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NASCAR SPRINT CUP AND NATIONWIDE SERIES NEWS, VIEWS AND COMMENTARY

10 Best Drivers - 10 worst drivers

at the Daytona international speedway

By sKIP JEFFERSON

Finally we can get back to racing this weekend after what has seemed to be a long off season, the cabin fever has set in for us folks who live in the Midwest as we have endured a long, cold winter. For some of us, the Daytona 500 is the first sign that spring is not to far away as we watch in envy, people enjoying the race in 70 to 80 degree temperatures. The 2008 Sprint Cup season kicks off this weekend with the 50th annual Daytona 500 which of course is run at the Daytona International Speedway. This will be the first time that the series will use the COT cars at this track and so far they have put on a pretty good show. Last year's Daytona 500 had a great but controversial finish as Kevin Harvick won in a narrow win over Mark Martin. Harvick won the race after Kyle Busch managed to start a big wreck on the last lap, taking out many of the top contenders and Harvick came thru the carnage with just enough momentum to overtake Martin before the caution flag dropped, ending the race. The Daytona 500 is always an exciting race for the drivers and all the NASCAR fans as it is usually 500 miles of high speed, hair raising action. The Daytona Track is a 2.5 mile tri-oval Super Speedway and is a restrictor plate track. Restrictor plates are used to keep speeds down to manageable levels but also creates pack racing where the cars run 2 to 3 wide all the way around the track. One mistake by a driver and you have, well a big mess like we saw in last years Daytona 500. Qualifying has already taken place with Jimmie Johnson taking the pole and in a bit of a surprise, Michael Waltrip will sit on the outside pole. The Gatorade Duels set the rest of the field on Thursday ( Daytona 500 Starting Lineup ) and we saw a couple long time Daytona 500 participants go home; Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin. This is a very fast track and it is one that offers a great challenge to drivers to know how to draft with other cars to their advantage in order to win. This is a Sunday afternoon event that will go 200 laps or 500 miles. With this in mind lets look at the last 10 races at the Daytona International Speedway to see who among the drivers can be viewed as the best at this track and which drivers just haven't had any luck there.  

In the last ten races at Daytona, not counting this years pole winner, there have been 10 different pole setters and it appears you don't have to be one of the biggest stars to get that job done. David Gilliland took the pole for the Daytona 500 last year while Jeff Gordon managed to sit on the pole in last years Pepsi 400 after rain cancelled qualifying. The other pole winners at Daytona include Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Boris Said, Jeff Green, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett and finally Steve Park. Taking the pole at Daytona has meant some luck for some of these guys as twice in the last ten races, they have been won from the pole. In the other eight, starting on the pole hasn't meant good luck as the pole sitter's average finish in those 8 races has been a whopping 19.25 average finish. Drivers starting anywhere in the Top 15 however has made them a winner in 111 of the 121 races that have been run at Daytona, an incredible 92% of those races. The worst starting position of a race winner in the last ten races was Kevin Harvick, who started 34th and proved that you don't absolutely have to qualify in the Top 15, although it helps. The average starting position of the race winner is 10.00. So with qualifying so important, who are the top qualifiers at Daytona? Tony Stewart has the best qualifying average at Daytona checking in the a sparkling 7.40 average start. Teammate, Denny Hamlin is up next with a 8.50 average, followed by Jimmie Johnson with a 9.40 average. Rounding out the Top 5 are Michael Waltrip with a 11.67 average and finally Dale Earnhardt Jr has a 11.20 average start. Look at this years qualifying and you will notice the same names at the top of the qualifying charts.

The top two drivers at Daytona both have been in just two races apiece there and that was the two races held at the track last year. The top driver at Daytona going into the Daytona 500 is none other then Roush Racing's sophomore driver, David Ragan. Ragan did not start either race in very good position, one from 24th and the other from 35th. In the Daytona 500 he was able to race his way to a Top 5 finish, in the 5th place spot. In the Pepsi 400, David managed to finish 12th. So between the two races, he averaged picking up 21 positions over the course of the two races. David will have his hands full trying to duplicate those finishes this Sunday afternoon as he rolls of the starting line in the 14th starting spot. I think if he can finish in the Top 15, it would be a good day for him at Daytona. Next up, David Gilliland has the 2nd best record at Daytona as in his two races, he finished 8th in last years Daytona 500 and came back to finish 11th in the Pepsi 400. That gives David a 9.50 average finish to go along with his average start of 16.50. He won the pole in last years Daytona 500 and then started 32nd in the Pepsi 400 so that means he picked up an average of seven positions per race. He may have finished better then 8th in last years Daytona 500 but he got tangled up in the last lap accident and was lucky to be able to limp home with that 8th place finish. He had ran as high as third coming into that final lap. Gilliland will start Sunday's race way back in the 32nd starting spot but if he continues to show his restrictor plate expertise, he probably will race his way to the front by the end of the Daytona 500.

