Last year's edition of what is now known as the Coke Zero 400 -- for the record, it will always be the Firecracker 400 to me -- ended in a photo finish.
Jamie McMurray was inches ahead of Kyle Busch at the finish line in the closest ending since NASCAR incorporated electronic scoring.
|
|
| Tony Stewart knows what he has to do at Daytona on Saturday, he just has to execute. (Getty Images) |
All the recent talk of lawsuits, racial and sexual discrimination, the poor economy and boring racing would be forgotten at least for one night with a rip-roaring, slam-bang race when the Sprint Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night.
The ingredients are in place to cook up a Fourth of July weekend racing treat.
Saturday's race will be the third restrictor plate event of the season, reason enough to expect the usual four-wide, white-knuckle competition that is typical of stops at Daytona and its cousin Talladega Superspeedway.
The year's first two plate races produced exciting finishes, with Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch drafting around Tony Stewart on the final lap of the Daytona 500 and then Kyle Busch fighting his way to the front to take the checkered flag at Talladega.
Drivers expect more of the same Saturday night and are strategizing accordingly.
"At Daytona and Talladega, you're trying to get yourself into a position to challenge for the victory in the closing laps," said Jeff Gordon, who looks to add to his series-leading 12 restrictor plate wins. "You have to be smart during the race and understand your surroundings -- try to stay away from bad situations. But Daytona is much more of a handling track. While the fans will see the usual two- and three-wide racing early in the runs, the better handling cars will make their way to the front later in the runs."
Stewart, who has won two midsummer Daytona races but is winless so far in 2008, knows what he needs to run well at Daytona. But knowing what to do and then being able to do it are two different things.
"If you're smart, after 10 years, surely you'll learn something," Stewart said. "We're not sending a space shuttle to the moon here, so it's not like it was something that was out of our reach as far as trying to be able to learn. You hope that with 10 years of experience, you'd at least learn enough to keep yourself competitive.
"I don't think we're a master of the draft, but I do feel like we've learned enough about it. I think our record speaks for itself for how many laps we've led and where we've been. We obviously know how to get ourselves in position to win. It's just sometimes finishing the race off has been the hard part."
Getting to victory lane has been anything but hard for Stewart's teammate Kyle Busch, who brings a 64-point lead over Jeff Burton in the Sprint Cup standings into the weekend. After finally getting his first plate win in April at Talladega, Busch feels confident about his chances to add victory No. 6 of the season to his win total Saturday night.
"We had a really good race car at Daytona in February, so I'm expecting to go back there and run well again this weekend," said Kyle Busch, who wound up fourth in the Daytona 500. "With that being said, the racetrack changes in the summertime because it gets so slick. Running the race at night helps, but there is still going to be some single-file action and some guys getting spread out because handling has been key with the new cars. So far, these cars have been hard to get the handle on, so it should be interesting how some of the drivers and crew chiefs are going to get their cars to handle when the racetrack will be much more slippery than February."
McMurray, who has been on a bit of an upswing of late, also brings confidence back to Daytona after his win last July.
"I seem to have been more success at the superspeedway races, whether it's at Daytona or Talladega," McMurray said. "[They've] always been places that I've run well at. You know, I enjoy doing that. I tend to be able to get with the right guys. When you go to the speedway races, there's always a group of, I don't know, six or eight guys that always run well at those. All those guys always want to get together and help each other.
"So, you know, I enjoy getting to do the speedway races."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also enjoys speedway races and has the track record to prove it. Earnhardt Jr. has two wins, six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 17 races at Daytona and dominated nearly everything during February's Speedweeks before settling for a ninth-place finish in the 500.
Junior would like nothing more than to notch his second win of the season at a track that he considers sacred ground.
"The track itself has a lot of history," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's kind of like the grandfather of the series when it comes to race tracks. It demands to be respected and appreciated. It's carried the sport in a lot of different areas. It's given us a lot of great opportunities to put on some great races in front of some pretty large audiences.
"As soon as you walk in the place, it's a totally different feeling than you get when you walk in other race tracks. It's a little like a monument, more so than a track."