Well it’s that time of the year again. Time to dust of the old goggles and fire-up the remote and go racing. The Daytona 500 signals the start of a new season for the Nascar faithful.
Know as “The Great American Race”, the Daytona 500 will feature 43 of the sports finest on February 20, 2011. The event serves as the final event of Speedweeks and is sometimes referred to as “The Great American Race” or the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing.” It is held the second or third Sunday in February, and since 1971, has been loosely associated with Presidents Day weekend.
The winner of the Daytona 500 is presented with the “Harley J. Earl Trophy” in Victory Lane, and the winning car is displayed, in race-winning condition, for one year at Daytona 500 Experience, a museum and gallery adjacent to Daytona International Speedway.
Now known as the “NASCAR Sprint Cup Series” (aka: Winston Cup Series, aka: NEXTEL Cup Series) the drivers’ champion is determined by a point system where points are given according to finishing placement and laps led. The season is divided into two segments. After the first 26 races, the 12 highest ranked drivers are seeded based on their total number of wins and compete in the last 10 races with the difference in points greatly equalized. This is called the Chase for the Championship.
Since 1949 the series features 49 drivers from 22 teams. For those under rocks, Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports driving a Chevrolet was last years winner ……… let the games begin !!!
