Dakoda Armstrong Wins His First Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Pole After Rain and a Crash at Daytona

         With a time of 46.845 seconds (192.123 mph), Dakoda Armstrong was able to win his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole after rain ended qualifying at Daytona for the series after only one round. With threats of rain in the minds of all crews before the start of the session, each team was planning to run fast in the first round. That was definitely the case as drivers began to file onto track and run fast laps in the first minutes of the first round. Armstrong jumped to the top of the board with help from his Ford teammates with about fifteen minutes remaining in the round. With about seven minutes left, rain began to pour on a segment of the backstretch and a group of cars had a huge wreck that brought the round to a halt. NASCAR called the first round and looked to continue the session, but rain began to pour all around the track. NASCAR called the session after a single round and Dakoda Armstrong grabbed the pole as he was fastest after the first round. Trevor Bayne helped his fellow Ford driver to the pole and he was able to grab a second place starting spot after finishing third at Daytona in February in the series. Chris Buescher missed the Daytona Nationwide race in February, but he qualified third for tonight's race at the historic track. Ryan Reed has been consistent all year and he took a fourth place starting spot at Daytona. Kyle Busch was up to his usual ways as he took a fifth place starting spot for tonight's event. The second chance for the NASCAR Nationwide Series to perform knockout qualifying at Daytona was an unforgettable session. The huge crash in the rain mentioned above took out a good many drivers and left most of the fans and drivers shocked after the wreck. Dakoda Armstrong's upset pole win will be a moment that will be remembered for the rest of the year. After a very interesting session of qualifying, these starting spots for the drivers could lead to a win for one lucky driver.

        Joey Logano was the first driver on track at the start of the first round. A good many drivers waited two and a half minutes before heading out when Logano led a group out. He ran a rather slow lap compared to his pack because he was leading the draft. A good many other groups went out and early on, Matt DiBenedetto, who was driving an underfunded Chevrolet, jumped to the top of the board. Just a minute later, Scott Lagasse Jr. jumped to the top of the board as the shuffling of groups began. Drivers were moving all around the leaderboard as they passed the finish line each lap around. A minute later, Regan Smith jumped to the top of the board after help from his JR Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott. Just a lap later, Dakoda Armstrong flew to the top of the board with help from some of his other Ford teammates. As Armstrong moved to the top, the shuffle at the top of the board began to cease. The rest of the battles would be for the twenty fourth and final transfer spot to the next round. A good many drivers like Dylan Kwasniewski and David Ragan were on the outside and they were hoping to move their way in. A good many underdog drivers were also looking to make their way in. With about eight minutes left, those were the only drivers left on track. For those drivers, though, their session would take a turn for the worst. 

         As a group of drivers led by Mike Bliss started down the backstretch with eight minutes left, rain began to pour on track. Mike Bliss tried to pull off track as he hit the wet part of the track. He did, but his car began to spin due to the wet conditions. At the same time, Eric McClure and Robert Richardson Jr. began to spin. Drivers like Benny Gordon, Joe Nemechek, Matt DiBenedetto, Ross Chastain, Scott Lagasse Jr., and Blake Koch began to spin and pile into the wreck. Chastain had extremely heavy damage after hitting Bliss and Lagasse caught fire while leaving the scene. All the drivers had pretty heavy damage while the backstretch became soaked. NASCAR brought out the red flag immediately and they began to move the damaged cars. Drivers began to wait and NASCAR decided to end the first round since all drivers had run a lap during the round. This meant Tanner Berryhill took the final transfer spot while Dakoda Armstrong moved on as the fastest driver from the first round. Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch, Elliott Sadler, Chase Elliott, Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace Jr., Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, and others moved on while Dylan Kwasniewski, David Ragan, John Wes Townley, and others missed the next round. As the drivers were looking forward to the second round, rain quickly began to fall all around the track. The track was quickly covered in rain and NASCAR decided to call qualifying after a single round. This put Dakoda Armstrong on the pole for the first time in his very young career. Armstrong hasn't been up front too much this year, but he will be at the front tonight and hoping for a win.

         When Richard Petty and his team pegged Dakoda Armstrong to drive their car before the beginning of this season, some people were left scratching their heads. Not many people had heard of Armstrong, but he has done pretty well in NASCAR and ARCA for a couple of years. He ran well in a full season for Stacy Compton in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2013 and he ran a few races for Richard Childress Racing in the Nationwide Series. Now, he is in his first full year of Nationwide competition for Richard Petty and he is in the spotlight with his first pole in the series at a very historic race track. If he could win tonight, it would be a win for Armstrong on the thirtieth anniversary of his boss's two hundredth win in NASCAR's highest series. It would mean a lot for the entire team and it would be a great win to see. Trevor Bayne starts second tonight and he will look to win at Daytona for the first time in the Nationwide Series. Chris Buescher will look to take a second place run at Talladega in May to a win at Daytona tonight and he will start from the third spot. Ryan Reed will look to take his first NASCAR win with a fourth place starting spot for this race tonight. Kyle Busch already has three wins this year in the series and he will look to take a fifth place starting spot to his fourth win. The rest of the Nationwide field follows with some very good underdogs mixed into the running order. Daytona is always a wild card and tonight's race will definitely be filled with action, wrecks, and, possibly, an underdog winner after two hundred and fifty miles. There are many things that can happen and they will all happen for sure. Will Dakoda Armstrong take his first pole to his first win, will Chase Elliott manage to take his first restrictor plate win, will an underdog head to victory lane, or will another driver head to the historic victory lane at Daytona? We only have to wait a couple of hours to find this out and a whole lot more.
(More Stats Down Below!)





Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Dakoda Armstrong     46.845 (192.123 mph)
2nd: Trevor Bayne     46.886 (191.955 mph)
3rd: Chris Buescher     46.915 (191.836 mph)
4th: Ryan Reed     46.979 (191.575 mph)
5th: Kyle Busch     47.053 (191.274 mph)

Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
6th: Elliott Sadler     47.079 (191.168 mph)
7th: Chase Elliott     47.103 (191.071 mph)
8th: Regan Smith     47.115 (191.022 mph)    
10th: Kyle Larson      47.212 (190.630 mph)
11th: Joey Logano     47.261 (190.432 mph)
13th: Kasey Kahne     47.422 (189.785 mph)
16th: Ty Dillon     47.834 (188.151 mph)

DNQs:
41st: Benny Gordon      48.623 (185.098 mph)
42nd: Blake Koch     48.631 (185.067 mph)
43rd: Tommy Joe Martins     49.009 (183.640 mph)
44th: Matt DiBenedetto     49.172 (183.031 mph)
45th: Bobby Gerhart       49.242 (182.771 mph)





Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
http://racing-reference.info/getqualify/2014-16/B
-Image:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKjlWUJDDnL6jaBa_gbltn6ZIDSg30S326BMLN_UzsVUqZs-LLyosR5zaZJuhRnpCfHz4oO1tk0KwqhaBuwFaA8hwndch7b-N9a0k1uonxWB7dpp2f-0SiHgTAsBkQTykfbuhSmkSSvP3/s1600/Dakoda+Armstrong+1-11-14+NASCAR+via+Getty.jpg