The NASCAR career of James Davies (2002-)

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Although his racing career began at the relatively late age of 15, James Davies always looked destined for stardom. Davies' first handful of kart races marked himself out as a prodigy behind the wheel, quickly earning himself a seat in Formula Ford. 1 year later, and with a championship under his belt, Davies moved on to British Formula 3, and after another successful campaign there, the Welshman was on his way to Formula 3000 in 2001.

With another successful title charge there, including 4 wins in the last 5 races to overhaul Justin Wilson, Davies had impressed enough to get a call up to Formula 1, to finish out the last 3 races in Jos Verstappen's Arrows - the Dutchman having fallen out with Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw. Being only 18 at the time, this made Davies the youngest driver to start an F1 Grand Prix, and it seemed to be a case of too much, too soon. 1 day after starting from pole, setting the fastest lap, and leading every lap in order to record his 5th F3000 win, Davies was nowhere to be found in the Italian Grand Prix. Languishing in the back of the pack, unable to challenge even the Minardi's on pace, James Davies' F1 début was one to forget, as he eventually retired anonymously with a crankshaft failure.

His other two starts did not go much smoother - a 17th place start in the US Grand Prix went to waste when Davies stalled, and spent the rest of the afternoon in last place. The Japanese Grand Prix looked like being a turnaround for Davies, with a good start leading to him holding his own in the midfield, until he collided with Olivier Panis on lap 16, taking both cars out of the race. Arrows opted not to keep Davies for 2002, instead keeping Enrique Bernoldi for his Red Bull money, and hiring the older and wiser Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Davies initially signed with Prost for 2002, but when Prost went bankrupt shortly before the season started, it left the Welshman out in the cold.

Unwilling to take a step back down into junior formulae, and uninterested in a test driver role at Minardi, Davies instead looked Stateside for a drive. IndyCars and ChampCars were ruled out, but Davies found interest in NASCAR, where he was offered a part-time seat for a third car for Robert Yates Racing. After two starts, Davies and RYR parted ways, Davies unhappy with the way the team was run. He had, nonetheless, developed a taste for stock car racing, and, after drumming up some sponsorship and some British mechanics interested in running a NASCAR team, James Davies returned later in the year, running his own team, named Team Great Britain. The team ran 10 races to familiarise themselves with the series, utilising a Chevy purchased from a backmarker.

Feeling confident now that his team had some experience, James Davies announced that Team Great Britain would run him full-time in 2003. The announcement featured some rather bold claims that 'the team would definitely win a race this year'. The claims were rubbished by NASCAR's established pundits, but only time would tell if Davies' enthusiasm was misplaced or not...

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Okay, here's how I'm going to run this. I'll be running 25% race distance, with pit frequency turned up to 4x - so basically I'm running the races on a scale of 1 in-game lap = 4 real-life laps. AI strength will be 90%, but I'm turning on Adaptive Speed Control (which adapts the AI to how fast I'm going), because, for some reason, I tend to speed off into the sunset on short tracks, but generally run at the same pace on all other tracks. I may decide to include screenshots, probably just to show off my crappy car-painting skills.

Also, I'm not going to follow the driver changes IRL - generally, if somebody who got fired does better than they did in real-life, then they get to keep their seat. So, we might wind up with a field totally different to the one we have today. Or it might wind up being exactly the same.

EDIT: After some thought, I'm nerfing pit frequency back down to 1x - I'm not exactly finding the prospect of pitting 7 or 8 times in a 50 lap race thrilling.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Race 1: Daytona 500

James Davies' 2003 campaign got off to a flying start in qualifying for the biggest race of the NASCAR season. Davies put his car 3rd fastest, much higher than his previous best of 32nd. Davies' qualifying run was not the only surprise of the day, as unfancied field-fillers Marvin Stackpole and Brett Bodine also found themselves starting in the top ten. James was naturally very pleased with starting 3rd, and it showed in his post-qualifying statement

Well, I'm very pleased with 3rd on the grid. I was hoping to turn at least a few heads today, but I never expected to start this far forward! This proves how all the work we've put in over the winter hasn't gone to waste, but we've still got the race to run. All I can hope for is to keep us near the front and stay out of trouble, and we should pick up a good finish, maybe even a win if things fall our way. I'm quite confident in the car, and we should be able to at least give the front-runners a run for their money.

