Harvick remained perfect through Speedweeks on Thursday by winning the first of two 150-mile Budweiser Duel qualifying races, and the victory has positioned him as the top pick to win NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl.

Being labeled the favorite is the last thing the 2007 Daytona 500 winner wanted headed into Sunday’s season-opener.

“We like to be the lame-duck underdog. That’s what we’re shooting for,” Harvick said.

Harvick is a perfect 2 for 2 at Daytona International Speedway. He also won an exhibition race last weekend. This strong start comes at a time when Harvick has found a balance in his life with the addition of son, Keelan, who was born last July, and as he heads into his final season with Richard Childress Racing. Harvick has already decided to move to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

“We’ve been fortunate to win the first two races of Speedweeks. We’ve just got to keep a level head on our shoulders, not get too high over what we’ve done, just do the same things that we’ve done,” he said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I think we definitely have the car and team to be in contention to do that.”

But nobody is quite sure what the 500 will look like with NASCAR’s new Gen-6 race car. Sunday’s race will go off with a full 43-car field, double the amount of cars that ran in Thursday’s qualifying races. There were 19 cars in last Saturday’s exhibition.

Kyle Busch, winner of the second duel, believes more cars on the track will create a much different race than what fans have seen so far. All three races at Speedweeks to date have lacked much action as drivers continue to learn the new cars and how it reacts in traffic and different aerodynamic situations.

“With more cars out there, we might see it be a little bit different come Sunday,” Busch said. “There were half the field in each race, obviously. There’s going to be twice as many good cars, twice as many middle of the pack cars, twice as many back of the pack cars. If you can get your car handling, driving, feeling good, you’ll be able to be one of the guys that’s up front.”

Is Busch, who was wrecked out of last week’s exhibition just 15 laps into the race, one of those guys?

“I feel that’s where we’re at,” Busch said. “That’s an added bonus for us right now.”

Busch gave Toyota its first victory of Speedweeks and snapped Chevrolet’s dominance. Harvick took the new Chevrolet SS to Victory Lane twice, and Danica Patrick put it on the Daytona 500 pole in time trials.

Busch held off Kasey Kahne, in a Chevrolet, and learned the driver out front is in the strongest position.

“It’s hard to pass the leader,” said Busch. “Stay out front. When you get out front, you can hold everyone off.”

But Kahne, who settled for second, said timing will be critical and nobody is sure just yet what move will be needed to win the Daytona 500.

“I think it’s tough because you don’t know when you get that push. You don’t know when it plays into your time,” said Kahne, who never got close enough to Busch to take a solid shot at the win. “I think you need to be ready at any time to get to the front, to second, to third, try to move up. I don’t think waiting till the last lap is a ticket the way things are right now.”

“I think Kevin looks really good,” he said. “He’s got this place figured out. I think he can be beat, yeah. There’s a few of us in the second race who had really good cars, and I could move around really well, similar to what Harvick did in the first race.”

In the first race, Harvick held off Greg Biffle over a four-lap sprint to win. Harvick and Biffle also went 1-2 in last Saturday night’s exhibition race.

The starting field for the Daytona 500 is set by the results from the pair of 60-lap qualifiers, but Patrick held onto the pole by running a safe race in the first qualifier. The first woman to win a pole at NASCAR’s top level, Patrick earned the top starting spot in time trials last weekend.

She started first in the first qualifier, raced a bit early, then faded back to run a conservative race and ensure she’ll start first in the 500.

“I hate coming to the end like that and just lagging back,” she said. “That’s not fun. But it’s also really ignorant to go drive up into the pack and be part of an accident for absolutely no reason. You’re really not going to learn much there.”

Patrick wound up 17th out of 23 cars.

“What I really feel like I need to do is go down to the Harvick bus and see what he’s doing,” she said. “He’s got it going on down here.”

The first race was dull until Denny Hamlin brought out the only caution with seven laps remaining. Hamlin lost control of his car, spun into Carl Edwards and triggered a four-car accident that also collected Regan Smith and Trevor Bayne, who had a dominant car early in the qualifier.

