It’s the mid-summer wild card race that marks the halfway point of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway is the 18th of 36 scheduled points races in 2012. Being a restrictor plate race, one of only two tracks on the circuit that use them, Daytona is known as an unpredictable event that can lead to some wild racing and uncertain finishes.
It’s Florida, it’s summer, it’s hot and no one is hotter in the series right now than Brad Keselowski. This week’s favorite is coming off his third win of the season last week at Kentucky, but most importantly one of his three wins came at the last restrictor plate race at Talladega in May. Keselowski was one of the big name drivers who were caught up in a crash here in February when the season opening Daytona 500 ran under the lights on Monday night.
Keselowski returns 10th in the standings and wants to not only make up for that disappointment in the season opener but is looking for another win to help cement him in the Chase that starts in just eight races from this Saturday night. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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