Open Race Thread: Daytona 500 presented by NASCAR

Update: 11:18 am EST Monday - Let us see if we can get it in today. See you in the comments - if you're not at work this evening that is. Just in case you haven't heard yet, the race is set to start at approx. 7:00 pm EST as rain is in the forecast for this afternoon.

Update: 5:06 EST - The 54th Running of the Daytona 500 has been postponed until Noon EST on Monday. For the first time in event history, the race will not run on it's scheduled day.

Weather permitting...

Assuming they do get it started (and completed) I think it is going to be a good race.

Picking a winner at any restrictor plate track is a crap shoot, but my favorite to win is Tony Stewart. He is starting to become the Dale Earnhardt of his generation, in that he can win anything at Daytona except the 500 and just like Earnhardt you shouldn't bet against Stewart as he stands a good chance of winning the darn thing.

As far as a dark horse pick goes I'm going with Danica. No I'm not jumping on the band wagon, I think she has just as good of a shot as Trevor Bane did last year - in better equipment.

The reasons to pick Danica are tremendous;

• She isn't points racing so she can go for broke
• She isn't trying to impress a new sponsor by playing it safe, Go Daddy has been with her a while in open wheels and they'd love to see her go for broke
• She is with an established Championship organization (Stewart/Haas) that has given her good equipment
• She has a car owner in Tony Stewart that is also a favorite to win the 500 and he is not afraid to draft with her
• She has a Nationwide owner in Dale Jr. that is also a favorite to win the 500 that is not afraid to draft with her either

Now we just have to wait and see if we can get the race in.

See you on the other side.