“I know what the wrecks look like now, I am really familiar with them,” said Edwards, who was wrecked at testing in January and in practice for the exhibition race last week. He was also black-flagged in the exhibition race when his window net fell off.

Hamlin said the accident was a product of drivers trying to learn the nuances of NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car.

“It just shows you that any kind of bad aero position you put yourself in, your car can be vulnerable,” said Hamlin, who was running in the high line when he inched into Edwards’ space down low.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who infamously crashed into a jet dryer during last year’s Daytona 500 to trigger a massive fuel fire, stopped for minor repairs during the caution. Montoya restarted the race in 13th with four laps remaining, but rocketed through the field to finish third.

“It was time to go,” he said. “It’s hard, you don’t want to tear up the car, and at the same time you want to go. The bumpers are a little fragile. You have to be careful with that. You want to have a good car at the end.”

The bulk of both races seemed to be one long parade of the Gen-6 race car. Unsure of how the cars handle in packs, and when the drivers choose to side-draft, most of the field in the first race played it conservatively.

“The choice was obviously made by a bunch of us to run around in circles and just make laps,” said two-time Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip, who needed a clean race to guarantee a spot in Sunday’s field. “There were a lot of people that just wanted to get through some laps and understand what was going on. There were some of us that would have run like that until they threw the checkered just to make the race. And then there were some that decided it was time to go, and they made it work.”

Waltrip is racing in a special Sandy Hook Special Support Fund paint scheme, and his car number has been changed to No. 26 as a tribute to the 26 students and teachers killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.

“There’s a lot of people up in Connecticut with a smile on their face right now. I’m real proud to get in the race for them,” Waltrip said.

Austin Dillon, grandson of team owner Richard Childress, finished third in the second qualifying race to put his Richard Childress Racing car in the Daytona 500. It will be the 22-year-old Dillon’s first Daytona 500.

“I’m glad my grandfather can sleep now,” Dillon said. “He was wearing me out before the race.”

Brian Keselowski, older brother of reigning Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski, was the one driver who truly had to race his way into the Daytona 500 in the first qualifier. But he lacked speed early, fell two laps down and missed the race.

Mike Bliss was the driver from the second qualifier trying to make the Daytona 500 field, but finished five laps down and didn’t make the race.

The post Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch win duels appeared first on IdealCapper.

Idzik, the fourth GM in Woody Johnson’s 13 years as Jets’ owner, inherits a 6-10 team, a possible lame-duck coach, a lean roster with a handful of immovable contracts, and a polarizing quarterback in Tim Tebow.

“I am honored and extremely excited to be joining the New York Jets,” said Idzik, who will be introduced at a news conference Thursday. “I am eager to get started building on the foundation that is already in place.”

The Jets set out to hire a GM with roots in scouting and personnel, but they opted for a longtime executive whose background is salary-cap management and contract negotiations. They surely will be criticized because it’s an extension of the Mike Tannenbaum model, and he was fired at the end of the season.

“After a thorough search in which we met many qualified and outstanding candidates, it was clear to me that John was the right choice,” Johnson said. “During his two decades in the NFL, John helped build a Super Bowl championship team in Tampa Bay, an NFC championship team in Arizona and, most recently, a team in Seattle that narrowly missed reaching the NFC Championship Game.

“John has seen first-hand what’s necessary to construct a winning team and has worked with some of the most innovative and successful coaches in the NFL … John, working with Rex, will get the Jets where all of us want to be.”

Idzik, most recently the Seahawks’ vice president of football administration, was a regular in personnel meetings, but he devoted most of his time to the business side. He has a distant Jets connection; his father, John, was an assistant in the late 1970s under Walt Michaels.

The Jets picked Idzik because they believe he will be a strong leader in all aspects of the organization. The delineation of power will remain the same as it was with Tannenbaum and Ryan, with Idzik having final say on all personnel matters, according to sources.

