Daytona 500 Predictions: What to Watch for in the Great American Race

Most sports start their season with relatively meaningless games to prepare for the tough schedule that lies ahead. Not NASCAR!

NASCAR begins its season with its biggest race. Drivers will start their engines Sunday for the 54^th running of the Great American Race.

Winning the Daytona 500 can define a career. Great drivers such as Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace have never won the Daytona 500. A win on Sunday for Martin could be the last stamp needed on his resume to ensure his election into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The Daytona 500 has turned into the race to watch in motorsports. As the talent slowly leaves the Indy Car Series, the Daytona 500 is becoming the biggest race in the United States, soon to overtake the Indianapolis 500.

Here are my five things to watch for in Sunday's Great American Race.

Crashes

Some fans watch NASCAR to cheer on their favorite drivers. Others watch for the crashes. If the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel races are any indication of what we are to see on Sunday, there will be some big wrecks in the race.

NASCAR worked hard over the offseason to set up the cars so that they could no longer race in packs of two. But this year the pack style of racing is back at Daytona and that means bigger wrecks.

The key to victory will be to avoid the big wreck. The best way to do that is to run the race up front.

Radiators

One of the changes NASCAR made to eliminate the two-car tandem racing was to make the cars use a smaller radiator. With a smaller radiator, the cars will overheat if they stay tucked behind another car for too long.

If NASCAR fans learned anything from the practices and the Gatorade Duel races, it is that the Fords have figured out a way to keep their cars cool.

Many Chevy and Toyota drivers complained in the Gatorade Duel races about their cars running too hot. If these cars are having a hard time running 125 miles in the Gatorade Duels, how will they last for 500 miles on Sunday?

Watch to see how many cars have blown engines in the race and what manufacturer's cars are most affected. If the Fords are able to keep their cars cool for 500 miles, it may be the key to winning.

Commercials

Some people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. It will not be long before people begin to watch the Daytona 500 for the commercials as well. The difference between the two sports is that the Super Bowl commercials use actors to pitch products. NASCAR uses the stars of its sport to pitch the products for the cars' sponsors.

Most drivers spend time during the offseason filming commercials for their sponsors. These commercials will run for the first time during the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Most of them are pretty funny as well.

The four NASCAR drivers to watch in commercials during the Daytona 500 are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Danica Patrick. Those four are the most marketable drivers in the sport.

Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart has won every kind of race at Daytona except the Daytona 500. He has won NASCAR Nationwide Series, Budweiser Shootout, Gatorade Duel, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and IROC races. Stewart is second to Dale Earnhardt in total wins at Daytona with 17.

Will Sunday be Stewart’s day to win his first Daytona 500? This will be his No. 14 Daytona 500 and he will be driving the No. 14 car. Maybe 14 will be his lucky number.

Stewart has looked strong this week. He finished No. 2 in the Budweiser Shootout and No. 1 in the Gatorade Duel. Watch to see if he can finish No. 1 in the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Danica Patrick

When Danica Patrick is racing in the Daytona 500, there is one guarantee…all eyes will be on her.

Some people will watch just to see how Patrick fares in the race. The television coverage will capitalize on this, showing Patrick many times throughout the race.

Patrick raced well in the Gatorade Duel race on Thursday. She stayed out of trouble until the last lap. Aric Almirola ran into her, causing Patrick to slide across the backstretch into the concrete wall. Her wreck in the Gatorade Duel race was the most spectacular so far this week, but it was not her fault.

Many fans will be watching to see how Patrick fares against the “Big Boys” in NASCAR. I will be one of those.

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