The "CLash" And Pole Qualifying For The 2017 Daytona 500 Begin This Weekend

Recently known as the Sprint Unlimited and Bud Shootout, Saturday night's "Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona" unofficially kicks off the 2017 NASCAR season before next weekend's Daytona 500. The new Clash pays homage to the event originally known as the Busch Clash, an exciting non-points sprint race featuring an All-Star list of drivers.

Unlike previous years, the starting field for the 2017 Clash at Daytona will not be a predetermined number of cars. Instead, the field is limited to drivers who meet more exclusive criteria; Drivers who were 2016 pole winners, former Clash race winners, former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full-time in 2016 and drivers who qualified for the 2016 Chase are eligible.

The ARCA Racing Series race will be televised on Saturday at 4:15 pm, on Fox Sports 1 followed by the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona at 8 pm.

On Sunday, February, 19th, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Daytona 500 pole qualifying will be televised at 3 pm on Fox.The Daytona 500 will be the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event to feature the new for 2017 points-paying competition breaks.

The Great American Race will consist of two 60-lap stages followed by an 80-lap showdown to determine a winner.

Stage lengths were also revealed for the season-opening races for both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series at Daytona.

The first and second stages for the Truck Series race will be 20 laps each, with a 60-lap final stage. Stages one and two of the Xfinity Series race have been set at 30 laps, while the final stage will be 60 laps. Standard overtime rules apply for all three divisions.

The News As I See It: Taco Bell has announced plans to offer a $600 wedding service at its flagship restaurant in Las Vegas. And this is cool — the burritos are conveniently wrapped in divorce papers.

This Date In History: 1600; Italian philospher, alchemist, and Copernican theory advocate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition. 1801; The electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives who elected Jefferson president.

1817; Baltimore became the first U.S. city lit by gas. 1864; The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union's ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.

1904; Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly premiered in Milan. 1972; President Richard Nixon left on his trip to China. 1996; Chess champion Garry Kasparov beat the IBM computer, Deep Blue, winning the six-game match. 2008; Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Picture Of The Day: The start/finish line at the world famous Daytona International Speedway.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) Whoever said "Out of sight, out of mind" has never had a spider disappear in their bedroom. 2) I almost hit a deer last night, but then he took back what he said about my mom and we hugged it out. 3) Dogs lick each other's asses to show each other they like them - just like politicians. 4) If a tree falls in the woods, it should get up quickly and break into a light jog so it looks like it did it on purpose.  5) I remember when my ex-wife and I decided not to have children. The kids took it pretty hard.....and that's five !

Today's Horoscope: Aquarius - February 17th: You may hear a voice in your ear saying that you are here for a purpose. Don't pay any attention to the voice, they meant to say porpoise. That is, unless you're from Miami, in which case, take heed.

Birthdays: Arcangelo Corelli, composer and violinist 1653, Samuel Sidney McClure, editor and publisher 1857, Thomas John Watson, Sr., industrialist and philanthropist 1874, Jim Brown, football player 1936.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: A phenomena known as "women's intuition" a sixth sense if you will, is no myth. Women seem to know what's going on in their man's lives almost better than they do. Why is this?

In the early 80's, researchers discovered that women have more connections between the brain's two hemispheres than men do. It's these connections that allow them to put together a puzzle from seemingly un-connectable pieces. That, and they go through all your stuff while you're in the shower.

A husband and wife were at a party chatting with some friends when the subject of marriage counseling came up. The husband explained, "Oh, we'll never need that. My wife and I have a great relationship."

He went on to say, "She was a communications major in college and I majored in theater arts. She communicates well and I act like I'm listening."

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer.

When asked to define great, he said, "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!"

He now works for Microsoft writing error messages.

One morning a man comes into the church on crutches. He stops in front of the holy water and splashes some of it on both of his legs, then throws away his crutches.

An altar boy witnessed the scene and runs into the rectory to tell the priest what he'd just seen. Without batting an eye, the priest says, "Son, you've just witnessed a miracle. Tell me, where is this man?"

The altar boy relied, "Flat on his ass, Father, over by the holy water."

That's it for today, my little jelly beans. Remember, sometimes I stand in the shower for 10 minutes before I remember what I'm supposed to be doing. So, yes your secrets are safe with me. I'm heading over to AREA 51 for happy hour.

Follow Jimmy's Journal on Facebook by clicking the "Follow This Blog" button at the top right of the page.

More next week.

Stay Tuned !