After the Homestead race, Carl got out of his car and said he wished that Daytona started the next day. Well, Daytona is upon us my friends. Qualifying is on Sunday (boooooring), and the shootout (definitively not boring) is on Saturday. The trucks are leaving in the next couple of days and we will be off and running.

Speaking of the shootout, Robby Gordon might just be a genious. Unless you have totally tuned out to all of the comings and goings in the Cup world in the last bunch of months, you will know that RG is running a Dodge in the shootout, before switching noses and motors for the 4th time in 4 years to Toyota for the 500. With the new shootout rules and all of the teams that have folded in the offseason, RG was the 6th best Dodge in 2008 and thus qualifies for a spot in the shootout as a Dodge. Not since the old school days when the King used to win 30 races a year has a team run different makes in the same year. It is for sure a bold move, and with $1 million on the line who wouldn't take the chance.

As far as the team is concerned, running 2 makes won't really cause too many problems. RG was brilliant at superspeedways last year, and I know they had two really good Dodge bodied cars that were in perfect shape and ready to go since the Talladega race last October. They should have needed just a little bit of fluffing and buffing and maybe a few small fixes. All they would have had to do is to prep 2 new Toyota nosed superspeedway cars. Historically, you would prep 3 cars for Daytona. A primary and a backup that would go to the track, and a third car that would stay home unless you got wrecked in one of the drafting practice session or in the 150 the Thursday before the race. I would expect RG to take it easy in the drafting practice with the Toyota, as I doubt they would prep 3 Toyota's and 2 Dodges for one race, but who knows.

No matter how you slice it, it is a bit weird, but perhaps with the recession, and the new look of NASCAR, being manufacturer independent may put you a little ahead of the curve. Especially with the American car makers in dire straights. With no points on the line I am excited to see how RG runs the shootout. When we used to go to the points races, he would take a very conservative approach until the end. Now it doesn't matter, so it could be quite interesting.

My predictions for qualifying are that I don't care, because it is completely meaningless. My predictions for the 7 spots left for the out of the top 35 cars are Boris, Keselowski, Bowyer, Riggs, Regan Smith, Scott Riggs, and Terry Labonte...For the shootout I will go for Jeff Gordon...He will have a breakout year I think, and it will start this weekend.