Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"How Kenny Brack Almost Ran the Daytona 500"

Posted by nascarman on January 17, 2019

Viewed 1814 times Tweet In early 2002, Chip Ganassi Racing attempted to qualify one of their IndyCar drivers in the Daytona 500. But it was a lack of sponsorship that kept Kenny Brack from racing at Daytona.



In 1998, Kenny Brack won the IndyCar championship for A.J. Foyt. The following year, he won the Indy 500. Between 2000 and 2001, Brack drove for Bobby Rahal in CART. Despite leading the points in August 2001, the Swedish driver expressed interest in eventually going to NASCAR in a few years.



"Sure, I'm interested in NASCAR in the future, but right now I'm focused on the CART championship," Brack said. "Through the IROC series, I've made several friends in the NASCAR circuit, and if there would be an opportunity for me to go NASCAR, I would look very seriously at it. NASCAR in the future, yes, but not next year."



Brack had good experience in stock cars. He competed in IROC in 1999 and 2001 and was impressive. In cars similar to NASCAR, the Swede finished 2nd at Talladega in 2001 and was 3rd in the overall standings that year. It was the best points finish for an open-wheel racer since Scott Pruett finished 3rd in 1995.



2001 was the last year of Brack's contract with Bobby Rahal. In mid-August, Brack agreed to a multiyear deal with Chip Ganassi Racing. Part of that deal meant entering him in a Ganassi car in the Daytona 500, if sponsorship could be found.



Brack potentially could've ran well in the Daytona 500, he was a very good superspeedway racer. In four IROC races at Daytona and Talladega, his worst finish was 5th.



In early January 2002, Ganassi announced that Brack would test for the team at Daytona's Winter Testing but they still needed sponsorship money.



"We're trying to find the money to do Daytona with Brack," Ganassi told Autosport magazine. "He'll do the test just to be ready. It's also possible he'll run later in the year."





Brack (42) and Kyle Petty (45) sit on pit road at Daytona



Driving the number 42 Dodge Intrepid, Brack's Daytona team was led by crew-chief Matt Chambers. For three days between January 15th and 17th, Brack's speeds were average. Out of 54 cars, the IndyCar driver's best single car speed was 39th fastest. He was nearly three mph slower than Jimmie Johnson, the fastest of all. He was only a mile and a half slower than his teammate Sterling Marlin.



But when the three days of testing ended, Ganassi was doubtful they could find the money to run Brack in the race.



"I think the point there is that the business is tightening up and we had high hopes of finding the money for that but it doesnâ??t seem to be coming," Ganassi said on January 17th. "I donâ??t foresee that happening and itâ??s too bad because we thought Daytona was a place where he might do well."



With no money to run, Brack sat out the Daytona 500. Sterling Marlin nearly won the race but was damaged in a wreck with five laps to go and lost the lead when he got out of his car to fix the damage under red flag. There were hopes of running Brack in the Brickyard 400, but that never came together either.



Ganassi and Brack split up at the end of 2002. In September that year, ESPN reported that Dale Earnhardt Incorporated was interested in testing Brack but nothing ever came of it. Brack returned to Bobby Rahal in 2003 but his career was derailed by a serious crash at Texas at the end of the year.



No full-time IndyCar driver has attempted to run in the Daytona 500 in quite some time. And if a little money could've been found, Kenny Brack could've had his shot.



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