Gatorade Duel Race No. 2
Regan Smith (No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet): 186.924, 14th-fastest. He starts seventh in the second Duel race. Smith was last season’s Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
Boris Said (No. 08 Scotts/U.S. Chrome Ford): 20th-fastest at 186.780. Starts 11th in the second Duel race. Said can’t be discounted. Remember his dream Daytona week in July 2006? He captured the pole and finished fourth.
AJ Allmendinger (No. 44 Valvoline Dodge): 35th-fastest at 185.770. Starts 19th in second Duel event. Looked solid on Saturday night in the Budweiser Shootout, finishing fifth.
Jeremy Mayfield (No. 41 All Sport Toyota): 43rd-fastest at 185.082. Starts 21st in second Duel race. The latest guy to jump into the driver/owner category, Mayfield has four top-10 finishes in the 500, including a third in 1998.
Mike Wallace (No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet): 46th-fastest at 184.847. Starts 22nd in second Duel race. Wallace has three top-10 500 finishes and he won the summer NASCAR Nationwide Series race at DIS in 2004.
Mike Garvey (No. 73 Jani-King Dodge): 48th-fastest at 184.004. Starts 22nd in second Duel. Garvey has 13 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, his last coming in 2006, with none at Daytona.
Derrike Cope (No. 75 Blu Frog Energy Drink Dodge): 51st-fastest at 182.020. Starts 25th in second Duel race. He won the 1990 Daytona 500, arguably the biggest upset in the race’s history, when race leader Dale Earnhardt encountered tire problems on the final lap.
Kelly Bires (No. 51 Dodge): 53rd-fastest at 181.701. Starts 26th in second Duel race. Bires is seeking to make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. He finished 13th in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series; en route to that, he finished 12th and 16th in the series’ two races at Daytona International Speedway.
Geoff Bodine (No. 64 Toyota): 55th-fastest at 180.810. Starts 27th in second Duel race. Bodine, the 1986 Daytona 500 champion, is trying a 500 comeback at the age of 59. He last made a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start in 2004. His last start in the Daytona 500: 2002, when another long-shot effort resulted in an outstanding third-place finish.
Norm Benning (No. 57 Chevrolet): 56th — and slowest qualifier — at 177.396. Starts 28th — last — in second Duel event. Benning has never started the Daytona 500 but has competed three times in the qualifying races, finishing 20th in the second race, in 2002.
Loop Data Points To Stewart And Newman As Favorite, New-Team Uncertainty Aside
Tony Stewart is the “great unknown”, for the second consecutive year.
Stewart entered last season amidst a flock of “Toyota” questions, after the Joe Gibbs Racing organization swapped manufacturers after five successful years with Chevrolet. The transition was a smooth one, as Stewart won a race and made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
This year, Stewart’s back with Chevrolet but with a new team – his own. Stewart begins year No. 1 as driver-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing and questions abound whether his equipment can match his talent.
If it can, pencil Stewart in as a favorite to win his first Daytona 500.
His statistics are tremendous at the historic track, many of them tops in the series.
Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Stewart has a series-high Driver Rating of 105.4, an Average Running Position of 12.9 (fifth-best), 41 Fastest Laps Run (third) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 68.7% (seventh).
Thus far, there’s a small, but promising, statistical sample size for Stewart in the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet.
Stewart finished third in last Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout. He had four laps led, a Driver Rating of 92.3, an Average Running Position of 10.3, 150 Green Flag Passes, and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 84.6%.
Defending 500 champion Ryan Newman faces the same questions since he’s now Stewart’s teammate/employee at Stewart-Haas Racing, driving the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet.
Newman may also have some answers, as he enjoyed much success driving the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing at Daytona International Speedway.
In his eight Daytona races since 2005, Newman has a Driver Rating of 94.9 (third-best), an Average Running Position of 12.8 (fourth), 33 Fastest Laps Run (tied for eighth), 1, 540 Green Flag Passes (sixth), an average Green Flag Speed of 185.081 mph (second) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage 70.8% (third).
The only question surrounding four-time series champion Jeff Gordon: Can he get back to Victory Lane? Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) is mired in a 41-race winless drought dating back to 2007. It could end this weekend. Gordon already has three Daytona 500 wins, and a Daytona Driver Rating of 93.7 (sixth-best).
2009 Rookie Competition Looks Like 2-Man Showdown
The 2009 Raybestos Rookie of Year field is short on numbers but long on talent, with heralded Joey Logano (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) joined by two drivers more known for open-wheel racing — former Formula One driver Scott Speed (No. 82 Red Bull Toyota) of Team Red Bull Racing and long-time Indy-car competitor Max Papis (No. 13 GEICO Toyota) of Germain Racing.
Of the three, only Logano and Speed are entered in the Daytona 500 and both are locked into the event via their team’s standing in the final 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner points.
When the green flag drops Logano will become the youngest driver to start the Daytona 500 — at 18 years, eight months and 22 days.
Both Speed and Logano posted their first competitive NASCAR laps at Daytona this past Saturday night in the Budweiser Shootout. Unfortunately their nights were cut short when they both were caught in an accident on Lap 5, relegating them to 25th and 28th-place finishes, respectively.
Though Papis will not participate in the Daytona 500, he still is expecting an exciting event in his personal life this weekend with the birth of his second child.
Papis will make his first 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Off The Track ...
Community Support of Races Evident
A variety of activities are being held this week in the Daytona Beach area, in an effort to raise awareness about Speedweeks among casual fans. A listing follows.
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