NASCAR News and Notes from Daytona

Greeted with a text book sunrise, Daytona International Speedway is waking up to day two of the Coke Zero 400 weekend. 

Rain dampened the speedway yesterday as final practice for the Sprint Cup cars was just getting under way. 

After an hour delay the cars lined up on pit road waiting for the go-ahead. It was not to be as rain again began falling. 

This time the delay was shorter, and for the third time, drivers were staged again ready to practice. This time the rain came hard and fast. Lightning surrounded the speedway. Fans, drivers and cars scurried for cover. 

The rain shower was quick and track services never lost the racing surface. Finally, after three false starts, practice officially began just before 8 PM. 

David Reuitmann topped the speed chart @ 184.415. The big news was a crash between Sam Hornish Jr. and Greg Biffle. It seemed Hornish Jr. got loose and slid into Biffle. The crash sent both drivers to a back up car. 

Today's media questions will certainly focus around the NASCAR Hall of Fame nominations. 

Speculation about Jeremy Mayfield being in Saturday nights race has subsided a little. As of last night he was still a no-show at the speedway. 

Brian France is set to address the media around 1:15 PM today. I will bring you complete coverage of that press conference. 

Rain delays provide opportunity for pictures and impromptu interviews. 

I spoke to Steve Hmiel, former director of operations at DEI. In October of 2007 Hmiel left DEI and signed on with Chip Gnassi. He has now come full circle back to DEI, which is now Earnhardt Gnassi Motorsports. 

I asked him about his son, Shane, and how his career was going. 

"He is doing really well. Has gotten his life in order and moving forward. His also doing good in the USAC sprint car racing also. His car is on the pole for this weekends race at Winchester, Indiana. 

The garage area is filled with autograph seeking fans and some charities also seeking ways to boost contributions. In this picture Greg Biffle lends a helping hand to charity by autographing a few items.

These uniform jackets, donated by Goodyear, and covered with driver autographs, will be auctioned off at a later date, with all proceeds being donated to various charities.

Today's events include pace car rides between noon and 1 PM, parasailing on Lake Lloyd, Nationwide qualifying at 1:05 PM, Sprint Cup qualifying at 4:10 PM, and the Nationwide race starting at 8 PM. 

Forty five Sprint Cup drivers will make qualifying attempts for the forty three positions available for Saturday nights race.