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Lookin’ forward to the Daytona 500 and what to watch for in ‘10

Feb 13, 2010, 9:49 PM UTC

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, and his wife Chandra stand next to his car during the national anthem before the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Gatorade Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR

I sent my regular article in to the Hamilton Spectator and for whatever reason they didn't publish it. I wonder if I was laid off and nobody told me. They ran some AP stuff instead. Hmm ...

Anyway here is the article that should have run in the paper this weekend:

I can’t believe it is already time for the NASCAR season to begin. I guess it really began, unofficially anyway, with the Budweiser Shootout last weekend which saw Kevin Harvick (29), who was recovering from the flu, take the black and white checker flag.

In fact Harvick was so sick he didn’t even test his car prior to the race, his teammates Clint Bowyer (33) and Jeff Burton (31) helped Harvick’s crew set-up the car – apparently they did a good job.

Some people thought the race was a bit boring until the end when the drivers got a little more aggressive but to be honest with you I think people’s expectations were a little too high for this event.

Just weeks prior to the shootout NASCAR announced that they were going to be lifting their rules regarding bump drafting and let the drivers police themselves on the track and I think people were hoping to see a lot more beating and banging by the drivers which didn’t really happen for couple of reasons.

There were a lot of cars involved in a crash during practice forcing them to use their backup cars. The crash happened late in the practice session so they weren’t able to test their backup cars and they all had to start the race in cars that hadn’t even ran one lap on the track. Wouldn’t you be a little cautious if you were in that situation?

Also, NASCAR changed the restrictor plate size allowing more air to mix with the fuel giving the drivers a bit more horsepower. This change allowed the drivers to use the power in the engine to stay with the pack a little more easily and rely a little less on the draft and it is in the draft is where you’ll see a lot of bump drafting.

It will be interesting to see how the change in the restrictor plate will affect the Daytona 500 this weekend. When push comes to shove I would expect to see the drivers doing more bump drafting near the end of the race, especially if the win is on the line.

Picking a winner for the Daytona 500 is a difficult task because you never know what is going to happen next. Certainly there are favourites to win the race like Jeff Gordon (24), Tony Stewart (14), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), and many more but I wouldn’t count out some of the lesser know drivers either. Dale Earnhardt Sr. dominated the 1990 Daytona 500 but blew a tire on the last lap handing the race to lesser known driver Derrike Cope who was running in second at the time. That win was the first of two victories in Cope’s racing career.

As the NASCAR season begins we all look forward to some good close racing and there are several questions that we look forward to finding the answers to like; will Dale Earnhardt Jr. recover from his miserable ’09 season and make the Chase; will Tony Stewart and his race team continue their success in Tony’s sophomore year of car ownership; will Jimmie Johnson (48) do the unthinkable and win a fifth consecutive Championship; will the economy continue to erode teams forcing them to amalgamate; will any of the other teams like Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing be able to catch the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut; and finally will Danica Patrick (7) be able to adapt to the heavier and harder to handle stock car compared to her Indy cars while racing in the Nationwide Series?

My only answer to these questions is, “I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out!”

Now bring on the green flag and let the racing season begin!

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