Hamlin, Patrick crash in Daytona 500 practice

Associated Press

daytona beach, fla.

Here are some things to know about what’s going on at Daytona International Speedway, where drivers are preparing for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500:

EARLY WRECK

Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin wrecked during Daytona 500 practice Wednesday.

Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet sustained enough damage that she was forced to switch to a backup car and will have to start at the back of the field in the second of two qualifying races Thursday. Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was repairable.

Patrick and Hamlin started the pileup by making contact coming out of the second turn. Casey Mears, Michael Annett and Jeb Burton also were involved.

Patrick called it “the nature of pack racing” while Hamlin said “you always have to give a little bit extra room in practice.” But neither driver took full blame, with Hamlin calling it a “miscalculation one way or another on one of our parts.”

Patrick, who started on the pole for the Daytona 500 two years ago, said she’s disappointed to go to a backup car.

“I know that it was a good car and it’s never a good thing to crash,” she said. “Sometimes there’s not much you can do about it. I could have collected more people and it wouldn’t have been anything that they were a part of. But that’s just group racing at Daytona. That’s the gamble that we all face.”

CHASE ELIGIBILITY

NASCAR has updated eligibility for drivers to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Drivers must start all races to be eligible for the 10-race Chase. Under the previous rule, drivers needed just to attempt to qualify for every race.

A driver does not lose Chase eligibility for attempting to qualify for a race and failing to make the field.

NASCAR could offer waivers in certain circumstances like it did last season for Tony Stewart and this season for Brian Vickers. He will miss the Daytona 500 and next week’s race in Atlanta following heart surgery.

HISTORIC STARTER

NASCAR named series official Kim Lopez as the chief starter for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Lopez will become the first woman and first Hispanic to flag the race. Lopez is in her 11th season with NASCAR and has flagged races for the past seven years in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. She also flagged two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races last season.

The chief starter displays the eight flags that tell the drivers to start, slow down, move over or stop. Lopez also will wave the checkered flag when the winner crosses the finish line.

Lopez says: “You have little girls who can now look up and say, ‘I can do this someday, I can be this someday.”’