Nationwide Series veteran Jason Keller will be honoring the anniversary of Richard Petty’s historic 200th Sprint Cup win with a special paint scheme on his #27 Ford. The car will be painted grabber blue and neon orange which was the same scheme used on Petty’s STP Pontiac. Mike Curb is the owner of Keller’s ride and also owned the car that Petty drove to his 200th win.
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Keep a sharp eye on driver Michael McDowell in the #47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota Friday night.. Sadly he’s going to have to drive his guts out in hopes of enticing new sponsorship. JTG-D has already said that if a new sponsor isn’t found really soon they may have to park the team.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The races is 100 laps/250 miles around Daytona’s massive two mile tri oval.
The race has 46 entries meaning three teams will be sent home. There are 15 entries on the “go or go home” list meaning these teams do not have a guaranteed starting berth and will have to make the race based on qualifying speed.
The entry list for this race also has 12 “insurance whackers” or full time NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. This group is led by Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards who are running both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series full time.
Denny Hamlin, from Joe Gibbs Racing, is defending race champion. However he will not be in the field for the race.
Michael Waltrip topped the speed charts during Thursday morning’s first practice session, in his Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, with a speed of 185.491 MPH. Later in the day David Ragan, in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, topped the speed charts at the conclusion of the final happy hour practice with a lap of 182.626 MPH.
The battle for the series’ prestigious Raybestos Brakes Rookie of the Year title is about as close as it can get. Brendan Gaughan, from Rusty Wallace Racing, goes into Friday night’s race with a oh so close one point lead over Justin Allgaier from Penske Racing.
With Toyota’s recent dominance in the Nationwide Series, largely from Joe Gibbs Racing, they now lead the series’ manufacturer’s points standings with 110. Chevrolet is second at 97 followed by Ford with 94 and Dodge at 51 points.
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