NASCAR

Sprint Cup

CUP: In View – A Memorable 500?

All signs point to a one great 2010 Daytona 500 next Sunday...

Mike Hembree | Posted February 07, 2010 Daytona Beach, FL

Dale Earnhardt Junior (Left) will line up next to pole sitter Mark Martin (Right) for the 2010 Daytona 500. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

One week from today, at high noon, the Great American Race returns, and perhaps no Daytona 500 in recent memory has been more anticipated.

In what is viewed as a critical year for NASCAR, a season in which it is straining to return to its hardcore roots and to recharge the fires of competition that built its brand, the heavily publicized start of the long and winding schedule carries more weight than in normal years.

Although how drivers and teams perform at non-restrictor plate tracks – in particular the 1.5-mile ovals that dominate the series – is much more important for money and points than the limited runs on the tour’s giant tracks, there is little question that next Sunday’s super-hyped race can set a tone.

If the racing is tight, if the finish is hot, if there is active movement and risky passing in the big drafting packs, NASCAR will be a watercooler topic again and the season will be launched with optimism.

And one doesn’t have to look past the first starting row to find a winner who would ignite a wild celebration of a sort that would give stock car racing a mega-vitamin boost.

Ageless Mark Martin won the 500 pole Saturday, a first for the Arkansas driver. No fan of restrictor-plate racing, but nevertheless very good at it, Martin has come achingly close but has never won the 500. Few NASCAR fans, regardless of their allegiances, would be unhappy with a result that finally would put one of the sport’s all-time quality racers in Daytona’s victory lane.

Starting alongside Martin will be Dale Earnhardt Jr., he of the bubbling and boiling fan base, and he of the lost 2009 season. A Daytona 500 win for Junior would reinvigorate the masses and send NASCAR’s TV landscape into spasms.

Those two gentlemen aside, the race’s bottom line will be written according to how drivers are able to react in the big drafting packs – especially in the final 100 miles – that are typical of Daytona races. The Shootout offered some hope in that, probably because of a bigger restrictor plate and a modified aero package, drivers were able to move through traffic in most instances without necessarily having to depend on a drafting partner. There was more independent movement.

“The racing is not dramatically different, but it is in one way because we never were able to get runs without having two guys hooked up,” Jamie McMurray said. “I like the package they have. I think it’s going to put on a great show Sunday.

“I will say that I think the huge runs that everybody is getting are because we have a bigger plate. … It seems to give the cars more acceleration.”

Of course, there is a lot of practice and racing scheduled on Daytona’s 2.5-mile surface before the 500. So the nature of the speedway will change to a degree. And the 500 will be run in the afternoon – maybe in bright sunshine, so conditions will be considerably different from the Shootout’s nighttime run.

Still, there is optimism that the “Have at it, boys” era of NASCAR racing can be ushered in Sunday with a memorable 500.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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