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What caused the pesky pothole that delayed the Daytona 500?”

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What caused the pesky pothole that delayed the Daytona 500?”

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Pit stop: Daytona 500 deals with pesky pothole By MARK LONG, AP Sports Writer Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 6:41 p.m. Track workers try to repair a hole in the track as NASCAR officials look on during a red flag in the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Bill Friel) / AP Track workers try to repair a hole in the track as NASCAR officials look on during a red flag in the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Bill Friel) Track workers try to repair a hole in the track as NASCAR officials look on during a red flag in the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Bill Friel) – AP NASCAR and track officials try to repair a hole in the track during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 14

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—Greg Biffle hit it on three consecutive laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scraped his car across it several times. Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and others blamed it for damage. Those guys zipping around Daytona International Speedway at nearly 190 mph Sunday found themselves in a position much like any everyday driver—trying to dodge a pothole and then waiting for it to get fixed. The small hole between turns 1 and 2 took center stage at NASCAR’s marquee event, marring an otherwise spectacular Daytona 500 and prompting officials to apologize for more than two hours of delays that had some fans heading home. The stoppages came at a critical time for NASCAR, which began this season by making several on-track changes designed to boost sagging TV ratings. “This is not supposed to happen,” track president Robin Braig said. “But we can come back from this. We know how to fix it. … We know how to do it right. I apologize for it. This is hallowed ground. We understand that. We ac

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It was unclear how or when the hole developed. Daytona track president Robin Braig said it could have been caused by cars set low for better aerodynamics. He also insisted no problems showed up during a thorough, pre-race inspection. This much was certain: Heavy rain and cooler-than-normal temperatures—it was 44 degrees on the shaded part of the track—didn’t allow the fixes to work. The biggest problem might have been the location of the hole, which is about where right-side tires run when cars are on the inside of the track. The initial fix took 1 hour, 40 minutes, and the drivers then completed 36 laps on the repaired superspeedway before the patchwork broke up. The second repair lasted 44 minutes. In that one, workers gathered up polyester resin products from teams, mixed it with a hardener and then heated it with blowtorches and jet dryers to turn the putty mixture into a jelled substance. They raced the final 32 laps without any noticeable issues.

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