Week 1 Preview: Daytona

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona 500

By Richard Tix

NASCAR has one of the shortest offseasons of any sport out there, yet every year it seems like it has been ages in between the last race at Homestead and the first of the new year at Daytona. But NASCAR fans you can now breath, we are on the home stretch!

NASCAR Behind the Wall is here to give you a Daytona 500 preview to hold you over with the little time we have left before the Great American Race. Last year we started the year off at Daytona and found out once again it would be the year of Jimmie (Take a look at some Daytona History on This Sportz). Jimmie Johnson took the first win of 2013 and rarely looked back (Although, Matt Kenseth gave him a run for his money). This year the field should be back an better then ever. Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart should be back to 100% and ready to pounce. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski are ready to bounce back. An a intriguing Rookie class including Kyle Larson and Austin Dillion are ready to start there legacies. Finally NASCAR Nation, racing is back!


The Good:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr- He hasn't won here as of late, but if you look at Jr's average finish in the last 6 starts at Daytona he is No. 1 with an avg of 11.7. Last year he finished 2nd in the 500 and then 8th the second time around. If he stays out of trouble he should start his season with another top 10 at least. (He also has the best average finish in the last four Daytona races)
• Ryan Newman- In his last three starts at Daytona he has finishes of 10th, 5th, and 5th. He and Jr are the only drivers to have 3 top 10's in the last 4 races at Daytona. It will be interesting to see how he does in his first race with RCR so he is hard to bet on early in 2014.
• Tony Stewart- The man on the comeback in 2014, Stewart was runner up last time in Daytona (July). Last years Daytona 500 he had the opposite kind of finish, 41st. One more time, the July race in 2012 he won. So what will we get to start 2014? Smoke typically heats up in the summer, but that does not mean he can start out strong this season (When will he get 50 Wins?).
• Matt Kenseth- Well last year he had some hard luck, yet he finds his way onto the "good" list, why? Well look at the previous 3 races  before last year (he had a win, a runner up, and a third). If you take out early in his career at Daytona he has run well. In his last 21 races he has had 12 top 10's and 2 wins.

The Middle:

• Kurt Busch- In the last 10 races at Daytona Kurt has finished in the top 10 half the time, which isnt bad. What is holding him back however is his last 5 starts here. Starting with most recent and going back finishes of 6th, 28th, 35th, 39th, and 14th don't show much consistency. However over his entire career he also has finished in the top 10 half the time (13 times in 26 races) so he has shown he can run towards the front.

The Bad:

• Jimmie Johnson- Look at JJ's stats over his career at Daytona. It doesn't take a scientist to see he is hard to predict here, but that is the nature of these resrictor plate tracks. JJ won both trips to Daytona in 2013 but before that had an average finish of 27.3 during a 13 race stretch dating back to 2006. To start his career he had an avereag finish of 7th during a 9 race stretch. So take him being in the "Bad" category with a grain of salt, he could win, or he could be lost in the pack, either way it isn't something you normally say about JJ.
• Martin Truex Jr- Truex's average finish of 22.5 is not the kind of stat you want on your resume, neither is finishing 24th and 41st last season. Now he moves to a new ride which might not help out his cause.
• Denny Hamlin- Denny has the skill to run up front, but his career stats at Daytona are hard to look at. In his 16 starts here he only has two top 10's. He seems to always find his way into a 20th place finish (or around there). 

Track Stats:

• Jimmie Johnson was the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982 to win both stops at DIS
• Tony Stewart won from 42nd starting position 7/7/12, which is the farthest back anyone has won from.
• However, Matt Kenseth won from 39th in the 2009 500, which is the farthest back anyone has won the Daytona 500.
• The last Pole win in the Daytona 500 was in 2000 by Dale Jarrett. There have been 4 Pole winners since then in the other stop at DIS
• Of current drivers, Jeff Gordon has the most wins at Daytona with 6 (3 of them the 500). Stewart is second with 4 (None the 500).
• Of current drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr has the best Avereage Finish Position with 13.8 (28 races).

Take a look at the Preseason addition of Pit Road, a weekly review's and Power Rankings.

Recent Articles and Daytona Information:

• Duel Lineups
• 2014 Chase Predictions
• Predicting a NASCAR Champion
• NASCAR 2014 Sprint Cup Headlines
• Daytona 500 Entry List
• NASCAR Speedweek Schedule
• This Sportz (Has some great fantasy articles plus a run down of the History at Daytona)

So who will start off 2014 with a win at Daytona? Let me know on Twitter what you think and I look forward to interacting with some of you during the race!