Idzik, 52, wasn’t among the first group of candidates to interview for the job, but he emerged quickly in the second round, meeting twice with team officials in less than a week. He’s well-regarded in league circles, having worked for three organizations. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ front office when they won Super Bowl XXXVII.

Idzik grew up in the game, having played football at Dartmouth and coached briefly as a low-level college assistant. But he gravitated toward contracts and salary caps, pushing in recent years to make the crossover to the football operation.

His arrival likely means big changes to the roster. In Seattle, Idzik was part of an aggressive front office known for trades and spending money.

The Jets interviewed 10 candidates, selecting Idzik after a 19-day search that was coordinated by executive head hunter Jed Hughes of the Korn/Ferry consulting firm. None of the finalists — Idzik, Steelers executive Omar Khan and Jets assistant GM Scott Cohen — interviewed for other GM openings.

They expanded the search after meeting with the four candidates on their “A” list. They targeted former Atlanta Falcons director of player personnel Dave Caldwell, whom they reportedly were prepared to offer a $1 million housing allowance, but he spurned the Jets in favor of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Caldwell, Idzik and Khan were the only candidates called back for second interviews, a source said.

Three candidates, reached by ESPNNewYork.com, described their interviews as unusual because no so-called football people were in the room. It was Hughes, Johnson and team president Neil Glat and Johnson’s attorney, Ira Akselrad.

“It was strange, to say the least,” said one candidate, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Let’s just say there wasn’t a lot of X’s and O’s talk.”

The new GM inherits a team on the decline — 14-18 since back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship Game. There will be other challenges.

Idzik doesn’t control the immediate fate of Ryan, who has two years remaining on his contract, and Johnson has said Ryan isn’t going anywhere. It’s not the ideal situation, marrying two football strangers, but Johnson told potential candidates his preference was to keep Ryan for at least a year.

Ryan had a limited role in the process, sources said. He met with Idzik and Khan before a decision was made, sharing football philosophies but not making an evaluation of the candidates.

The most pressing issue is rebuilding the offense, which has new leadership. Tony Sparano was fired after one season, replaced Friday by former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, sources said. The Jets dropped to 30th in total offense.

The Jets may have the most unsettled quarterback situation in the league. Mark Sanchez played poorly and got benched this season, but an $8.25 million guarantee for 2013 will make it difficult to trade or release him. Idzik has to decide whether he can salvage him (his cap charge is $12.8 million) or incur an enormous cap hit by moving him.

There’s also the Tebow question. He was a spectacular non-factor in his first season with the Jets and it’s hard to imagine him keeping the fan-favorite backup.

Idzik will have to navigate a tough cap situation while trying to restock a roster that lacked playmakers and depth. The Jets are reportedly $19.4 million over the cap, with several key players headed to free agency — namely LaRon Landry, Shonn Greene, Dustin Keller, Mike DeVito and Brandon Moore.

They also face a potentially difficult contract negotiation with star cornerback Darrelle Revis, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2014. They can’t use the franchise tag on Revis, per a clause in his contract, creating a sense of urgency. Revis may seek close to $20 million per year, but he’s recovering from major knee surgery — a variable that could complicate negotiations.

The Jets’ GM search was long and seemingly meandering at times, with critics claiming it wasn’t an appealing job because of the cap, the quarterback situation and the 2013 commitment to Ryan.

They aimed high, contacting longtime former GM Bill Polian to gauge his interest. But as one league source said: “He’s a Hall of Fame executive. You don’t want to have this on your résume.”

Polian played a small role in the search, sources said. In addition to offering recommendations, he sat in on a few interviews.

The Jets interviewed front-office executives from at least six teams — Caldwell, Idzik, Khan, Brian Gaine (Miami Dolphins), Tom Gamble (San Francisco 49ers) and Marc Ross (New York Giants). They also met with at least three former GMs: Jerry Angelo, Randy Mueller and Ted Sundquist.

The post New York Jets hire John Idzik as new general manager appeared first on IdealCapper.