NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 400 Race Preview

Daytona International Speedway -- 07/05/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Tuesday Jul 1 2008 2:15am

It's been about six weeks since the Sprint Cup series last raced on a Saturday night rather than a Sunday afternoon. That was the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte -this Saturday, it's the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona, technically, the "Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola."

Only five races of the 36 race Cup schedule are categorized as impound races, and this is one of them - the third one of the 2008 season. The others were Talladega in April and Richmond in May, though the Daytona 500 was not an impound race.

What that means for race teams is an atypical weekend schedule - in this case, two practices on Thursday and qualifying on Friday, with no further adjustments to the cars permitted prior to the start of the race.

Another noticeable difference in the race this weekend will be the TV coverage. As they did last year, TNT will offer what it calls "Wide Open Coverage," in which commercials are shown during the race on part of the screen, with the on-track action still visible as well.

"Hot and slick" is a phrase you are likely to hear repeatedly this week from drivers and crew chiefs describing what to expect of track conditions. It is, after all, Florida in July, hot, humid and sticky. In fact, the weather forecast is for showers off and on all weekend, meaning there's at least a chance that cars will have to line up by owner points if qualifying gets rained out.

Those slip-sliding conditions also mean teams will be focused on one of the keys to winning the July race here: Handling.

"Handling has become a big issue the last couple of years," said Greg Biffle (+4000) who won this race (then called the Pepsi 400) in 2003. "Handling is always an issue at Daytona. But that time of the year, the track is slick, it's hot, and it's hard to get a hold of. Handling has definitely been the biggest issue with Daytona as far as a guy that's gonna be able to run in the top 5 and win there."

Daytona has traditionally been considered a Chevy track. 11 of the last 15 races here have been won by GM, counting both the February and July events. The other four winners were two each for Ford and Dodge.

Chevy drivers went on a seven-race win streak from the Daytona 500 in 2004 through that race in 2007, with Jeff Gordon (+700) and Tony Stewart (+600) each winning twice, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+600), Jimmie Johnson (+800) and Kevin Harvick (+1500) each winning once during that period.

The GM streak was broken in last year's Pepsi 400 by Ford driver Jamie McMurray (+3000) in a photo finish over Kyle Busch (then in a Chevy). Meanwhile, the Dodge duo of Ryan Newman (+1800) and Kurt Busch (+1800) edged out Toyota teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch (+500) in the Daytona 500 this year - a race that saw just one Chevy driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., finish in the top 10.

Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers with six wins at Daytona, followed by Michael Waltrip with three (all with DEI), and Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. each with two. Single race winners include Jeff Burton, along with Harvick, Johnson, Biffle, McMurray and Newman.

Surprisingly, Clint Bowyer (+2500) leads all active drivers in the average finish category with a 13.0, though he's only made five Daytona starts. Bowyer finished 7th in this race last year.

Among drivers with more than 10 starts, Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish, a 13.2, followed by Earnhardt Jr. at 13.9 and Gordon at 14.7.

Though Johnson has a good average finish overall, he hasn't had much luck at Daytona lately. After winning the Daytona 500 in 2006, his average finish has been a 27.0 in his last four starts with just one top 10 and two finishes of 32nd or worse.

In fact, over the last five races, series points leader Kyle Busch is the driver who's accumulated the most points overall. Busch finished 2nd in the Pepsi 400 the past two years and ran 4th in the Daytona 500 this year. Not surprisingly, he's the early favorite of nascar oddsmakers.

Busch is followed in the five race points category by Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, and Clint Bowyer.

Coming off an unexpected win at Loudon this weekend is Kyle's brother Kurt, who also has run well at Daytona in the past. Though he's never posted a win, Kurt finished 3rd in the Pepsi 400 the past two years and ran 2nd in this year's Daytona 500.

Tony Stewart is also being talked up as a possible winner this weekend. Stewart has had more than his share of bad luck this season, but he won this race in 2005 and 2006, and almost won the Daytona 500 in February. Most pundits who feel that Stewart is "due" for a win predict that it will come this week.