This Weekend in NASCAR - Daytona
Posted June 30, 2009; Source - NASCAR Communications

This week Daytona International Speedway is preparing to host one of the biggest weekends of the season with the NASCAR Nationwide Series racing Friday night and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in action Saturday night. Storylines for the weekend follow...

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Race to the Chase -- Race 2
The “Race to Chase” – the 10-event stretch that precedes NASCAR’s playoffs, otherwise known as the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” – continues this week at Daytona. This is the time of year when the 12-driver field is firmed up for the Chase, which will start Sept. 20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

And, On The Subject Of The Top 12
With nine races remaining before the Chase begins, attention is focused on the 12th and final position in the series standings. Adding to the interest is that 12th place is occupied this week by Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Indianapolis 500 and Formula One star who struggled in his first two NASCAR seasons, but appears headed toward championship contender status.

Montoya retained 12th this week by the slimmest of margins – one point over 13th-place Kasey Kahne.

Big-Time Shootout at The Top of The Standings
The top four spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series standings this week are occupied by former series champions...

• Tony Stewart, the 2002 and ’05 champion
• Jeff Gordon, titlist in 1995, ’97-98 and ‘01
• Jimmie Johnson, champion the last three seasons
• Kurt Busch, champion in 2004 – the first year of the Chase format

NEVER have the top four in NASCAR Sprint Cup points been former champions this late in the season.

Kyle Busch Tackling Unique Tripleheader
Racing three races on one weekend is nothing new for Kyle Busch, but this coming weekend’s tripleheader at Daytona represents a most unique challenge.

First up, he’ll race Friday night in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he is the points leader. Then he’ll co-drive with Scott Speed in Saturday afternoon’s Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series event. After a brief “cooling-off” period, he’ll jump back into a stock car for the Coke Zero 400 Saturday night.

NASCAR Hall Of Fame Nominees TBA This Week
The NASCAR Hall of Fame’s inaugural class will take a significant step towards realization Thursday night when the first 25 nominees will be revealed. The announcement will take place during an hour-long special on SPEED (8 p.m. ET) that will be hosted by long-time NASCAR announcer Ken Squier. The Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which includes a fan-vote element, will then choose the first class of inductees – five NASCAR greats who will be honored next May at the new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

The elite 25 names were determined by a 21-person Nominating Committee that consists of officials from both NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, plus owners/operators of major speedways and historic short tracks. The list represents many who helped build the sport, including drivers, owners and promoters.

NASCAR will release the names of a handful of nominees with daily blogs on NASCAR.COM leading into Thursday (http://community.nascar.com/crews/NASCAR_Says). The remainder of the 25 finalists will be announced on SPEED Thursday night. The show will countdown all 25 nominees with background and footage of each of them. Immediately following the SPEED show, NASCAR.COM will go live with a gallery of all 25 nominees and will open registration for the fan vote.

Petty Celebrating 25th Anniversary Of Epic 200th Victory
For years, Daytona’s summer race was always held on July 4, no matter the day of the week the holiday landed upon; a number of years back, the event was shifted, to be held on the Saturday night closest to the 4th.

This year, the calendar has fallen in favor of history; Saturday night is the 4th – meaning it’s also the 25th anniversary of Richard Petty’s 200th victory. Petty got that epic win – his last in NASCAR – on July 4, 1984 with then-President Ronald Reagan in attendance.

Petty returned to Victory Lane as an owner two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway, when Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne was the race winner.

Petty discussed Kahne’s victory and his 1984 win last week in a NASCAR CAM video teleconference. A transcript and video of that interview session can be accessed on NASCARmedia.com.

Emphasis On Winning: Bonus Points Coveted By Chase Contenders
The 12 drivers who end up making the chase field will have their point totals reset to 5,000. Then, they’ll get 10 bonus points for each race victory they had prior to the Chase.

Which means that drivers are racing to win, not just finish respectably.

Currently, Kyle Busch and Mark Martin have three race victories which means if they make the Chase, they will start with 5,030 points apiece – and either be at the top of the standings or close to it.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Double-File Restarts: Shootout Style Come To NNS
They’ve been an exciting addition to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Now “Double-File Restarts – Shootout Style” come to the NASCAR Nationwide Series beginning Friday night at Daytona and throughout each race in the series.

The format – where the first- and second-place cars line up side-by-side as the green flag is displayed on each restart with the leader having the option on his position, and cars in odd-numbered positions start on the outside, cars in even-numbered positions start on the inside – has been utilized for the last four races, all different tracks, in NASCAR Sprint Cup. That allowed NASCAR to gauge the various configurations before instituting the format in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Series Hits Halfway Mark At Daytona
The conclusion of the July race at Daytona marks the traditional halfway point in the season, and the 2009 edition has certainly lived up to its preseason billing. Some highlights include:

• The first 16 races have produced 10 different winners and nine different pole winners. Kyle Busch, the standings leader, has five wins while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano has two. Greg Biffle, the 2002 series champion, also has two wins.
• Carl Edwards, the 2007 series champion, continues to chase Busch; and despite having a season that's statistically better than at this point last year, Edwards is 162 points back. He also the series in poles with four, tying his career high.
• Two series-only regulars have posted wins – Brad Keselowski and Mike Bliss – and they did so in consecutive races. Keselowski (third) leads seven series-only regulars who are ranked in the top 10 while the 2009 rookie class is one of the strongest in history, with two currently ranked in the top 10 in points.
• The competition continues to be trademark NASCAR Nationwide Series racing. Ten of the races have had margins of victory less than one second while seven have been under a half-second.

Last Chance For Restrictor Plate Specialists
Daytona is the final restrictor-plate race of the year for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the entry list is full of drivers who excel at this type of racing. Last year’s winner Denny Hamlin isn’t entered.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 1998-99 series champion, leads the pack so to speak. One of the preeminent restrictor-plate racers, he has two wins in this event. Kerry Earnhardt is back at Daytona for the first time since last year when he finished 17th in this race. Mike Wallace won in a wild finish in 2004; Joe Nemechek, the 1992 series champion, won in 2002 and also leads all drivers with five poles at DIS. Some would now argue Brad Keselowski falls into the “specialist” category thanks to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Talladega in April. Additionally, Michael Waltrip, the two-time Daytona 500 winner, is also entered. Waltrip has three NASCAR Nationwide poles at Daytona.

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