Ultimate Guide to the 2015 Daytona 500
The 57th annual Daytona 500 is NASCAR's marquee event, its biggest crown jewel, its most popular and most watched race.
And that's just for starters, as the season-opening event is also the kickoff to another exciting and likely drama-filled 36-race schedule.
While it's not NASCAR's oldest race, the Daytona 500 is without question the most prestigious event to win.
Let's take a look at what's on tap for this year's edition of the Great American Race, including facts and figures about the race, who we see as potential favorites and dark horses, and who we envision taking the checkered flag Sunday afternoon.
What You Need to Know
1 of 9
Sunday marks the 57th running of the Daytona 500.
Even though it's referred to as NASCAR's "Super Bowl," the Daytona 500 is somewhat of an anomaly: It's the season-opening race, not the season finale, unlike the true Super Bowl is to the NFL.
Here are some key facts you need to know about this year's running of the Great American Race.
Date: February 22, 2015
Location: Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile, high-banked tri-oval
Turns: banking 31 degrees, length 3,000 feet each
Frontstretch: total length 3,800 feet
Backstretch: total length 3,000 feet
Pit-road length and width: 1,600 feet and 60 feet, respectively
Seating capacity: With the current Daytona Rising project underway and not scheduled to be completed until Feb. 2016, capacity was 147,000 before the project began last year and will ultimately decrease capacity to 101,000 when it is finished next year.
Green flag (race starts): Shortly after 1 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: televised live on Fox; radio broadcast live on Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Pole sitter: Jeff Gordon
Outside pole sitter: Jimmie Johnson
Defending champion: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Click here for more information about Daytona International Speedway.
History of the Daytona 500
2 of 9
Daytona International Speedway was built and opened in 1959, the same year as the birth of the Daytona 500.
Prior to construction of the Speedway, NASCAR races were contested on a four-mile race track that was made up of a nearly two-mile portion of beach racecourse a few miles south of Daytona Beach, connected to the adjacent street roadway known as Highway A1A.
While many believe that the first actual NASCAR-sanctioned beach race was held in 1949, which is true, cars had raced on the beach for more than 20 years prior to that.
The biggest turning point for the Daytona 500 was in 1979, when the entire race was televised live for the first time ever (on CBS).
Mother Nature was an indirect help in creating a captive TV audience, as much of the Eastern and middle parts of the country were buried under massive amounts of snow.
Richard Petty won that race, but it was what was referred to simply as "The Fight" between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison after the race that became sheer NASCAR legend and lore.
Sadly, what ultimately became the most memorable Daytona 500 was one that resulted in the death of perhaps the sport's most popular driver ever. Dale Earnhardt, father of modern-day star Dale Earnhardt Jr., was tragically killed on a last-lap wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500.
The senior Earnhardt's death shook the sport to the core. But from tragedy came good, as NASCAR embarked on a wide-ranging safety initiative. That resulted in such improvements as SAFER barriers (impact-absorbing race-track walls), head- and neck-restraining devices (to cut down on head injuries like the one that claimed Earnhardt) and data-collection devices to measure impact and G-forces.
"NASCAR would never be the same, with his death having an incredible impact on everyone in the sport," Bob Pockrass, at the time with Sporting News, wrote a year ago in a column recalling Earnhardt's death.
Why This Is NASCAR's Biggest Race
3 of 9
If you're a Daytona 500 champion, no matter the date of your triumph, you'll always go through life with that noble title.
Only 35 drivers have won the 500, the most recent being Dale Earnhardt Jr. in last year's race. It was his second win of the big one.
The Daytona 500 has evolved to become the sport's biggest race because, much like what spring training means to baseball, it's the unofficial end of winter and the start of racing season.
Numerous fans, especially those from up north and in Canada, plan their winter vacations around the 500, to get away to better weather in central Florida.
But that isn't always the case. Last year's edition was delayed for a record six hours, 22 minutes, due to rain. And the 2012 race was postponed from Sunday until Monday night in prime time due to rain.
Not only is this the biggest paycheck for a driver (Earnhardt earned over $1.5 million from winning last year's race), it also draws the largest TV audience both in the U.S. and globally of any major race. (It overtook the Indy 500 in ratings in the mid-1990s.)
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
The Infield Party
4 of 9
The race itself is only part of the reason why folks come to Daytona. Another key reason they come is for the party, particularly in Daytona International Speedway's infield.
When I first started going to the 500 more than a decade ago, the infield could be a wild place at times, with lots of drinking and occasional nudity.
It wasn't as notorious as the old Snake Pit at Indianapolis or the debauchery that used to take place at Talladega, but if you meandered around the infield at Daytona, you were almost guaranteed to see sights that might raise your eyebrows—if not make your eyes totally bug out.
Things began to change shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, with a heightened increase in security that greatly reduced some of the wildness in the infield. As The Seattle Times news services wrote in 2003: "Indeed, America's heightened security had an impact in even the most carefree of environments: the beer-swilling, fun-loving home of debauchery known as the Daytona infield."
There are hundreds of recreational vehicles that call the DIS infield home during Speedweeks, ranging from the multimillion-dollar motor coaches that drivers, owners and crew chiefs reside in, all the way down to converted old school buses that fans call home for the week.
Biggest Storylines
5 of 9
It's almost a given: Every year's Daytona 500 has almost as many big storylines as the 43 drivers in the starting field.
But one driver no longer racing on Sunday will be a major topic of discussion. NASCAR indefinitely suspended Kurt Busch after a Delaware court concluded that he committed a violent act toward his former girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll. Busch's subsequent appeal of the suspension was denied.
Busch's younger brother Kyle will also no longer race in the Daytona 500 after suffering a broken leg while crashing in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona on Saturday.
Now, here are the major talking points on the drivers who will be racing when the green flag waves to kick off The Great American Race.