Qualifying order
1. 97 - Kurt Busch 46.867
2. 48 - Jimmie Johnson 47.076
3. 27 - James Davies 47.223
4. 8 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. 47.282
5. 38 - Elliot Sadler 47.286
6. 88 - Dale Jarrett 47.290
7. 18 - Bobby Labonte 47.333
8. 190 - Marvin Stackpole 47.381
9. 11 - Brett Bodine 47.386
10. 29 - Kevin Harvick 47.405

The race started well for James, a sharp start meaning that the 27 car was pressuring pole sitter Kurt Busch for the lead pretty much immediately. A small nudge in the middle of turns 1 and 2 allowed Davies to take an early lead, although he himself was under pressure with Busch remaining alongside, and Dale Jarrett right behind. The pressure quickly abated, though, as Busch clipped the wall exiting turn 2, seeing his car slide into Jarrett's. Bobby Labonte and Jack Sprague were sent through the grass, but the caution was not thrown until Michael Waltrip turned Busch around, resulting in his own car flipping. A few cars pitted to fix damage under the yellow, with James Davies holding on to the lead.

The race soon restarted, and although Davies remained under pressure, it was not as intense as before. At least, not until he moved to block Marvin Stackpole and Jeremy Mayfield, which allowed Jerry Nadeau and Jimmie Johnson to slip through on the inside. Nadeau went on to lead a lap, but Davies was back on a charge and seeking to reclaim the lead. This resulted in contact between Johnson and Davies, which triggered a big crash which included Nadeau, having gone from leading to out of the race in less than a minute. Davies escaped with minor damage, while the crash had allowed Jimmy Spencer to briefly lead before the field pitted. Thanks to everyone pitting, Davies' crew fixed the car quickly and only slipped to 9th, while Sterling Marlin grabbed the lead with a quick pitstop.

As the race restarted, it became apparent that the 27 car was well suited to slipstreaming, or drafting, as within two laps Davies was once again leading the Daytona 500. He then fought off several different challengers for the lead, until Davies made contact with Ryan Newman and found both cars spinning. Davies' car was nudged the right way around by Marlin, but Newman wound up collecting Ward Burton. Steve Vandergriff then involved himself in the accident by driving almost full speed into Burton's stopped car, sending the 22 car barrel-rolling through the air. Meanwhile, James Davies found his car a bit more damaged than it was before, seeing him slide down to 28th place, the last car on the lead lap. Up front, Jeremy Mayfield assumed the lead from Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman, all of whom had not pitted, though they would have to . Rusty Wallace was the first car who had pitted, in 4th. Radio conversation while under caution revealed that Davies was not in the least impressed with Newman after the spin, Davies calling Newman, 'a bloody idiot'.

On the restart, it became apparent that McMurray was a non-factor, as clipping Ward Burton had had an adverse affect on the performance of his car. This was good news for James Davies, as it meant one less car he'd have to pass, the driver of the 27 making it his mission to get back to the front before the end of the race. This was aided again as Newman pitted a lap after the restart, as well as, for some reason, Rusty Wallace and Kevin Harvick. Mayfield pitted a couple laps later, by which time Davies was already back up into 5th. Another couple of laps later, and Davies was locked in a duel for the lead with Jeff Gordon. Davies was no longer able to pull ahead, as the damage his car took meant that, although he was still fast when following another car, in clean air, his car was unable to lead boldly as it had done previously. As such, the duel was only settled when the pair came up to lap Newman - Gordon was caught behind the slower car, allowing Davies to lead again.

With the race nearing it's conclusion, all Davies had to do was hold on to the lead, but with his car's damage, that was easier said than done. Terry Labonte quickly established himself as Davies' major rival for the win, Labonte constantly attempting to undercut Davies in order to seize the lead. He eventually succeeded in doing so, as Davies moved to block Jimmy Spencer, Labonte managed to edge a nose alongside the 27. Despite Davies' best efforts, Labonte forced his way through, bringing David Sweet along with him. Davies slotted in behind Labonte and Sweet, but now he was able to take advantage of his car's effectiveness in traffic. Davies quickly re-passed Sweet, and found himself closing back in on Labonte with only 1 lap left to run. Davies continued to close through the tri-oval, and dived underneath Labonte in turn 1.

The veteran Labonte was not about to give up, and continued to race Davies hard, although with the train of cars behind Davies, they were able to push the Welshman into the lead. As the field exited turn 4, a group of cars had defected to support Labonte, with the rest supporting Johnny Benson as he attempted to pass Davies around the outside. Still Davies was left with the shortest distance to the line, and took full advantage of it as he crossed the line first to win the Daytona 500 in his first attempt, with Labonte and Benson finishing just over five hundredths of a second behind, in practically a dead heat for second.

To say James Davies was elated with his first win would be a bit of an understatement. After he had calmed down somewhat, he spoke the following about his race.

Wow, I can't really believe we actually won! I thought that little incident with the 12 had finished us. We started off well, led a ton of laps early on, and then had the aforementioned incident. Now, I know I'm not the most experienced guy here, but, honestly, that was some rubbish driving from Newman. Still, I can't complain, since I'm here, and he did kind of help by holding up the 24, so I guess I'm willing to call it even.

