Track Description:
First opened in 1959, Daytona International Speedway is the crown jewel of NASCAR tracks and home to the Daytona 500, the Super Bowl of stock-car racing. This year, the 2.5-mile, high-banked track gets its first fresh surface of asphalt since 1979. As a result, the track is now like Talladega Superspeedway in that it’s billiard-table smooth. The big difference, though is that Daytona is much, much narrower. The secret to winning at both Daytona and Talladega is hooking up in the draft: Most likely this year’s Daytona 500 will come down to a last-lap charge of two cars pushing to the front, like Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch did to lead a Penske Racing 1-2 finish in the 2008 Daytona 500. The new surface, combined with the addition of E-15 ethanol fuel and new gas cans that will eliminate the need for a catch-can man, make this year’s Daytona 500 one of the hardest to handicap in recent memory. That said, there are some clear-cut favorites this year: Kevin Harvick won restrictor-plate races at both Daytona and Talladega last year. He is also the 2007 Daytona 500 winner and a two-time defending champion in the Budweiser Shootout. Jamie McMurray won last year’s Daytona 500, as well as the 2007 Coke Zero 400 here. But he runs hot and cold at Daytona, finishing 25th or worse in four of his last six starts here. By the same token, Jeff Gordon leads active drivers with six Daytona victories, but in his last 10 Daytona starts, he’s finished 10th or worse eight times. Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have excellent Daytona records. Avoid Denny Hamlin, who has an average Daytona finish of 23.10, and Juan Pablo Montoya, 22.60.