48 starting 4th in 1st Duel

Well, wrong again, as usual. The first of the Gatorade Duels starts at 2 pm ET.

Jimmie will be starting in a backup car due to a multi-car wreck in practice yesterday that was started by Mike Bliss. Jimmie rear-ended Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano was also involved in the incident. Wonderful. Just what I wanted to hear. I didn't get to watch the practices yet, so this is the first I've heard about it. There's a bit of a silver lining, though:

Johnson was unsure if the backup was the car he drove in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

"The Shootout car was way, way loose, so if it is, we need to make sure we tighten it up," he said. "We had kind of a different setup today that we kind of gravitated to, and I was pretty happy with it." (from NASCAR.com)

At least he's happier with the car now! Here's more of the story from Chad, who says the backup car they're going to is indeed the Bud Shootout car:

But neither Johnson nor his crew chief, Chad Knaus, professed to be worried. The team will race in the 500 with Johnson's Shootout car, which the team will work on to improve its handling.

"This car raced here (Daytona) in July 2009, and we finished second with it," said Knaus of the No. 48 backup car. "And we ran in the Bud Shootout here just last weekend, last Saturday night. So we're just going to go through it and get it fixed up. We are fortunate we were able to keep this car. It's a good race car. We feel confident about it. We're going to send the other car back home (Charlotte) and get it fixed and have it back here tomorrow for a back-up for the 500." (from Fox News)

I have to say, I'm totally not in the mood for silver linings, though. I mean, I'm glad things are working out okay despite the crash, but jeez, this has been the worst week in sports. Well, mainly just in hockey, and now a little in NASCAR, because doods, was the Superbowl awesome or what?! But since I'm being a stick in the mud here, the Red Wings lost yet again, which wasn't a big surprise, but the one that really hurt was seeing the NJ Devils lose to the Flyers TWICE. Bum. Out. Well, anyway, technically the new week starts on Sunday, so hopefully the Big Daddy 500 will put me in a better mood!