- The summer race at Daytona is synonymous with the Fourth of July, summer time, patriotism, and LOTS of bumping and banging.
- Handling is a major issue in this race. The 2.5 mile track is very slick, and if the car is handling well, the likelihood of a good finish or even a win is greater.
- While there is great action throughout the track, the best action is coming off Turn 2. Teams have to work on making sure the car is able to turn coming off Turn 2.
- This race has a long, storied history. The first winner in the summer race was Fireball Roberts, in 1959. He won $7,050. Contrast that to the 2006 winner, Tony Stewart, who won $369,586 in prize money.
- Richard Petty won for his 200th time (and it was his final win) in the 1984 Firecracker 400 with President Reagan in attendance, driving the STP Pontiac.
- Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers with three wins in this event. He needs two wins to tie The Silver Fox, David Pearson, for most all-time wins (5) in this event.
- Thinking of you: Richard Petty.
- In 2007, Jamie McMurray edged Casey Mears in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history in this race. McMurray won by .006 of a second in a photo finish.
- Look for the usual superspeedway suspects to be running up front: Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, the Busch Brothers, Clint Bowyer. One dark horse to look at: AJ Allmendinger.
- In recent years, there seems to be a surprise winner more often than not.
Predicted Race Winner: Kevin Harvick. Yes, I'm going out on a VERY thin limb. Some of you may even think of me as daft for picking Harvick to win. He's been running well lately, but has had some VERY bad racing luck this season. With any kind of racing luck, he'd be coming off consecutive top 10's. This week is the week that his luck starts to change for the better. Plus the surprise winner is a factor.
9 comments:
Not to be a pain, but it was the dorkfish that Cupcake beat in 2007. I remember because I L'edMAO!
I thought it was Casey Mears that Cupcake beat--I know that it was a VERY close finish!
It was Kyle. Fortunately he has gone on to win dozens of races while Cupcake has grown stale, RA6AN...LOL.
Good G&G Jon. This will probably be the last good race for a couple of months.
I think it will be interesting with the double file restarts. Don't know if the guys will be hanging back as much now, as they have in the past. It will be fun either way. I love plate races.
Nice Gas and Go as usual.
Finally, we are going to get a real race at Daytona. The downside is that this race has been known to have rain throughout the years.
I also am feeling a strong Harvick run. Don't know if he will win though...
Gene and RA6AN, thanks for the correction. I agree with you that it'll be the last good race for a couple of months, at least until Bristol.
Lori, I'm with ya there! The trick will be to avoid spinning the tires, particularly if your driver's car is in the front three rows.
Gonger, thanks. This race is notorious for winners breaking long winless streaks. Jamie Mac broke a nearly five year winless streak with his win. It wouldn't hurt me any if the race was postponed to Sunday. (I'll have company over for the Fourth and won't be able to see the race.) Should Harvick win, it would break a 2 1/2 year winless streak.
What a shock Jon that you are picking Harvick! LOL
I dunno -- Daytona takes some luck and Happy cant seem to buy and luck unless its bad.
I'd pick Montoya, Vickers or AJ as long shots and go with my boy Kurt as my favorite.
Kristen, you know me all too well, LOL! Somehow, I think Happy's luck will change for the better. I do have AJ as my dark horse that could pull out a win. He finished in the top 5 at the 500 and I expect him to run well.
When I logged into FOX this morning, I was 88LittleE, not Athens. I went to BLOGS, went to search and typed in Athensspeedwayan, I found my old stuff. I typed in Copperhead Road FOX and found Hanahan’s; typed in Bolt Backer 21 FOX and found Bolt. Just fool the search engine and put something that will come up just like google, and it’s still there! I’ve copied the stuff I want to save and pasted it in Blogspot. WHAT A BUMMER! pass the word!
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