2006 Pepsi 400 Preview:
Back to Daytona! The Pepsi 400 is a night race at Daytona International Speedway. All the speed and excitement of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup restrictor plate racing under the lights. If you love plate racing then this is a great show. What are the big stories of the week and who is going to win?
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:
Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the points as we head back to Daytona where he has already won this season. The real wildcard is "The Big One." A wreck can happen at any time and take out anyone that happens to be in the wrong place. "The Big One" could affect the points battle.
The current top ten in points are:
- Jimmie Johnson -0
- Matt Kenseth -101
- Kasey Kahne -313
- Mark Martin -321
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -329
- Jeff Burton -400
- Tony Stewart -422
- Jeff Gordon -448
- Greg Biffle -467
- Kevin Harvick -489
Storylines:
Once again the big story at Daytona is "The Big One." NASCAR saw some aggressive driving here in February and has promised to crack down in hopes of avoiding the massive multi-car wreck. "The Big One" all too often characterizes racing in Daytona and Talladega.
Also, this is the final race of the year for FOX. Next week TNT and NBC take over for the rest of 2006. Expect lots of year in review pieces as Fox wraps up their NASCAR coverage for 2006.
Media Coverage:
TV: FOX Saturday, July 1st, 7:30PM Eastern.
Radio: MRN and XM Satellite
Actual Race: 7:55PM Eastern
Posted Awards:
$6,074,820
Last Year:
Last year Tony Stewart put his Chevy on the pole and dominated the entire race. Tony lead all but ten laps of the race. This one had some battling back in the pack but the lead draft was follow the leader for most of the day. Nobody had anything for Tony.
Predictions:
When it comes to restrictor plate racing anything can happen. I have to go with the numbers though. My top pick is the guy that has won both of the restrictor plate races so far in 2006. Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 and then backed that up with a win in the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
My backup pick is a little harder. Certainly Jeff Gordon is another favorite this weekend. However, I'm going with the guy that won this event last year and finished second in Talladega in 2006. Tony Stewart is my backup for this week.