The third best record at Daytona belongs to Clint Bowyer who has done exceptionally well in his first four races at Daytona. Clint doesn't qualify exceptionally well there with a 22.50 starting average but he knows how to work his way to the front when it counts. He has a finishing average of 10.25 so he picks up about 12 positions a race. In his four races at Daytona he has a 6th pace finish, a 7th place, a 10th and an 18th place finish. Remember however that 18th place finish was on his roof with the car on fire in last years Daytona 500. He certainly would have had another Top 10 finish had he not got caught in the big wreck on the last lap. Childress cars do fairly well on the Daytona track and considering his past record, another Top 10 could certainly be in the cards this weekend. Clint will roll off the starting grid from the 31st starting spot on Sunday. Up next is perhaps the most improved driver on the restrictor plate tracks in his career and that guy is Jimmie Johnson, who checks in with the 4th best finishing average of 12.10. He has no problems qualifying here checking in with a series 3rd best starting average of 10.60 and he has won the pole for this year's Daytona 500. Jimmie loses an average of about a position per race after the green flag waves which is pretty impressive considering that this is after all Daytona. Johnson's record at Daytona is pretty stellar with a previous win in the Daytona 500, five Top 5's and seven Top 10's in the last 10 races he has been in here. His worst races have come in two of the last three races here when he finished 32nd in the 2006 Pepsi 400, after getting caught up in an accident and last year in the Daytona 500, he cut down a tire, putting him in the wall and relegating him to a 39th place finish. Prior to that Jimmie had finished outside the Top 10 just once. Jimmie has to be a solid favorite to win this race Sunday afternoon and considering that he will be starting from the pole. With his past history at Daytona, I would have to say that is a real possibility.

The next guy in the Top 10 is a frequent visitor to our Top 10 lists and that is none other then Jeff Gordon with a 12.40 finishing average. Jeff's record at Daytona may be tipping you off that he might just like this track as he has won two of the last ten races there. Jeff has proved to be a good qualifier here with a 13.50 average start. Once the race starts, he gains about a position per race. On his Daytona resume in the last 10 races, Jeff has managed to pick up those two wins and also has added six Top 10 finishes. Jeff has two finishes outside the Top 15 ( 26th and 40th ) that hurt his averages here. Jeff was on a roll all of the 2007 season and he seems destined to win his 5th championship one of these years, despite the Chase format. Having watched Jeff on this track before, Jeff has to be considered a favorite Sunday afternoon to win and with the Hendrick cars doing what they have recently at Daytona, he certainly could make his 3rd trip to victory lane in the last 10 races. Jeff will start Sunday's race from the 8th starting spot. Next up in the 6th position is another guy that certainly is no stranger to our Top 10 lists and that guy is Tony Stewart. Stewart owns the 6th best overall record of active drivers at Daytona with a 13.00 average finish and has won the two of the last three Pepsi 400's at Daytona. Tony is one of the best qualifiers at Daytona with a qualifying average is 7.40 so he winds up losing about six positions per race on average. Stewart has established a pretty good record at Daytona with those two previous wins, five Top 5 finishes and seven Top 10 finishes in his last 10 races at Daytona. Tony has become one of the best restrictor plate drivers in the series, having scored Top 10 finishes in seven out of the last 10 plate races. In the Daytona 500 last year, Tony finished 43rd after getting tangled up with his on track villain, Kurt Busch and crashing hard on lap 153. These two have already tangled prior to this race and both were placed on 6 race probation periods. Stewart will start Sunday's race from the 6th starting spot and I would look for Stewart to be up front most of the afternoon on Sunday. Maybe with a little luck and some prayers from Chelle, he will bring home a victory for the Toyota crowd.

