Who’s Hot and Who’s Not – Daytona Edition; This is Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final Daytona race as a full-time driver. However, Earnhardt has not ruled out future races in NASCAR or at Daytona, just not as a full-time driver. With 17 wins at the track in all major races (points and non-points events), Junior is 3rd all-time, trailing his father’s 34 wins and Tony Stewart’s 19. But Junior has done something that neither of those 2 did, win multiple Daytona 500s. Among those wins are several that are especially memorable. Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits 22nd in the playoff standings with 10 races remaining in the regular season, with only 16 playoff spots available. Although he’s just 6 spots away from the playoff cutoff, Junior’s 134 points back of Clint Bowyer, 16th in the playoff standings, and any new race winner will grab a guaranteed spot (wins are the first priority for making the playoffs, with the remaining spots going to the non-winners highest in the points). Earnhardt Jr. might be the sentimental pick, but he’s the 2nd-favorite for Saturday’s race at Daytona, according to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. Defending winner Brad Keselowski opened as a 7-1 favorite for the race. Keselowski has won 5 restrictor-plate races in his career (Daytona and Talladega), tied with Jimmie Johnson for the 2nd-most among active driver behind Earnhardt Jr., whose win percentage is slightly behind that of Keselowski’s in plate races. Kurt Busch won the season-opening Daytona 500, his first win in 32 career Cup Series starts at Daytona and 64 career restrictor-plate races. He led only the final lap of the race, the first driver to do that in Daytona 500 history. Now he’ll try to become the 6th driver to sweep both Cup races at Daytona in a season. Of the previous 5, only 2 came in the Modern Era (since 1972) and ran for the championship – both finished in the top 2 in points. Since NASCAR began electronic scoring in 1993, 3 of the 10 closest race finishes have taken place at Daytona, all being decided by .01 second or less. The closest at Daytona came in the 2007 July race, when Jamie McMurray beat Kyle Busch by .005 second.(ESPN Stats & Research)[Read More Here]