But even then it wasn't over. Our car was horrible in clean air after we got hit, so I had the 5 all over me trying to pass, which he eventually did. When I saw him go through, I thought, 'Oh no, it's over', but thankfully I slotted back in 3rd, and got going again since the car was still pretty good in traffic. I managed to get a run going, passed him to the inside, and stayed glued to the yellow line until I finished.

Gotta thank all the crew today, they did a great job in keeping me on the straight and narrow, and fixing the car up when we needed to.

Davies deftly avoided any questions about his involvement in the crash with Jimmie Johnson, choosing instead to go back and celebrate some more with his crew. Still, thanks to his leading well over half of the race, James Davies finds himself with maximum points heading into the second race.


The race finish.

Race Result
1. 27 - James Davies 139.835
2. 5 - Terry Labonte +0.05
3. 10 - Johnny Benson +0.05
4. 88 - Dale Jarrett +0.11
5. 18 - Bobby Labonte +0.12
6. 38 - Elliot Sadler +0.18
7. 6 - Mark Martin +0.19
8. 77 - Dave Blaney +0.25
9. 128 - David Sweet +0.26
10. 16 - Greg Biffle +0.32

Championship after race 1
1. 27 - James Davies 185
2. 5 - Terry Labonte 175
3. 10 - Johnny Benson 165
= 88 - Dale Jarrett 165
5. 18 - Bobby Labonte 155
= 38 - Elliot Sadler 155
7. 6 - Mark Martin 146
8. 77 - Dave Blaney 142
9. 128 - David Sweet 138
10. 7 - Jimmy Spencer 135

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Race 2: Subway 400

After the height of winning the Daytona 500, James Davies came straight back down to Earth after a dismal qualifying session saw him 43rd and slowest in qualifying. While Davies was understandably displeased with the result, he remained confident that he would be able to put in a good performance.

Obviously I'd like to start better than last, but that's how it goes sometimes. I wasn't able to get the car through the corners fast enough, and I cost myself time by running wide in 3 and 4 on both my laps. Still, from practice, we gather the car's pretty quick in a straight line, so we should be able to make up a few positions on race day. We just can't afford to get stuck back here, or we could get lapped early and find ourselves with little hope for a good result.

Qualifying order
1. 21 - Ricky Rudd 24.735
2. 97 - Kurt Busch 24.762
3. 9 - Bill Elliott 24.766
4. 99 - Jeff Burton 24.771
5. 20 - Tony Stewart 24.781
6. 40 - Sterling Marlin 24.814
7. 18 - Bobby Labonte 24.816
8. 01 - Jerry Nadeau 24.818
9. 6 - Mark Martin 24.839
10. 15 - Michael Waltrip 24.841
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41. 119 - Richard Young 25.227
42. 25 - Joe Nemechek 25.375
43. 27 - James Davies 25.445

With a lot of ground to make up during the race, James Davies wasted no time in getting past the drivers at the back. After only four laps, Davies was solidly in the midfield, and it did not take him long to crack the top ten. This was despite the fact that, according to Davies' crew chief, his car was not much different than in qualifying, and although Davies was practically unbeatable in a straight line, he paid for this by being unable to negotiate the corners quickly enough. He was able to make up ground by braking very late into the corners, and making full advantage of his immense speed.

By the time he had broken into the top ten, however, his progress had slowed, with Davies meeting increased opposition and faster cars. This culminated in Davies making contact with Bill Elliott, unable to slow in time to avoid the former champion. Elliott spun out, and collected 4 other cars, all of whom were forced to retire due to the damage they received. In an interview later, Elliott was quite critical of Davies' dive-bombing tactics, and suggested that NASCAR look into warning the Welshman.

In the meantime, Davies was up to 7th under caution, although a poor restart saw him slip to 11th, just in time for the second caution. This was brought out by Greg Biffle spinning out Jack Sprague, who had brushed the wall exiting turn 4 and lost some speed. Davies was annoyed at the timing, as the yellow flag was thrown just before he crossed the line, and felt that he was capable of making up at least a position or two. This turned out to be a moot point, as all 4 of the cars that had scampered past Davies pitted, putting him back in 7th place. In fact, most of the field pitting, with only the top 6, Davies, and 5 other cars staying out.

After the second caution, Davies again lost time to those in front on the restart, however, with weaker cars behind him, he was able to wind himself up without too much pressure for his position. It took him about 6 laps after the caution to catch back up to the leaders, and then proceeded to pick off cars one at a time as the fought amongst themselves for position, although his lack of pace in the middle of the corners was costing him time. In fact, only a nudge from Davies into turn 1 allowed the 27 car to pass Kevin Harvick, although he was able to pass race leader Ricky Rudd without too much difficulty. This meant that James Davies had gone from 43rd to 1st in less than half the race.