Jeff Gordon's final Daytona 500
Gordon will make his 23rd and final start in the 500—and from the pole, no less.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopes to win two in a row
Can Earnhardt, who won the first of Thursday's two Budweiser Duel 150 races, defend last year's victory in the 500? If successful, Earnhardt would become only the fourth driver in history to win back-to-back 500s, and the first to do so in 20 years (Sterling Marlin won the 1994 and 1995 editions of the 500).
Can Tony Stewart finally win the big one?
Tony Stewart has become this generation's version of the late Dale Earnhardt when it comes to winning the 500.
It took Earnhardt 20 tries before he finally won his first—and only—500 in 1998. Stewart will be making his 17th career start in the 500 and is still looking for his first win in that event. The irony is Stewart has won countless times at Daytona in either the summer race or in the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series.
Carl Edwards ready for a big start
Edwards, who will start sixth in Sunday's race, hopes to begin the latest chapter of his racing life not only with a new team (Joe Gibbs Racing) but also with a bid to win his first Daytona 500 and potentially use that as a springboard to win the overall season championship.
Surprise, surprise
Will there be a surprise winner like Trevor Bayne in 2011? He captured the 500 just one day after his 20th birthday, making him the youngest winner of the event in its history.
Can Danica Patrick actually win the 500?
She won the pole in 2013 and finished eighth in the race. This could be a pivotal season for her career—it's her third full-time year in Sprint Cup. Can she finish what she started in 2013 with a win, which would also be her first-ever Cup triumph? She showed a lot of grit when she managed to finish Thursday's Budweiser Duel 150 race despite a banged-up race car, qualify for the 500 and then gave Denny Hamlin a big piece of her mind afterward for wrecking her for the second day in a row.
Young Guns in the Field
6 of 9
As Trevor Bayne proved in 2011, you're never too young to win the Daytona 500.
There are several young guns who could make an impact on the outcome of this year's 500. Among those to watch:
Kyle Larson, 22
After winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2014, could Larson start off his sophomore season in the Sprint Cup Series with a win in the biggest race of the year?
Austin Dillon, 24
Dillon sat on the pole of last year's 500.
Trevor Bayne, 24
Not only did he win the 2011 edition of the 500, he's now in his first full-time season in the Sprint Cup Series with Roush Fenway Racing.
Ryan Blaney, 21
Blaney has replaced Bayne at Wood Brothers Racing and could be a real surprise if things work out in his favor.
Joey Logano, 24
Even though he's now in his seventh season in Sprint Cup, Logano is still a young gun, despite being one of the circuit's better drivers.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 27
Starting his third Sprint Cup season, Stenhouse is looking to bounce back from a mediocre campaign in 2014. What better way to do that than to win the 500?
Dark Horses
7 of 9
Dark horses are always hard to pick. Plus, a driver you picked as a dark horse a week or two ago may now be replaced by someone else based on what they've shown in practice, qualifying, the Sprint Unlimited or the Duel 150s.
Regardless, here's who we see as dark horses in this year's Daytona 500:
Sam Hornish Jr.
Now that he's back in the Sprint Cup Series and has Ford power under the hood, the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time IRL champ has a chance to really make a splash in his debut with Richard Petty Motorsports.
Danica Patrick
Patrick has a chance to win this, if she can find herself in the right place at the right time on the final lap of the 500. She also has to stay away from the seemingly inevitable multi-car wrecks that occur in the race.
Tony Stewart
This will be Stewart's 17th try to win that elusive first Daytona 500. After the last two seasons he's gone through, a win Sunday would not only get the winless monkey off his back, it would also provide an incredible amount of confidence to both himself and his team.
Stewart will never give up his hope of winning the 500. "Not until the day that I don't run here anymore," he told The Associated Press. "Everybody has got a shot here. We've been in that position before. That at least gives you confidence that you've got a shot."
Favorites
8 of 9
There's really no clear-cut choice to win this year's Daytona 500. Here are the drivers I like the most to win Sunday's race.
Jeff Gordon
What better way to kick off his final season in Sprint Cup than with his fourth career win in the 500 and his first since 2005?
Jimmie Johnson
By Johnson's standards, last season was at best a good, but not great, year. The best way to show he hasn't lost anything is to win his third Daytona 500.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He may have a new crew chief, but Earnhardt has won the 500 twice (including last season) and has been runner-up four other times.
Kevin Harvick
We can easily see Harvick picking up where he left off at the end of last season, when he won his first career Sprint Cup championship. What better way to defend his title than with a strong finish in the season opener, right? Harvick has already won the 500 once, a memorable neck-and-neck finish with Mark Martin in the 2007 edition.
And the Winner Is...
9 of 9
Even though he hasn't won a Daytona 500 since 2005, Jeff Gordon is always a threat to win the Great American Race.
But this year comes with the added incentive and motivation that this will be Gordon's last Daytona 500. He has all the elements to win: a great organization (Hendrick Motorsports), a great crew chief and crew members around him (Alan Gustafson and the No. 24 pit crew), an extremely fast car (that's why he's on the pole position) and a huge fanbase to cheer him on.
If this is to truly be a special year for Gordon, what better way for him to kick off his final season than to win a race that would do just that in the biggest way?
Granted, so many things need to go right, and so few things need to go wrong.
But Gordon has the experience, the performance and everything else he needs to win. Plus, he'll start from the pole position.
And then there's the sentimentalism aspect. NASCAR couldn't write a better script than to see Gordon reach Victory Lane at Daytona.
Unless he gets caught up in a wreck that ends his day early, we believe Gordon and the No. 24 Chevrolet will be in Victory Lane come late Sunday afternoon.
Information, facts and figures in this article obtained from Daytona International Speedway and NASCAR.
Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
