Daytona 500 2015: Top Drivers to Watch in NASCAR's Historic Season Opener
The 57th installment of the Daytona 500 is Sunday, and the Great American Race is sure to deliver excitement from green to checkered.
A field of drivers who are seeking the ideal start to their season makes this race incredibly compelling. Finishing well at the Daytona 500 is a confidence boost for drivers of any experience level, but winning the big prize is something that can set up a skilled driver for the rest of the year.
Kyle Bush unfortunately won't be involved in the action, reports NASCAR's official Twitter account. He was part of a devastating wreck in Saturday's Xfinity Series race.
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Jeff Gordon has earned the pole for Sunday—the last time he'll ever participate in the prestigious event. He'll retire at season's end as one of the most decorated athletes to ever take the wheel. But will the final chapter in his career begin with an unbelievable win at Daytona on Sunday?
Gordon is certainly a clubhouse leader, but other competitors will look to keep him from Victory Lane. Below, you'll read about several of the top threats to cross the finish line before the rest of the pack.
Jeff Gordon
One would think the pole position would help a driver at the Daytona 500, but recent history suggests otherwise. ESPN.com's Ricky Craven writes that "the last 13 pole winners have failed to finish higher than eighth, and none led more than 18 laps."
Gordon did win the race in 1999 after winning the pole, though, so he cannot be counted out. Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee recognizes how surreal it is that Gordon would win the pole in his final Sprint Cup Series season:
Restrictor-plate racing is not something every driver on the circuit is comfortable with, making this a race normally suited for veterans. Gordon has three career wins at this race, and he has showed time and again that he can race anywhere.
The 43-year-old is a threat to win this race for a variety of reasons, one of which being the fact that he has already set the stage for an incredible farewell tour. He's at the top of NASCAR already, and the season has yet to begin. Gordon winning the Daytona 500 probably wouldn't surprise anybody.
Carl Edwards definitely wouldn't be shocked.
"People say, 'He’s 43, he has a family he wants to spend more time with,'" Edwards told Jim Utter of The Charlotte Observer, "but I look at him on the track and what he did this past season, having a chance to win the championship, and he’s still getting it done."
All eyes will be on Gordon, whether he's leading the pack with 10 laps to go or wallowing away in the back of the pack a few laps down. It's the beginning of the end for one of the best drivers of the past 20 years, but don't expect his performances to indicate that he's on the decline.
Gordon wants to retire on top.
A threat at any big race on the circuit, Dale Earnhardt Jr. comes into Sunday on a high note. He won Thursday's Budweiser Duels, giving him the No. 3 starting spot in the race.
Dale Jr. won last year's Daytona 500, which gives him an extra incentive to win again in 2015. A driver has won back-to-back times in this event just three times, and Earnhardt is certainly qualified to join that group as the fourth.
Craven wrote about why he's a threat yet again.
"Dale Jr. is the purest of all restrictor-plate drivers," Craven wrote. "His abilities at Daytona and Talladega come naturally, part of his DNA inherited from his dad. His work comes instinctively, and he competes with a sixth sense on when to change lanes, when to play defense and how to close the deal."
Gordon's retirement makes you wonder how much longer Earnhardt, 40, will be around. But it's important to remember that Gordon is the exception, not the rule. Most drivers need to be pried from behind the wheel before calling it quits. Earnhardt is still at the top of his game, finishing eighth in last year's Sprint Cup standings.
Earnhardt must repeat last year's success to take home the No. 1 spot again. He led 54 of the 200 laps, scattered over six times holding the lead. He didn't take the lead for the first time until Lap 131, at which point he rarely looked back.
He'll need to be similarly dominant Sunday.
Jamie McMurray
Gordon and Earnhardt are common answers when asked to predict who will win. Jamie McMurray isn't. But that's OK.
He has seven career wins in Sprint Cup, four of which have come at either Daytona or Talladega—another restrictor-plate track. McMurray, driving in the No. 1 car, will start 15th.
It's business as usual for McMurray. While this is easily the biggest race of the season for drivers, the 38-year-old isn't stressing—and he's not eating healthy either:
While he's not the most accomplished driver in NASCAR, McMurray has a history of winning big-time races, as Godwin Kelly of The Daytona Beach News-Journal notes.
"The 38-year-old driver from Joplin, Missouri, has a knack for taking center stage during big racing events," Kelly writes. "The wins on his resume since 2010 include the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Sprint All-Star Race and most recently, the Rolex 24 At Daytona."
He has won this race before (along with several other races of equivalent difficulty), so it shouldn't come as a surprise to see him in the mix on the final lap Sunday.
Follow Kenny DeJohn on Twitter: @kennydejohn
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