NASCAR NATION IN A BETTER MOOD ... SO FAR
Hollywood could not have scripted a better beginning to the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. An all-American kid (Trevor Bayne)... MORE
Posted: 1 year 9 weeks ago | (0) Comments | Email This
GORDON ENDS DROUGHT AFTER MOVING BUSCH
It had been 66 races since four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon stood in Victory Lane. Yet, that all changed... MORE
Posted: 1 year 12 weeks ago | (0) Comments | Email This
EDWARDS THE MAN TO BEAT AFTER SECOND PLACE RUN
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. _ Trevor Bayne may have celebrated the prestige and the glory Sunday evening in Daytona, but it... MORE
Posted: 1 year 13 weeks ago | (2) Comments | Email This
Track:
Daytona International Speedway
Race Sponsor:
Distance:
500 Miles
Laps:
200 Laps
Background
It’s the Daytona 500.
No point wasting your time about why winning The Great American Race is a big deal. Whoever wins will be known as “The 2012 Daytona 500 Champion insert name here” for the rest of his or her life.
What is new?
NASCAR wanted to get rid of tandem drafting and changed car packages big time. Pack racing will return until the end, when teams will risk blowing up their engine to tandem run. The draft will increase, and with it the opportunities for multi car wrecks like we saw at the Bud Shootout.
The fuel window is also such that we might see mileage play more of a factor this year than in previous years.
What is the same?
The 2.5-mile tri-oval has a one-year old surface. Speeds topped 205 miles an hour. The draft is everything. Get out of it and lose ten spots. At least.
The fan experience away from the track is impressive. Many fans take the entire week off to enjoy the ocean and activities around Florida. Daytona International Speedway worked hard to create a series of events for racing fans; some of whom even get to partake in a pit stop with a real Sprint Cup car. There’s an IMAX to boot for those of you who hate warm weather and sun. There’s so much of that in February.
Now some facts to impress your friends from the track’s website. Enjoy FOX’s coverage beginning at noon in the east.
- Daytona has 31 degrees of banking on the turns, three degrees of banking on the backstretch and 18 degrees of banking on the frontstretch.
- The backstretch is 3,000 feet.
- The frontstretch is 3,800 feet.
- Trevor Bayne won this race last year.
- David Ragan won the Daytona race in July.
- Mark Martin set the qualifying record of 191.188 miles per hour back in February.
- The fastest race time was set by Jeff Gordon back in 2002. Gordon traveled 183.674 miles an hour.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the highest average finish at Daytona.
- Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, who never won here, and AJ Allmendinger have the next best average finishes among starting drivers.
- Gordon has won here six times. Tony Stewart has won here three times.
- For what it’s worth, the weather is supposed to be warmer than normal for Florida this time of year.
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