NASCAR video: Remembering Austin Dillon’s horrific crash last year at Daytona

Although Austin Dillon walked away from a horrific wreck at the end of last year’s Coke Zero 400, NASCAR saw that more improvements could be made in safety.

And that’s just what NASCAR did, launching a dozen safety initiatives after Dillon’s wreck.

We revisit Dillon’s wild ride.

What’s in a name with Sprint Cup cars? Saying goodbye to Amelia and perhaps a tradition

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s goodbye to his beloved “Amelia” – retired after crashing in the season’s first two restrictor-plate races — also was goodbye to monikers for his Sprint Cup cars.

“No, we’re not going to be naming cars anymore,” Earnhardt said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway when asked if he had waved goodbye when passing by the “car graveyard” on his property where Amelia sits. “I knew as soon as we did that, it sort of took off and put a lot of pressure on that car and the team.”

“Amelia” was named for legendary aviator Amelia Earnhardt after the car won at Talladega and Daytona in 2015 because it was the first name that came to mind for Earnhardt when he thought of someone who accomplished a significant and inspiring achievement.

It’s a long-running concept for NASCAR drivers to name their cars (see this 2007 story by NBC Sports’ Dustin Long). When he drove for crew chief Ray Evernham, Jeff Gordon’s favorite in the No. 24 stable was nicknamed “Blacker” (because of its dark paint scheme).

At Team Penske, Rusty Wallace once nicknamed his cars after they won races – ‘Midnight’ was coined after he won the 1992 night race at Richmond International Raceway. “Mad Max” was spawned by an August 2000 win at Michigan in which Wallace won after leading the most laps with a car that had finished second four times (“I was madder than hell”). The car from his final win at Martinsville Speedway in April 2004 was christened “Predator.”

But in the new era in which multicar teams churn out fleets of standardized cars with production-line efficiency, the days of having a “favorite” car have been confined to the dustbin of history. It’s become easier for teams to produce virtual duplicates in shape and speed, and the constant progression of development and technology makes cars outmoded much more quickly.

“These cars just don’t stick around long enough to get names,” Earnhardt said. “You used to race cars for years and years, and they would show a personality. These days, you only keep a car for maybe a year before it’s unrecognizable or it’s cut out of the herd.

“We had so much success with that car last year that we ran it this year, and we probably shouldn’t have. There are newer ideas and theories and better ways to do things that car didn’t have. But we assumed, ‘Hey, it was doing so well, why wouldn’t it keep going?’

“But it seems like over the offseason there’s so much improvement and gains made by every organization that you can’t afford to rest on what you did the year before. Anyhow, we’ll see how this car does. We’ve got some good direction on trying to improve and built this car with some newer ideas and hopefully it’s going to go out there and be quick.”

WITH XFINITY SERIES' MILITARY TRIBUTE, WALLACE, IWUJI SHARE BOND

When the idea first surfaced of honoring active military units on the windshields of NASCAR XFINITY Series cars at Friday's Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), someone asked Jesse Iwuji which driver's car he'd like his last deployment station, USS Comstock, featured on.

Iwuji, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver in his first full season who also is in active service in the U.S. Navy until 2017, didn't hesitate: Darrell Wallace Jr.

"I've followed him a lot and I really love what he's done in the series," said Iwuji, who will attend this weekend's races at Daytona.

Like Wallace, Iwuji is African-American and a lifelong race fan. Like Wallace, Iwuji is trying to make a name for himself in the sport.

Like Wallace, Iwuji has shown great promise, but still is searching for his first win this season.

With so many similarities, somehow when Wallace first heard that his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford would honor Iwuji at Daytona International Speedway for Friday's race, his predominant thought settled on the major difference between the two drivers.

"I didn't know he was a Navy Lieutenant, so that's really cool," Wallace said.

Many XFINITY Series drivers will learn new facts about the units displayed on their race cars this weekend. Part of 'NASCAR: An American Salute,' the program honoring military units and installations is a counterpart to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' tribute during the Coca-Cola 600 over Memorial Day weekend where cars featured names of service men and women who died while in active duty.

Several XFINITY Series teams have direct connections to the units, such as driver Elliott Sadler, whose windshield will be adorned with Fort Campbell's "3RD BCT 101ST ABN" to honor JR Motorsports employee Lee Langley, who served for six years at the Army base as an infantry team leader in the 101st Airborne Division.

And then there's Iwuji and Wallace. The two drivers met a couple times in the past year that Iwuji has been driving professionally, but rather than discuss Iwuji's six years of active duty in the Navy, each time the two settled on their shared passion: racing. Iwuji peppered Wallace with questions about how he prepares for races, and how he manages the full-time job of driving.

