NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 from Daytona Pre Race Report

Track: Daytona International Speedway

Track Specifications: 2.5 Mile Oval

Laps: 160

Miles: 400

Scheduled Green Flag: 7:48 PM EST

Weather: Partly Cloudy 83 Degrees, 20 percent chance of rain.

Defending Winner: David Ragan

Television: TNT, TruTV

Grand Marshall: Bobby Bowden

National Anthem: Robin Meade

Under the lights at Daytona on a patriotic weekend at one of the most famous race tracks in the world, what more can you ask for on a Saturday night in July?  The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series hits the high banks of Daytona International Speedway for 160 laps tonight under the Florida stars.

This race is a crapshoot, David Ragan of all people crossed the finish line first while he was still with Roush Fenway Racing a year ago, he will try to defend his win tonight in the No. 34 car.

Matt Kenseth snatched the pole for tonight’s 400 mile event, Tony Stewart was supposed to start alongside the free agent Kenseth but Stewart’s time was disallowed as his car failed post qualifying inspection, he will start in the rear but at restrictor plate tracks it really doesn’t matter where you start.

If Kenseth can pull out the win from the pole position he will sweep the Daytona races for the year, the last time someone swept both races at Daytona in a single season was Bobby Allison in 1982.

TNT will have the call tonight, they have will have side by side action throughout the night so it what be a disaster like last weekends race in Kentucky where I think there were more ads run they laps we saw. This race is also being televised on TruTV, don’t ask me why.

Everybody enjoy there Saturday night as we watch some great racing under the lights, I’m hosting a party and my night is going to be filled with me trying to explain NASCAR to my partygoers, wish me luck, I’m going to need a lot of it.

Starting Lineup

1. Matt Kenseth
2. Ryan Newman
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Greg Biffle
5. Jeff Gordon
6. Bill Elliott
7. Casey Mears
8. AJ Allmendinger
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Marcos Ambrose
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Carl Edwards
13. Paul Menard
14. Juan Pablo Montoya
15. Trevor Bayne
16. Jimmie Johnson
17. Aric Almirola
18. Martin Truex Jr.
19. Joey Logano
20. Jeff Burton
21. Mike Bliss
22. Kyle Busch
23. Denny Hamlin
24. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
25. Regan Smith
26. David Stremme
27. David Ragan
28. Michael Waltrip
29. Clint Bowyer
30. Jamie McMurray
31. Josh Wise
32. David Gilliland
33. Dave Blaney
34. Terry Labonte
35. Kurt Busch
36. Joe Nemechek
37. Stephen Leicht
38. Landon Cassill
39. David Reutimann
40. Travis Kvapil
41. Bobby Labonte
42. JJ Yeley
43. Tony Stewart