2008 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway

2008 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway:

This Saturday night in primetime Daytona International Speedway will host the 2008 Coke Zero 400. This is the traditional halfway point of the season and Daytona is the first track that the Sprint Cup stars will visit for the second time this season.

When we were here in February the Toyota drivers were fastest most of the day. However it was Ryan Newman who beat teammate Kurt Busch and the Toyota's of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch to the finish. Will Toyota score a much coveted Daytona win this Saturday?

Tickets:

Speedway ticket office 1-800-PITSHOP or (386) 253-7223

Buy online from TicketsNow (direct link)

The Track:

The fast 2.5 mile tri-oval uses restrictor plates to keep the speeds manageable but those plates create fertile ground for The Big One. The plates cause aerodynamics to be more important than horsepower which results in big packs of cars running nose to tail and door to door all day long.

Race Distance:

160 laps = 400 miles

The Big Picture:

The top six in points remained stable last week. Kyle Busch still holds a 64 point lead over Jeff Burton with just nine races remaining until The Chase begins.

At the back of the top twelve Matt Kenseth was bumped from the twelfth spot by Kevin Harvick. Harvick is now in the twelfth and final Chase qualifying spot by 15 points over Kenseth.

The top twelve are now:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Burton -64
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -144
4. Carl Edwards -234
5. Jimmie Johnson -276
6. Jeff Gordon -325
7. Denny Hamlin -346
8. Greg Biffle -377
9. Tony Stewart -454
10. Kasey Kahne -465
11. Clint Bowyer -475
12. Kevin Harvick -480

Storylines:

This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup season turns the corner for the traditional second half of the season. From here to Homestead we have nine races left in the Race to the Chase and then the ten races that make up the Chase for the Cup.

There are great points battles to watch from here to the end of the year. Can Matt Kenseth battle his way back into the top twelve or will Kevin Harvick hold on through this week's restrictor plate madness?

Media Coverage:

TV: TNT Saturday, July 5th, 6:30PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and SIRUS Satellite

Actual Race: 8:00PM Eastern

Recent Events:

2007 Winner: Jamie McMurray

2007 Polesitter: Jeff Gordon

Last Year:

In 2007 Jamie McMurray beat Busch across the line by just a few inches to take the 2007 Pepsi 400. Officially the margin of victory was .005 seconds.

This race featured a thrilling finish as Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch took the white flag side-by-side for the lead. They came back to the checkered flag still side-by-side and McMurray beat him by a nose on the outside.

Predictions:

This week I am going to take the easy picks. Toyota teams seems to be generating more horsepower than the rest of the pack. The Joe Gibbs Racing team seem to be on top of the Toyota heap so they make an obvious pick this week.

Kyle Busch lead the most laps during the 2008 Daytona 500. He couldn't quite get himself in position to score the win but certainly had a shot at it all the way to the checkers. Kyle Busch makes a great pick for this Saturday's race.

For my backup this week I'm not going to look far. Tony Stewart was right with his teammate during most of the Daytona 500. Stewart had the lead when the field took the white flag but he couldn't make his Toyota wide enough to keep the Penske teammates from ganging up on him and shuffling him back to third. Stewart has been having bad luck all year but could easily turn it around this week.