DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has a sizzlin’ new topic racing through the garage.
It has nothing to do with fightin’, cheatin’ or Dale Jr.
What will actress Ashley Judd wear to the Daytona 500 today? Judd, the wife of reigning IndyCar Series champion and rookie NASCAR driver Dario Franchitti, was hard to miss last week at Daytona International Speedway in a low-cut, black dress adorned with colorful tulips, high heels, black sunglasses and a large, floppy black hat.
It was a drastic departure from “NASCAR style” — a term some would call an oxymoron.
Then again, it was considerably less revealing than Judd’s rain-soaked number at Franchitti’s Indianapolis 500 victory last year.
For Franchitti’s car owner, Chip Ganassi, the subject of Judd’s wardrobe is no big deal.
“Here’s the thing: I’m in the racing business,” Ganassi said. “Dario Franchitti drives our car. He’s married to Ashley Judd. I’m not a Hollywood agent. I treat his wife like I do all the other wives and girlfriends. It’s a nonissue.”
What if Ashley wore a fire suit and Franchitti, who is Scottish, wore a fireproof kilt?
“That’s a good idea, yeah,” Ganassi said.
Happy hour.
The final practice for today’s race was a little dicey.
Clint Bowyer blew a right front tire and scraped the wall, and rookie Regan Smith tagged it a few minutes later.
Two-time series champion Tony Stewart got wildly loose, made a nice save and then headed to the garage. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also gave his team a small scare when he got a little sideways coming out of a turn.
“Everybody dreads the last happy hour,” Kyle Petty said. “You just want to get out of here with your car.”
Tire worries.
Since Kyle Busch has turned as many laps as anyone at Speedweeks — he’s the only driver racing all three NASCAR series at Daytona — he might be the best person to evaluate the Goodyear tires.
“They’re junk,” he said. “Last night was terrible, today was terrible. So expect (today) to be exciting.”
Teams have struggled to get the tires to last even close to the 40 laps cars can run without filling up with gas.