"I'm still brand new and still learning a lot," said Iwuji, who earned his first top 10 in his fifth start, "so I definitely have a long way to go."

Sometimes, Wallace has the same feeling. But after 14 XFINITY Series races this season, Wallace has five top 10s and two top fives. He's currently ninth in the driver's standings, with seemingly a fairly secure spot in the 12-driver XFINITY Chase.

But he's also winless. His second-place finish at Dover in May was a career best -- and it was just enough to leave Wallace yearning for more.

"We're knocking on the door for our first win," Wallace said. "We need to clean up some areas that we're lacking in right now. We're kind of treating this (Daytona) as a test session because we have the Chase format. We can go to the race track and bring a different package to try each and every weekend. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. ... Hopefully we can get a win to lock us into the Chase, and then win a Chase race each and every segment, and then put ourselves in a position to win the title, win the title and everybody's happy."

It seems a simple formula, though Wallace also knows there are significant strides to be made in the second half of the season.

It all starts with this weekend's race, when he'll have USS Comstock plastered atop his windshield.

"Hopefully it brings us some good luck, and hopefully it makes us 'military strong' so we can muscle some guys out of the way and get our first win," Wallace said.

BIFFLE EARNS FIRST COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD OF '16 AT DAYTONA

Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle topped the speed charts (192.955 mph) during the Coors Light Pole qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway to earn his first pole award since 2012.

Biffle sat atop the leaderboard for both of the two rounds during the single-car qualifying session. 

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman Carl Edwards will lineup alongside Biffle after earning the second-quickest lap time (192.746 mph).

Kyle Busch completed the top three, propelling his No. 18 Toyota to a fastest time of 192.336 mph. "Rowdy" had to resort to a backup car after wrecking during the lone practice for the series.

The No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (192.320 mph) and the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski (192.254 mph) took fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. will line up 16th in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Regan Smith, 40th, had to shut his engine down in the opening minutes of Round 1 after he smelled oil and heard odd noises coming from his No. 7 Chevrolet. Smith failed to turn a lap. 

The No. 30 The Motorsports Group Chevrolet of Josh Wise failed to make the 40-car field.

The 40-car field heads back to the track for Saturday's main event, the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

This story will be updated.

What Daytona means to the Earnhardt’s (video)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won four times at Daytona International Speedway: twice in the Daytona 500 and twice more in the Coke Zero 400.

Junior is the defending winner of last year’s Coke Zero 400.

More than any other track, Daytona has long been the most important and meaningful track for the entire Earnhardt family, including the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt. Here’s why.

Friday’s Xfinity, Sprint Cup schedule at Daytona

Friday marks the midpoint of the three-day racing weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Because of Thursday’s rainout, the Sprint Cup Series will have a 45-minute practice session from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET.

Later, both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup Series have qualifying sessions.

Then, the first race of the weekend — the Xfinity Series Subway Firecracker 250 — is slated to take the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s how today’s schedule shapes up:

(All times Eastern)

8:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open

9:45 – 10:30 a.m. – Sprint Cup practice (NBCSN)

Noon – Xfinity garage opens

2:10 p.m. – Xfinity qualifying; single car/two rounds (NBCSN)

3:45 p.m. – Xfinity driver-crew chief meeting

4:10 p.m. – Sprint Cup qualifying; single car/two rounds (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

7 p.m. – Xfinity driver introductions

7:30 p.m. – Firecracker 250 Xfinity race; 100 laps, 250 miles (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

John Wes Townley issues apology for fight at Gateway; appreciates Tony Stewart’s support

John Wes Townley, who was fined $15,000by NASCAR for his fight with Spencer Gallagher last week at Gateway Motorsports Park, issued an apology Friday morning.

“I want to apologize to NASCAR and my fans,” Townley said in a statement. “That’s not the way I want to represent myself, Zaxby’s or Jive Communications. I’ll try my best to make sure it never happens again.

“I was amazed at the comments from so many drivers who were supportive, most notably Tony Stewart.”

After his Sonoma win, Stewart said: “I’m going to go to Zaxby’s and eat chicken all week just in support of John Wes. Hey, I’m all for it. I’m glad to see somebody had some emotion and actually did something with it. I’m going to live my life through him for this week.”

Townley was scheduled to compete in an Xfinity car this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, but the team withdrew earlier the week.

“Honestly, we went into this season with our sights sets on running strong in the Truck Series and ARCA,” he said. “We’ve always said that. And we, as a team, don’t need to overlook those goals.

“We were getting ready to pull guys off our Truck and ARCA teams to go run an Xfinity race in Daytona. I love racing at Daytona. I’ve won there twice in ARCA.

“But considering that we have a Truck race and an ARCA race next week (at Iowa Speedway), we felt it was better to pour our time and resources into getting ready for next week.”