Live From Daytona...It's NASCAR Media Day

Boys, have at it.

That didn’t take long.

Denny Hamlin got into the back of Mark Martin roughly halfway through the first practice session of the season, the first of two sessions for the Budweiser Shootout.

Hamlin and Martin said they simply miscommunicated, but it took out both their cars, as well as those of Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick (being driven by Clint Bowyer).

Hamlin had a run on the outside and estimated he was going 5-10 mph faster than Martin. At first, Martin decided to cut up in front of Hamlin, but then thought better of it and moved up the track to give Hamlin the lane.

But Hamlin had decided to duck in behind Martin by then, and it resulted in a wreck.

“I was just trying to be cautious, so I was just going to pull in behind him,” Hamlin said. "You’ve got the two things going together…it happens.

“Seems like the cars are unstable when you get close to each other. It’s definitely a lot different.”

Said Martin: “Probably a case of both of us anticipating. I made an effort to give him the lane and he anticipated to get behind me.”

Both Martin and Hamlin seemed perfectly calm, but Biffle apparently wasn’t too pleased.

“Yeah, it’s aggressive bump-drafting – that’s what we were looking for,” he said. “Trust me, we’re not finished. What are we, 20-30 minutes into practice? It’s gonna be awesome.”

Jimmie Johnson slammed Sam Hornish Jr. earlier in the day for not apologizing to his face about their wreck at Texas last season.

Hornish’s reaction: My bad.

"I feel that maybe he’s right, I should have went over and talked to him," Hornish said Thursday afternoon. "…I should have said something to him about it. I don’t have any problems with Jimmie, I certainly would never try to take him out."

Hornish, though, reiterated his belief (which is also the belief of most people with eyes) that it was David Reutimann who started the Lap 3 incident at Texas, when Reutimann got into Hornish.

"[Reutimann] called me up and he apologized for what happened there," Hornish said. "I guess I don’t have a good opinion one way or the other of whether I would be mad at Jimmie or anything like that because obviously he still won the championship.

"It probably wasn’t an easy week for him in between, so I feel bad about that, but I said multiple times in interviews between then and now that I felt bad about what happened. It’s easy to see on TV that I got hit by the 00, and I tried to correct it and ended up getting into [Johnson]. Obviously, I wouldn’t want anything like that to happen."

Hornish has heard the people who wonder what he was thinking and ask if he’s trying to make a rival out of the four-time Sprint Cup champion.

In a word, no.

"My opinion of that is, I don’t want to start a rivalry with anybody, but if I’m going to, I’m going to have to start finishing a lot better to be able to do that," he said.

Now that Hornish knows Johnson is still upset, expect the drivers to come to an understanding. After all, why would anyone want to piss off the champ?

"It’s a little bit upsetting that he’s upset with me, but I’m sure we’ll work it out," he said.

We’re about to kick off the afternoon session of NASCAR Media Day here.

Drivers of note include the Busch brothers, Jeff Gordon (who announced earlier on his web site that wife Ingrid is preggers again), Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the very last interview of the day, so we’ll have that for you as well.

The big storylines I’m watching will be Denny Hamlin’s knee (his first major comments after tearing his ACL) and Sam Hornish Jr.‘s reaction to Jimmie Johnson’s rip earlier (see previous blog entry for that).

Stay tuned…

How does Jimmie Johnson get ready for the season?

He scares the crap out of himself.

From instilling fear of mistakes or failures to even forcing himself to question whether he remembers how to drive, Johnson said fear has always been one of his greatest motivators.

“I’m entering this year saying ‘We’re going to get beat’ in my mind,’” he said. “That way I work as hard as I can, the team works as hard as they can and we don’t leave a stone unturned.”

Johnson has won four consecutive Sprint Cup championships – the only driver ever to do so. And yet he tells himself he may have literally forgotten how to drive.

“I know that sounds crazy, but I typically start the season with nerves, like ‘Am I going to remember how to do this?’ I really, really do,” he said. “I’m not nervous for [Daytona], but I know when I go to California, I’m not going to sleep well. I haven’t for the last eight years – especially the first year, because I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

Does it work? Obviously. All the guy does is win. Johnson said he’s learned to not only live with the fear, but “enjoy that and know that they are good things to keep me on my game.”

But the day will someday arrive when the fears come true – he won’t always be Sprint Cup champion.

