Daytona Day 2: Daytona 500 Qualifying Practice And More Danica

Mother Nature, who at times was a total witch last season, reared her ugly head again Friday at Daytona.

Rain canceled the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, as well as ARCA practice.

Eight cars didn’t even get a chance to practice in the first session, so they’ll get their own mini-practice session tomorrow morning (from 9:30-10 a.m. Saturday).

Those cars are: Kirk Shelmerdine, Terry Cook, David Gilliland, Michael McDowell, Norm Benning, Derrike Cope, Jeff Fuller and Mike Wallace.

Tomorrow’s schedule, aside from the “special” practice: Daytona 500 qualifying at 1:05 p.m. local time; ARCA race (Danica’s stock-car debut) at 4:30 p.m.; Budweiser Shootout at 8:10 p.m.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – yes, that Dale Earnhardt Jr. – is back atop the speed charts.

Earnhardt Jr. led the first official practice of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, a rain-shortened session for Daytona 500 qualifying.

Hendrick Motorsports had three of the top cars, led by Earnhardt Jr. (188.679 mph), Mark Martin (188.616) and Jeff Gordon.

Bill Elliott was fourth-fastest, followed by Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann, the newly engaged Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer.

Wondering about Jimmie Johnson? He was 12th.

A second Sprint Cup practice is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., but with the current weather conditions at Daytona, there’s no chance of that.

Danica Patrick was relatively pleased after her qualifying lap for the Daytona ARCA race, a lap which eventually resulted in a 12th-place starting spot.

“They told me what to do, and I mean, it’s pretty straightforward,” she said. "You run around the top, drop down low and keep it on the line. I’m sure it’ll be much harder at most other tracks.

“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but I think it’s going to be fun. I like my car and I think it’s going to run really well in the race.”

Nationwide Series rookie James Buescher won the pole, just ahead of Mikey Kyle.

Former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet was seventh and much-maligned Nationwide driver John Wes Townley was ninth.

Patrick was 12th, and other drivers of note included motocross legend Ricky Carmichael (14th) and the IRL’s Milka Duno (41st), who made the field based on a provisional.

There will be six women in the 43-car field on Saturday.

Denny Hamlin made his first lengthy public comments yesterday since blowing out his knee playing basketball and insisted he should be just fine inside the race car.

The knee is painful now, he said, but doctors have told him he should be walking without a limp by the California race (the week after the Daytona 500). He must wear a custom-made brace every day to give his knee support, but said he can only be on his feet for a couple hours before it becomes unstable.

During a recent trip to the Winter X-Games in Colorado, he said, "It gave out, popped twice actually and I fell down just standing up, because I had been on my feet too long."

Hamlin said he’s done some heavy braking inside the car with no problem. His knee is at 80 percent of its strength, he said, "but that’s probably stronger than most guys’ 100 percent."

More than his performance on the track, Hamlin’s biggest concern will be finding a way to replace basketball as his primary form of exercise and entertainment (he will postpone surgery on the knee until after this season, then endure a lengthy rehab).

"What bothers me most about it is I’m not able to do the things I love to do," he said. "Everybody has a hobby outside racing, and if you told them they couldn’t do that for a year and a half, it’d bother them. And for me, it’s something I took up and I love to do."

Hamlin said doctors made him a brace to wear in the car, but he likely won’t wear it because it’s important to have full movement in case he needs to evacuate the vehicle quickly and it may not fit in the small cockpit.

As for whether it will affect his chances of taking down Jimmie Johnson? Hamlin said talent-wise, he feels he stacks up to anybody in the garage.

But he said of Johnson, "It seems like he’s always got a leg up, in one sense or another."

Now he has two, thanks to Hamlin’s torn ACL.