NASCAR fans are counting down to Sunday’s big season opener the Daytona 500. Thursday night they will set the field by running two separate qualifying races. 

Driver Paul Menard is ready to get back on the track after a big crash in last Sunday’s clash race.
Menard had the lead at the famous speedway until a move by Jimmie Johnson. This was the result.

“In my mind, I would have been silly to run him down and try to give up the outside. I saw one car pull up to pass. I was going to let him have it and it didn’t work out,” Menard said.

While there’s no bad blood, at least on the surface, Menard has unfinished business in tonight’s qualifying race. He led the clash for 51 laps and was showing no signs of dropping back with rain threatening to shorten the race.

“The car has speed in it from just the sampling. We didn’t do all that we could have done. So, I’m looking forward to, we’re going to race in the duels and try and get a good starting spot,” Menard said.

He and Johnson will be in the same race tonight. They will begin two rows apart. So, imagine the drama if they wind up together again at the end of this race.