smells VICTORY.

The Bud Shootout is for all current FOFC Sprint Cup Series drivers who have either won a race or a pole in the previous 17 seasons. 13 drivers qualified for this year's event.

The Bud Shootout is always an exciting start to the new racing season. Lead changes were aplenty in this event, 15 of them in only 20 laps. At the end it was Sterling Silvers who held off a late charge from Kyle Kappe to take the victory. The entire 20 laps were raced extremely clean, no cautions. But not even 50 yards past the start/finish line and almost all of the field starting wrecking. Add 27 more drivers into tomorrow's Daytona 500 and we could have some very exciting racing.

Foley Racing is excited to start their first season a full-fledged team. Andrew Foley is coming off an impressive rookie campaign in season 16 (winning Rookie of the Year honors) but he re-tooled his team entirely and will be looking for more than just a couple of high finishes (and a pole) on his resume. Rookie Elliott Foley, Andrew's younger brother, is excited to start his first professional race at Daytona, and hopes to emerge from the shadow of his brother sooner rather than later.

Erik Flamebeard is poised to smash that upstart Dean Houston Jr.

Daytona 500 1st Practice Speeds

Daytona 500 Qualifying

Luke Duke takes the pole for the 17th running of the FOFC Daytona 500. His brother Bo will start 5th. Ken Schoonover followed up his strong testing session by grabbing the second spot. Elvis Boris followed up a mediocre practice session by claiming the 3rd spot. Rookie Silas Ryle in the #16 Coke Zero car will start 4th.

Oh yeah! A Duke on the pole! The Duke boys will go fast on raceday.

1st and 5th mark a successful debut for Dixieland Racing. We are confident going into raceday.

That means the 88-GoDaddy card rides on the Pole and the General Lee heads up row 3 just behind.

Elvis is in the house!

Daytona 500 Results


Yet again Daytona provided us with a thrilling finish. Coming from 6th place with only 2 laps remaining Alejandro Murietta drafted and pushed Robbie DeWeerd to the lead only to pass him coming down the
backstretch and held off DeWeerd's final late charge to take the victory in the 17th running of the FOFC Daytona 500. But the story of the race was more about who didn't win. Throughout the first half
of the race it was clear that Elvis Boris and his #60 Viagra Ford was the strongest car out there. He led 68 of the first 100 laps and barely anyone could even get to his bumper. But Elvis was
unable to avoid a crash with around 90 laps remaining. The crash dropped his overall speed about 2 miles an hour and he was unable to stay with the pack. Nick Phillips, who along with Andrew Foley were
the only drivers who could come close to challenging Elvis Boris early on was also involved in the crash. His car was never the same afterwards. After that wreck Andrew Foley kept his car out front for
the majority of the time but got hung up on the outside line heading into the final laps and fell to 7th.

Pictures and a few video replays from the race coming soon...

Luke Duke leads the field into the first turn



Luke Duke (#88) leads Elvis Boris (#60), Ken Schoonover (#3), Bo Duke (#01), Silas Ryle (#16), Duke Mcwerter (#32) and Sterling Silvers (#34).



A pack of cars in the middle of the field early on in the 500.







Elvis Boris leads the field.

Erik Flamebeard gets turned sideways into the wall.


Ken Schoonover and Elliott Foley spin out.



William Paige and Jack Meehoff get some air.



Everyone tried to avoid the sideways car of Dean Houston, Jr.

Elvis Boris' strong race is ruined in this crash.



Alejandro Murrieta takes the checkered.

that is outstanding

A terrific day for Bulletproof Racing as both Vests finished in the top 14, with Cash finishing at the same spot as his car number, five. Just remember, when you see the Bulletproof team approaching in your rearview (sponsored by Huggies and Captain Morgan), you're going to need a change of underwear and a drink.

Excellent write-up and tremendous pictures.

The Viagra Ford was upstanding all day until wilting after getting caught in that crash. We'll just have to rise to the occasion again next week.

Phillips Racing is glad to get out of the 500 with both cars still running. This race is always about who can stay out of trouble and we will take a top ten and 11th place.

Excellent! I missed that this had started.

Looks like a really mixed bag for Sterling. One of the slowest test sessions and practice speeds but then a cool win at the Bud Shootout. Then a really nice #7 qualifying spot but finishing #29. Need to shake some rust off, I guess. From the looks of those pictures, he was running well until the Flamebeard crash so maybe that's what knocked us back.

SI

I love the pictures.

Pleased with the way Foley Racing practiced, but we couldn't seem to carry that over into qualifying and just seemed like some rotten luck in the race. Andrew had a great car all day and Elliott did not. Still some work to do, but great to have a top ten at least for Andrew.

An excellent (and a little unexpected) start for Double Tap Racing, with 4th and 12th place finishes. Off to a good start on the season, no doubt.

Oh my team DUI doesn't start well.
After posting a blazing speed in early practice sessions Towers never showed up again, with Stroker Ace finishes 15...we'll get em next week

Bad start for team DUI....we need to ponder our course of action, over a drink of course.

Texas Predictions from the Expert Panel:




Marty Smith - ESPN

Elvis Boris had the fastest car at Daytona. He'll avoid the wrecks and come through with a win today.



