Deuces Wild: Pit road woes and social media follows

The blue deuce ready for action.
Courtesy of @keselowski

Few races are as exciting as the Daytona 500, but for Penske Racing’s newest driver the excitement was short-lived. Starting from the 15th position the driver of the the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge, AJ Allmendinger, avoided two early race incidents only to have his hopes of winning dashed by a freak pit road accident involving Ryan Newman.

While exiting the pits Newman’s No. 39 Chevy lost a tire which forced him to stop in the middle of pit lane. With nowhere to go Allmendinger ran into the rear of the car causing substantial damage to the “double deuce.” Forced to the garage for repairs, the team was an innocent bystander for the rest of the evening and was relegated to a 34th place finish – not what the "Dinger" had in mind for his first points race with the team.

Penske Racing’s other driver, Brad Keselowski got more television time for his social media antics than for his prowess on the pavement. During the two hour rain delay the driver of the “Blue Deuce” increased his Twitter followers by the thousands as he tweeted from his stopped car on the track. After climbing from the No. 2 @keselowski continued to entertain other drivers and the viewers with his photos and commentary surrounding the Juan Pablo Montoya jet dryer debacle. Keselowski did admit that his fellow competitors think he’s a little crazy.

Although there were initial rumblings that Keselowski might be penalized for having his phone in the car during race conditions, most fans found the interaction enjoyable and NASCAR, using their own Twitter account on Monday, said:

#NASCAR will not penalize @keselowski for his use of Twitter during last night's #DAYTONA500.

Nothing we've seen from Brad violates any current rules pertaining to the use of social media during races. As such, he won't be penalized.

We encourage our drivers to use social media to express themselves as long as they do so without risking their safety or that of others.

Keselowski ultimately finished 32nd after getting caught up in a late race incident.

The Penske deuces might not have been wild, but the Daytona 500 sure was.