Kyle Busch gets wrecked by Tony Stewart on the last lap at Daytona during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in July 2009. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Kasey Kahne said he doesn’t expect much of a change this time out from the smaller plates, either. “I don’t really think that it’s going to affect things that much,” he said. “I would say that the racing will be very similar. I think that the speeds will be up. These teams seem to keep making their cars better and faster for each race at Talladega or Daytona. I think (NASCAR) needs to keep things slowed down once in a while, otherwise we’re going to get over 200 (mph) and that probably wouldn’t be a real good thing.”

Asked if thought the racing was as safe as it could be Jeff Gordon, four-time series champion gave a qualified yes.

“Well, is it ever? Is it ever as safe as it can be?” said Gordon. “It's as safe as it's ever been in my opinion. But at the same time, we've found out ways how to draft with this car to put ourselves in position for the situation to happen like it did the last time. So I think the cars are as safe as they've ever been, for sure. And the track, I feel like they really analyzed what went on there with the fence and everything and I feel like it's as safe as it's ever been (with) safer barriers and all those things. But the rules themselves and the cars themselves on this track, you know what it is going into it and it’s madness; but it’s exciting madness.”

For the fans it is, anyway.

“If you're on the outside looking in, it's pretty exciting,” said Gordon. “From inside, it's intense and you've got to try to be smart. But when the closing laps come down, that kind of goes out the window and you have to do whatever it takes to get yourself hopefully to victory lane.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to