Richard Petty - Former NASCAR Champion

Look for Alejandro Murietta to make it two straight after his win at Daytona.




Conan O'Brien - Former Late Night Talk Show Host

Mustafa Henderson has one of the best cars on the circuit and it will show today.



Hurley Reyes - Plane Crash Survivor, Lottery Winner

Sprint Cup legend Chris Snow and his #4 Kodak car will end up in victory lane at the end of the day.

Samsung Mobile 500 Qualifying
Texas Motor Speedway

I like how the Fat ugly man from survivor keeps throwin me a bone....


Solid run at Daytona for Snow Motorsports. The KodaK Chevy wasn't built for drafting, she was built for handling. We should see a much better showing on the intermediate tracks.

Samsung Mobile 500 Results - Race 2 of 20.
 

Samsung Mobile 500 Results

Today's race was all about survival. If you were able to miss the wrecks, you probably finished in the top ten. If you found yourself in one of the wrecks, but were able to drive away and finish the
race with your damaged race car, you found yourself in the top twenty. Only seventeen cars survived the day. Only 7 remained on the lead lap at the end. Early on in the day Robbie DeWeerd and his
#6 Gatorade car looked strong but he found himself getting caught up in a wreck on lap 112. As the race wound down a four car breakaway with Nick Phillips, Jace Hunter, Elvis Boris, and Erik Flamebeard
battled it out for the victory. Phillips and his #51 Chevy held off the challengers to pick up his 17th career FOFC Sprint Cup Series victory.

FOFC Sprint Cup Standings - After Race 2 of 20



Nick Phillips' win vaults him to the top spot. Eric Anderson is the only driver with two top ten finishes and finds himself in 2nd followed by rookies Jace Hunter and Robbie DeWeerd. Elvis Boris rounds
out the top 5.

Mustafa Henderson leads the field into turn 1.



Early racing action.




Racing near the front.

Andrew Foley and Daniel Schoonover crashing early on in the race.




Somehow Daniel Schoonover (#8) raced another 40 laps after this.




A bunch of drivers day was ended after this wreck.




Mustafa Henderson's car is badly damaged after this wreck.




Phillips and Flamebeard battling for the lead in the final laps.




Nick Phillips takes the checkered. His 17th career FOFC Sprint Cup victory.

Somehow Mustafa Henderson avoided these wrecks at Daytona.

Damn spotter should've been screaming for the #25 white car to throw a hard left to avoid the accident. Bulletproof Racing struggled mightily!

Dang. Sterling couldn't avoid the wreck and we're off to a bad start to the season.

SI

Ick...not a great race for Foley Racing either. Andrew started in 9th but barely got out of the gate before crashing. At least Elliott got a top 15 finish.

DOuble R Racing Took a hit with that wreck!

One more video from Daytona with Mustafa Henderson somehow avoiding a wreck for the third time that day. Never seen a guy that lucky.

Nick Phillips wins another one. Nice to see the veteran still has it in him. Three more and I will catch you Snow! Early in the season nice to see both Phillips Racing boys up there in the standings. I can't believe Mustafa stayed running.

cmp - I have a couple other special paint schemes I want to run. I will pm you the cars.

Dixieland has some bad luck and gets taken out fairly early. We look respectable in qualifying but can't get it together for race day.

Richmond will be run tomorrow.

Those little videos are awesome.

I'm going to post about two to three each race from now on.

Richmond Predictions from the Expert Panel:




Marty Smith - ESPN

Eric Anderson is the only driver on the series with two top tens so far. He'll come through with the win today.



Richard Petty - Former NASCAR Champion

After nearly beating Nick Phillips, Jace Hunter will find himself in victory lane at Richmond.



Conan O'Brien - Former Late Night Talk Show Host

Rookie Robbie DeWeerd has raced extremely well so far. His season will get even better with a win today.



Hurley Reyes - Plane Crash Survivor, Lottery Winner

Look for Daniel Schoonover and his #8 car to turn it around at Richmond.

I forgot to save the qualifying results but here is the top 10 qualifiers for the Pontiac Excitement 400.

Pontiac Excitement 400 - Richmond International Raceway
Race #3 of 20


Richmond, VA - For about the first 140 laps in the Pontiac Excitement 400 the race was run very clean. No cautions or accidents occurred until 137 laps into the race. Dean Houston, Jr. found himself way out in front of the field and well on his way to victory before a caution flag flew while he was making his green flag pitstop. A few cars had stayed out and Houston was caught a lap down. He would recover and gain that lap back, and almost found himself back up front before an accident ended his day. Houston, Jr. led 151 laps on the day.

After that first caution on lap 137, the caution flag found itself being flown often. Fifteen times in all. One of the most crash-filled races the FOFC has seen. That makes two weeks in a row where less than 20 drivers finished the race.

William Paige was the driver who took the lead following final pit stops with 48 laps to go and never looked back. He built up a 4 second advantage over Chad Errington, Kyle Kappe and Travis Elkin and cruised to victory.

Top 10 finishes for both members of Double Tap Racing. I'll take that, week in and week out. :)

CW Racing is mediocrity incarnate. :)

Man, Bulletproof Racing is definitely not as bulletproof as we had hoped. That's alright, there's always next race.