Coke Zero 400 Race Preview

Daytona International Speedway -- 07/4/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Wednesday Jul 1 2009 2:48am

This weekend, NASCAR heads back to Daytona for the sport’s big Fourth of July event, the Coke Zero 400, which will be Saturday, July 4, at a scheduled green flag time of 8:19 PM EST.

This is considered an impound race, in that there will be two practices on Thursday, qualifying on Friday, and then cars are impounded by NASCAR with no further adjustments made to them between qualifying and the start of the race.

It’s also worth noting that, once again, rain is in the forecast for the weekend, with a 30-40% chance of showers each day. Last Sunday’s race in Loudon, NH, was shortened by rain as well. In case of a qualifying rain-out, cars will line up based on current owner’s points, putting Tony Stewart on the pole again. There are 45 teams on the entry list vying for 43 spots in the field.

Of course, NASCAR has been racing at Loudon since 1993, with 124 races now in the books including both winter and summer dates – making this a somewhat historic race number 125. The track is a 2.5-mile tri-oval superspeedway with 31 degrees of banking in the turns, 18 degrees in the tri-oval, and six degrees on the straight-aways. The race is scheduled for 160 laps or 400 miles.

Kyle Busch won this race last year, while Matt Kenseth is the most recent DIS winner, taking the Daytona 500 trophy home to start the 2009 season. Jeff Gordon is the overall leading race winner among active drivers with six wins at Daytona, most recently in 2005.

Michael Waltrip has three Daytona wins, while Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have two a piece. There are numerous one-time race winners here, including Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, and Jamie McMurray.

Although he’s never won a race Daytona, Clint Bowyer actually leads all drivers in the average finish category here with an 11.1. In his seven DIS starts, Bowyer has five top-10 finishes, was ninth in this race last year, and fourth in the Daytona 500.

Following Bowyer in the average finish category is David Ragan, whose AVF is 14.0 in five starts, including back-to-back top 10s. The next best average finishes belong to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Gordon.

Although Chevy was once the presumptive winner at Daytona – winning 11 of 13 races from 2001-2007 – the last four straight Daytona races have been won by non-Chevys, including two Fords (McMurray, Kenseth), one Dodge (Newman), and one Toyota (Kyle Busch).

Over the course of the last five races at Daytona (both dates), however, it is the Busch brothers – first Kurt, then Kyle, who’ve accumulated the most driver points, followed by Harvick, Bowyer, and a name we haven’t mentioned yet – Carl Edwards.

Perhaps the reason Busch leads the driver points at DIS is that, unlike many competitors, he actually likes restrictor plate racing. Daytona is one of just two plate tracks on the NASCAR circuit each year, the other being Talladega. “I think that the biggest thing I always have going for me is that I truly enjoy the plate races,” said Busch this week. “I think for sure that I am in the minority when I say that. I know how much the fans love it. I know it’s hard for most people to understand, but the more I’m right in the middle of the lead pack, the more comfortable I am in the car. I feel like I learn something each time I’m in that position, especially how to survive it and get a good finish out of it.”

Current odds for select drivers for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway:

Kyle Busch +700

Tony Stewart +700

Jeff Gordon +800

Dale Earnhardt Jr. +850

Jimmie Johnson +1050

Denny Hamlin +1350

Carl Edwards +1350

Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin +1500

Ryan Newman +2000

Please check back before the race for our practice and qualifying update.

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