(By Greg Engle)
Posted: Saturday,July 4th, 2009
(By Bill Marx, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
Here’s a look at the top five in points and five drivers to watch in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Daytona unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past nine races at the track.
1. Tony Stewart, 104.4 driver rating. Both of Stewart’s wins at Daytona have come in the July race. But even when he’s not winning, he’s driving among the leaders. He has led laps in all but two of the past 11 races, 539 laps total.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 02: Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont Chevrolet, signs autographs before practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 2, 2009 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
2. Jeff Gordon, 95.6. Gordon has six wins at Daytona, but since his win in the 2005 Daytona 500, Gordon has four finishes worse than 25th, including finishes of 40th, 39th and 30th (last July).
3. Jimmie Johnson, 91.8. Johnson’s mastery at Daytona appears to have come to a complete stop since he won the 2006 Daytona 500. In the six races since, he has one top 10 and an average finish of 27.0. He had seven top 10s, including five top fives, in his first nine races.
4. Kurt Busch, 90.8. Busch has a weird record at Daytona. In 17 starts, he has eight top fives and seven finishes 30th or worse, including four 36th or worse. Four of those top fives have come in the past six starts.
5. Carl Edwards, 80.7. Don’t look for Edwards to get his first win in 2009 on Saturday night. He has a second and a fourth the past two years and that’s it in nine starts. His average finish for the nine races is 21.4. For the seven outside the top five, it’s 26.7.
5 to watch:
10. Matt Kenseth, 95.1. Welcome to Bubbleland. The spread from Kenseth to No. 14 David Reutimann is 14 points. The key for all of these drivers: Finish the race. Or, at the very least, don’t get caught up in a big wreck early. Kenseth won the 500 for his first win at Daytona in 19 starts. Top finishes for Kenseth have been few at the track, though. It was only his third top five.
11. Mark Martin, 85.7. At least Kenseth has a win. Martin is winless in 48 races. Not surprisingly, restrictor-plate tracks are not among Martin’s favorites. He has two top 10s in his past eight starts, including the 2007 Daytona 500 when he barely lost to Kevin Harvick. Overall at Daytona, he has 17 top 10s.
12. Juan Pablo Montoya, 54.9. Montoya is 0-for-5 at Daytona; his 14th-place finish in February his top effort. He is having his best year since going full time in the series in 2007, so perhaps he’ll get off the schneid.
13. Kasey Kahne, 78.1. Kahne had a streak of four straight top 10s snapped with a 29th-place finish in February. He sits one point behind Montoya. Because of the nature of restrictor-plate racing, it’s not as if Kahne can track Montoya and pounce late. But don’t expect Kahne to be the first to leave the draft in the final laps.
14. David Reutimann, 54.6. Reutimann also is 0-for-5. And, like Montoya, had his best finish in February (12th). And, like Montoya, is having his best season since going full time in 2007. Reutimann is 12 points behind Montoya.
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