From here on, Davies merely held his position, as his tyres wore down and his car got increasingly undriveable, Davies at one point even querying over the radio, "How the hell did I ever get into the lead with this thing?" The car was understeering heavily in the middle of the corners, but still, Davies held off repeated attacks from various drivers, some on fresher rubber, some not. Eventually, Davies had had enough, and came in for his final stop, only to overshoot his pit box and cost his team valuable time while they wheeled him back so they could change his tyres and adjust the car. By the time Davies had gotten back up to speed, he was the last car running, 5 seconds from going 2 laps down to the leaders.

James Davies was quite frustrated with himself after overshooting his pit box, and he channelled this frustration into focusing on putting in some quick lap-times. Thanks to his newfound determination and fresh tyres, Davies was the fastest man on the track for a time, eventually catching back up to the leaders, and fighting with them to gain his lap back. His drive had taken some life out of the tyres, though, but he was still able to remain competitive. With about a dozen laps remaining, and all the cars who had pitted under the second caution now making their final stops, Davies was fighting with the cars who had made their final stops for the net lead of the race. One of these drivers was Jerry Nadeau, who braked quite early for turn 3, catching Davies out, and sending Nadeau spinning. This brought out the race-defining final caution.

At this point, only a few drivers still had to pit. Ryan Newman, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Petty were all receiving service at this point. Terry Labonte and James Davies were the only drivers to have already pitted and remain on the lead lap. This led to a big advantage for those who were in the pits, as they effectively gained a free pitstop, slotting themselves ahead of (or, in Jeff Gordon's case, in-between) Labonte and Davies, especially Ryan Newman, who had a big buffer of lapped cars in between himself and 2nd-placed Jarrett - this was because the race had less than 10 laps to run as of the restart, thus meaning the restart was single-file. The other lead lap cars who hadn't pitted had to drop behind the top 6 drivers.

On the restart, Davies was caught napping, but somehow did not lose a place to the cars behind him. With only a handful of laps remaining, Davies began charging back towards the top 5 cars, passing Petty, Labonte, and Jarrett. However, Newman and Gordon were too far ahead for Davies to challenge, but nonetheless, he was pleased with his race, saying

This is a great result, after starting last, we should all be proud of our performance today. Not only did we finish well in the top 5, but we also got some bonus points for leading. It was all really down to our straight-line speed - without that, I wouldn't have been able to drive so aggressively into the corners to compensate for our lack of pace in the middle of the corners. It's just a shame I overshot the pit on my last stop - had that not happened, I could've won again today. Still, 3rd is nothing to be sniffed at lightly, especially given our starting position.

I'm sorry about the incidents I got into with other cars - even though I've got a couple of good results under my belt, I still probably don't have enough experience to justify my aggression against other drivers, and that showed when I screwed up a couple of times. It's a shame for them, but there's nothing I can really do about that now, other than apologise and try to drive a bit more carefully in traffic in the future.

Race Result
1. 12 - Ryan Newman 119.087 mph
2. 24 - Jeff Gordon +1.277
3. 27 - James Davies +2.339
4. 88 - Dale Jarrett +2.395
5. 5 - Terry Labonte +3.536
6. 45 - Kyle Petty +3.945
7. 40 - Sterling Marlin +4.354
8. 7 - Jimmy Spencer +4.675
9. 97 - Kurt Busch +4.834
10. 8 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. +4.986

Championship after race 2
1. 27 - James Davies 355
2. 5 - Terry Labonte 330 (-25)
= 88 - Dale Jarrett 330 (-25)
4. 18 - Bobby Labonte 285 (-70)
5. 24 - Jeff Gordon 284 (-71)
6. 7 - Jimmy Spencer 277 (-78)
7. 10 - Johnny Benson 274 (-81)
= 45 - Kyle Petty 274 (-81)
= 40 - Sterling Marlin 274 (-81)
10. 12 - Ryan Newman 268 (-87)

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Apologies for not updating this - Windows died and my computer has been in the repair shop for the last week now. Good news is that I've already done Las Vegas and will post the results shortly. I'll also try to make up for the lost time by running races more regularly.

EDIT: Okay, the game isn't loading up right, so I have to dig up my disc and re-install the game, which I'll get right on tomorrow - it's getting late here.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

It looks like I may have to restart this - I've got a virus on my computer, and it looks like it might require a full-system wipe to be rid of it for good. Apologies to any who may be following this, but it could take another week before I get everything working properly again.