So we head back to Daytona International Speedway for the first time since that exciting Daytona 500 in February.
Folks have been asking me all week who I think the favorite is. Truth be told, I don’t know. I mean think back to what happened in February.
If you had told a lot of those veteran drivers that running with Trevor Bayne would have enhanced your ability to win the Daytona 500, well they would have scoffed at you. The guy was a true rookie. He had just turned 20 years old and didn’t have the experience on the big tracks like Daytona. Yet he went out and won that race.
So after Daytona, and then what we saw at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this year, you really can’t draw a conclusion of who is going to be your friend. At Talladega, it was definitely teammates, but at Daytona it was the odd couple.
Look at the issue between Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers last week. But see, that was last week and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see them running together if they have two cars that together can move forward.
Tony’s one of the best restrictor-plate racers we have ever seen. At the same time, you can’t do it alone and so circumstances are going to dictate who your friends are.
You also have to realize that this race Saturday night will be different from what we saw in February. It’s always that way. You simply can’t assume, for example, that Bayne will be the same as we saw him in February.
It’s hot at Daytona. The track has been baking in the sun for the last four months. The track will be slick. The teams will also be better. They have taken what they learned in the Daytona 500, plus what they learned at Talladega, and will come with a better package. It’s like marrying the two races together.
To me, anyone could be a favorite and it doesn’t matter what brand of car he is driving. The Chevrolets will be tough, as will the Fords plus the Toyotas. You also can’t ignore the fact the Penske Dodges are on a roll right now, so expect them to be tough.
We call these types of races wild-card races, and for good reason. You can be having the best race ever and in a split second, through no fault of your own, you are wrecked out. It’s just the product of having that many cars out there, all with restrictor plates on them.
Now the interesting dynamic that has arisen from these two-car tandems, where cars hook up in pairs and drivers take turns leading that duo, is those seem to sort themselves out pretty quickly, so the huge pileups we are used to seeing aren’t as big.
That could have a huge impact on the outcome of this race. Everyone talks about the Big One making a difference, but now with this style of racing, I am not 100 percent sold on that.
Make no mistake though, these restrictor-plate races are still very unpredictable.
The good thing is for these drivers, that this new tandem racing gives them somewhat more control when problems arise. That really wasn’t available in the past with the big-pack racing when all the cars were bunched together in a tight group.
Trust me, it will definitely be fun Saturday night under the lights at Daytona.
