PHOTO CREDIT: NASCARMEDIA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (Feb. 22, 2012) – If there’s anyone who’s just a kid at heart, it’s Tony Stewart.
That’s why there’s no better driver to help Oreo kick off its 100th birthday celebration than the three-time and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.
While Stewart hopes to defend his Sprint Cup title in 2012, there’s one other title he hopes to retain as the season gets underway at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway – the winner of the season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Celebrating a win right out of the box on the Nationwide Series’ biggest stage has become second nature to Stewart. He has six total wins in the DRIVE4COPD 300, including the last four in a row.
With three Daytona 500 winners in the fold, this Sunday’s race could mark the 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports. HMS has been 199 and counting since Jimmie Johnson went to Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 9, 2011.
• Jeff Gordon is a three-time Daytona 500 winner. Should he win Sunday, he’ll match NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for second-most 500 wins.
• Johnson won the Daytona 500 in 2006. Richard Petty tops that list with seven wins.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a master of restrictor plate racing, winning seven NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Daytona and Talladega.
A World Of Bayne: Repeat A Statistical Long shot
Trevor Bayne hopes to repeat as Daytona 500 champion, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in nearly two decades. In fact, only three drivers, Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling Marlin (1994-95) have won back-to-back Daytona 500s.
Bayne, like Marlin, is a Tennessee native. He is the youngest Daytona 500 winner, last year’s victory coming a day after his 20th birthday. Bayne turned 21 on Feb. 19.
A win would extend 2012 NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood’s win record at Daytona to 16, giving him five more than Petty Enterprises and six ahead of Rick Hendrick. They are the only owners with double-digit victories at the track.
Biggest Race Culminates Retro-Fitted Speedweeks
Speedweeks 2012 has gone back to school – old school.
Daytona International Speedway’s signature competition, pack racing, returned with a vengeance during last weekend’s Shootout at Daytona.
The race ended with another Daytona cornerstone, Kyle Busch’s slingshot pass of Tony Stewart at the start-finish line.
It also marked the end of a format. The Shootout returns to its roots in 2013, primarily a battle among Coors Light Pole winners. Carl Edwards, set to start on the pole for Sunday’s 54th Daytona 500, is the first to punch his ticket to next year’s Speedweeks curtain-raiser.
