Optimism Reigns in Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart showed up late, but conciliatory. Dale Earnhardt Jr. arrived early, and opinionated.

Mark Martin's invigorated. Jeff Gordon's motivated and Jimmie Johnson's confident. Such was Thursday's annual Media Day -- the kick-off event for Daytona International Speedway, which hosts NASCAR's Daytona 500 on Feb. 15.

This day drivers are full of optimism and philosophic perspective. And then the wheels hit the track.

The NASCAR press voted 2008 Cup runner-up Carl Edwards the preseason pick to win this year's championship figuring the odds were just too great against Jimmie Johnson winning an unprecedented fourth straight.

"It's not annoying, ... this is just the hype of the season," Johnson said of the Edwards pick. "This is not what goes on on the race track. The favorite going in, they still have to go out and perform for 26 weeks and for 10 after that."

It appears Johnson's finger is healing well after surgery to repair a tendon two weeks ago. Johnson sliced his finger while cutting through his driver's suit to insert tubing during the Rolex 24 sports car race here.

He had the five stitches taken out and while the finger on his left hand is still slightly swollen, only a small gauze bandage protects the inch-long cut. Johnson said he doesn't expect it to be a problem when he's driving and he'll try out a couple different braces in Budweiser Shootout practice on Friday.

"Frankly the thing I'm most worried about is if I trip or fall and have to catch myself - that would put me in the worst situation possible," he said.

Meanwhile, Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Earnhardt didn't back off from comments he's made that NASCAR's tracks should do more to help out fans during these challenging economic times -- suggesting venues should build their own hotels to help make a race trip affordable.

"People aren't coming to races because the drivers don't give a (expletive), they're not coming because it's too expensive to do it," Earnhardt said.

Stewart, whose new team, Stewart-Haas Racing debuts this week, said he still considers Earnhardt the favorite for Saturday's Budweiser Shootout non-points race and again for the Daytona 500.

"He's always been the guy here," Stewart said. "He's picked right up where his father left off as a restrictor plate driver."

While a crowd of reporters three deep took turns asking Stewart questions, only an hour earlier a much smaller group of writers broke in his replacement at Joe Gibbs Racing, 19-year-old Joey Logano.

Wearing a baseball cap and an ear-to-ear grin, Logano patiently and politely endured his first Daytona media day -- ending it with the same smile and good humor he started with.

"My goal is to have a lot of fun and learn a lot," said Logano, who would be the youngest Daytona 500 starter in history.

"I'm pretty excited about it for sure. You had time to think about it all over the offseason you keep thinking if it's ever going to come. Now it's here. And it's pretty neat."