Picksheet update.

It’s Saturday morning gang and we are now up to 112 picksheets. With 1 day remaining until the deadline cutoff we will fall short of last years 174 entries. I will be at Cayuga Motorsports today at around 3:00 p.m. to pick up the remaining sheets that John has collected.

So, unfortunatley I will have to revise the payout for this year. Everything should be posted on the site at www.cobocup.com before the drop of the green flag for the Daytona 500.

Some news:

Almirola won’t run full season without full funding: Aric Almirola will not run the full 2009 Sprint Cup season unless funding is secured, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing co-owner Chip Ganassi said Friday afternoon. Ganassi would not specify how many races Almirola, who has sponsorship from Guitar Hero for a select number of events, would run, but he said he definitely will run the first five. “I’d like to sit here and tell you we’re close,” Ganassi said. “But the fact of the matter is we’re not. We’re not unlike … a situation we were in a year ago, but we’re going to give it our best shot. We need more funding to run Aric.” Almirola has 18 career starts over the last two seasons and hopes to run the entire 2009 schedule.

Newman Forced to Backup Car for 500 and four others: While running in third place with 13 laps remaining in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel qualifying race, Ryan Newman’s day came to an abrupt halt when his #39 U.S. Army Chevy got punted from behind by the #00 car of David Reutimann. The heavy hit on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile oval turned Newman around as he slapped the concrete wall, then skidded down track before coming to a stop on the infield grass. Newman did not suffer any injuries in the incident, but his car took a front-end beating, forcing the Stewart-Haas team to take out the backup car for Sunday’s running of the Daytona 500. Newman’s was credited with a 24th-place finish in the second qualifying race and will start 36th in the 500.(Stewart Haas Racing PR)
OTHERS: that will have to go to the rear and will use backup cars: #17-Kenseth, #77-Hornish, #82-Speed, #34-Andretti, #29-Harvick.

Friday practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway is over, the top five:
#26-McMurray 191.546
#7-Gordon 191.424
#98-Menard 190.307
#44-Allmendinger 190.170
#16-Biffle 190.126
slowest: #66-Labonte 182.304 and #21-Elliott 186.982
Kyle Busch ran some laps in the #20 for Logano to help shake it down
#29-Harvick smacked the wall, did enough damage that the team will pull out the backup
no speeds/not practicing (6): #11-Hamlin, #82-Speed, #36-Riggs, #8-Almirola, #41-Mayfield, #18-Busch

Jimbo