Kevin Harvick holds down the 7th best record at the Daytona International Speedway in the last 10 races. Harvick is one of those drivers who has seen a lot of these Top 10 lists every year and he checks in here with a 14.10 average finish. He is a so-so qualifier here, checking in with a 19.30 starting average, so Kevin manages to move forward once the green flag drops, gaining about five position's a race. In his last ten races here, Kevin won the Daytona 500 last year and has also picked up three Top 5 and five Top 10 finishes. Harvick didn't have a good 2006 season at Daytona finishing 24th and 28th which hurt his averages at Daytona. This year he has looked pretty good in the Gatorade duels. We know that RCR has made huge strides in being competitive on the restrictor plate tracks so it will be interesting to see if their COT program has also made those same strides. Kevin will roll off the starting grid 16th on Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr is a driver who has always seemed to excel on plate tracks and Daytona is one of those tracks. Dale Jr used to own this track in recent history but has slipped down the Top 10 list the past few years. Last year he was ranked 3rd at the beginning of the season, but he finished 32nd in the Daytona 500 and then came back to finish 36th in the Pepsi 400. Obviously those two races hurt his finishing averages and that sits at 14.20 right now. Dale Jr. is an outstanding qualifier here with a series 5th best average of 11.90. Average wise when you qualify so well, there is usually only one way to go once the races start and that is backwards, Dale Jr. averages losing about three positions per race. In the last 10 races, Dale Jr has won a race here and has four Top 5's and six Top 10's in those races here. Anytime the series visits Daytona, you have to think about Dale Earnhardt Jr. He will be extremely hard to beat here now that he has joined the Hendrick crowd and you can guarantee that the crowd will be pulling for him. Dale Jr has already won this years Bud Shootout and his Gatorade Duel and will start the Daytona 500 from the 3rd starting spot. You would have to consider Dale Jr as the odds on favorite to win The Daytona 500 on Sunday.

The final two drivers to crack the Top 10 list are Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler. In the 9th spot, is long time veteran Dale Jarrett, who owns a finishing average of 14.70. Jarrett is a so-so qualifier here with an average of 18.80, so he manages to pick up about four positions per race. In his last ten races here, Jarrett has won a pole, picked up a Top 5 and notched five Top 10's in the last ten races he has been in here. Dale's worst finish at Daytona was a 27th place finish last year and his best finish in the last 10 races was in the Pepsi 400 in 2005 when he finished 5th. This will be his last Daytona 500 and he did manage to race his way into Sunday's race and will roll off the starting grid in the 20th starting spot. Pulling up with the 10th best average at Daytona is a guy you normally would not consider a restrictor plate expert but the statistics say that guy is Elliott Sadler. Elliott checks in with a 16.10 average finish and that goes with a pretty good starting average of 17.90. He ends up picking up about position per race. Elliott's averages improved considerably when he moved over to the Yates organization but they got even better when he joined the Evernham crowd. In two of his last three races in an Evernham car, he has a pair of 6th place finishes. In his last 10 races at Daytona, Sadler has a Top 5 and four Top 10 finishes on his resume. While you might not hear Elliott's name being mentioned as one of the favorites on Sunday, I personally would have to say that if all the chips fall in place, he is good enough to win the Daytona 500, so keep an eye on him.

 THE TOP 10 DRIVERS AT THE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Now that was the 10 best drivers at Daytona in the last 10 races, now lets look at the bottom of the barrel of drivers, whose records at Daytona are not real good. 

I normally don't spend a lot of time going over the drivers who are flops at certain tracks and you can pretty much see for yourself who the are. Some make the list every week and other make a rare appearance in the Bottom 10. There is probably one driver in this list that really jumps out at you and that is Denny Hamlin. He has been really good elsewhere and has to be considered a contender on most all the tracks that the series races on every year. Denny just has not had any luck at Daytona in his career so he has a lot of room for improvement. He did win his Gatorade Duel on Thursday so keep your eye on these Hamlin on Sunday to see if maybe he can improve his averages at the Daytona International Speedway.

 THE WORST 10 DRIVERS AT THE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

So there you have the best and the worst drivers at the Daytona International Speedway. How well they do in the 1st race of the season at the Daytona track is anybodies guess but this is a good barometer. I hope all these drivers will have better luck in the Daytona 500. 

 THE REST OF THE DRIVERS AT THE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

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