FanHouse Warmup: Coke Zero 400

Where: Daytona Int'l Speedway
Time: Saturday 8:00pm/EDT
TV/Radio: TNT, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 74 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Distance: 160 laps (400 miles)
Pole Winner: Tony Stewart
2008 Winner: Kyle Busch


Not only does Daytona afford Earnhardt a chance to get away from the tracks that his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports machine has so mightily struggled at, but it also puts him back at a track he's won at twice. Additionally, for current drivers who have raced at Daytona more than 15 times, Earnhardt holds the best average finish overall.

The first trip to Daytona in 2009 for Earnhardt didn't end well with pit road miscues and a bad move on the backstretch that triggered a big crash in the Daytona 500. In fact, the number of mistakes Earnhardt made in the season-opener should, theoretically, not leave room for anymore in Saturday's 400-miler.

There'll be some fireworks off the track, but with the frustration seen by the No. 88 camp in 2009, don't be surprised if Earnhardt is looking to ignite his own with bold moves in an effort to finally find victory lane again.

If you got a look at last night's Nationwide race, you saw the first implementation of the double-file restart rule for that series and also a look at how dramatically the rule could shake up a race with a late caution.

Sure, two-wide, three-wide or four-wide aren't out of the realm of possibilities at NASCAR's restrictor plate tracks, and the cars generally don't have a problem getting side-by-side after a single-file restart. The biggest change, though, is how hairy a green-white-checkered finish at the plate tracks can now become.

It didn't pan out like it could of in the Nationwide Series race, but when Clint Bowyer took the white flag of Friday night's festivities on a GWC finish and nearly immediately saw a yellow flag, he knew right away that he had avoided a wild last-lap dash for the win.

Simply, the double-file restarts are going to give more drivers a chance to win a plate race thanks to a multiple drafting lanes already in place before the final green flag falls. And that, my friends, should make things just a little bit more exciting.

Time to break out the decal machine at Richard Childress Racing for Bowyer's win because of a deal that the three drivers of the No. 29 Holiday Inn machine made at the start of the year.

Because they didn't know which name to put on the car (Bowyer's, Jeff Burton's or Stephen Leicht's), the trio made a deal that whoever wins the most races by July's Daytona races got their name permanently on the car for the rest of 2009.

Bowyer's win is the only one for the RCR camp in 2009, so look for a Clint Bowyer Nationwide Series No. 29 near you.

It got a mention in our FH midseason report card, but isn't it amazing how NASCAR has seemingly done nothing from the public's point of view about keeping race cars from flying into the fence -- or worse -- at restrictor plate tracks?

Carl Edwards' catchfence ballet at Talladega Superspeedway (that injured some 7 fans, of course) was horrendously scary and showed just how close to the edge these cars are from going through or over the designated fencing. In fact, you know its a big deal when Edwards ends up on Larry King to talk about his unexpected fence-climbing exploits.

Yet, NASCAR hasn't released any statements or discussed any further investigation to the matter.

I'm not saying that NASCAR has avoided trying to look at the problem, but we honestly don't know if a team of experts have been summoned to look at Edwards' wreck or if NASCAR is just sticking its head in the sand and claiming that problems don't exist.


Geoffrey Miller: Kyle Busch