“I know at some point, we are going to get beat. It is going to happen,” he said. “I am more aware of that than anyone else. I don’t want it to be this year. I don’t want it to be anytime soon.”

A big portion of NASCAR fans hope it’s sooner than later.

The champ has spoken.

Jimmie Johnson uncharacteristically criticized another driver on Thursday when I asked what driver he’d like to learn from and what driver he wouldn’t.

Johnson cited Mark Martin as the guy he’d take advice from (“He adapts to situation as good as anyone”), but said the driver to avoid would be Sam Hornish Jr.

Apparently the incident when Hornish wrecked Johnson early in the Texas Chase race last year has not been forgotten.

“He hits waaay too much stuff,” Johnson said, “including me, at important times of the year. And has still today never said a word. I wish he’d just walk up to me and say, ‘Hey, I meant to crash you.’”

But didn’t another driver get Hornish loose in a three-wide situation or get into him?

Johnson wasn’t having any of it.

“Either way, wouldn’t you think that with what was on the line, you’d at least walk up to the guy and say, ‘Man, I hate it for you; it wasn’t my fault, somebody hit me,’” Johnson asked, somewhat incredulous. “But the guy just doesn’t talk. He doesn’t say anything.”

At this point, reporters were laughing and The Associated Press’ Jenna Fryer jokingly asked why Johnson didn’t just punch Hornish in the face.

“Nah,” Johnson said with a chuckle.

I proposed that maybe Johnson’s voicemail was full when Hornish tried to call.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said.

Danica Patrick won’t change her personality or back down from anyone just because she’s entering a new series, she said Thursday.

"If somebody does something to me that I don’t like, you have to expect that you get something in return," she said. "And I have fenders now, so that’s pretty exciting."

She flashed a smile as reporters chuckled, but added, "I plan to respect everybody from the start and if they give me reason to not respect them, then I won’t."

Patrick acknowledged she’s a fiery competitor at times (as evidenced by some of her high-profile clashes with IndyCar drivers) and said she’s learned how to conduct herself more graciously off the track in the last couple years.

But she said, "I will always be me. I will always be emotional. I will always have somewhat of a temper. And that’s because I care. It means a lot to me, it means everything to me."

Patrick’s motivation for running NASCAR has been somewhat of a question since she announced her decision to join JR Motorsports to run a dozen races in the Nationwide Series.

Some wondered whether she was just doing it for money and attention or to build her brand. She was asked directly about those reasons on Thursday, and gave her clearest answer yet.

"No, I’m here because I want to race in NASCAR right now," she said. "Let’s face it, the opportunity and idea to race in NASCAR has come up many different times and I never did it. This time, I went, ‘Wow, I think the racing looks really fun.’ I’ve really found that I like oval racing and we’re doing less and less of that in IndyCar.

"It’s been very challenging to pass in the last year or two [in the IRL], due to the fact that everybody is identical out there. I’m really excited to get out there and have some passing and overtaking."

And for the fans who are lukewarm or downright negative about her foray into stock-car racing?

"I’m sure that exists. There are always people that cheer against you in some way. And that’s fine, I’ve felt that before," she said. "I try and just look at myself, look at my team and I don’t really let other people’s opinions affect the way I feel."

Danica Patrick confirmed Thursday she’ll wait until after Saturday’s ARCA Series race at Daytona to decide whether or not she’ll make her Nationwide Series debut the following weekend.

Doing so would knock teammate Kelly Bires out of his ride for the weekend (JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is running the race at a sponsor’s request, leaving only one car for Bires or Patrick). Asked about how Bires will factor into her decision, Patrick said she was unsure.

“We haven’t really discussed that, so to be honest, I don’t really have an answer for that,” she said. “But I would be up for any discussion if we need to have it.”

Patrick said she’ll make the decision based on “feel” but said she wants to be smart most of all.

“There are guys that are going to be out for a championship next weekend in the Nationwide Series,” she said. “And obviously there’s the challenge of all those Cup guys out there too.

“It’s been recommended that it’s not the best idea to start there. And I’m not going to ignore the people that have given me advice.”

Danica was reminded by one reporter the ARCA race is typically a wreck-filled affair.

“I recently heard that it’s a crash-fest and I didn’t know that,” she said. “Now I do. I think that just makes me realize I need to be smart out there.”

Bires was not among the drivers scheduled to appear at NASCAR Media Day.