Catchfence

New Hampshire has proven itself tough as Granite again and with that NASCAR’s Grand National and Winston Cup cars traipse down to The Beach, and the first question on everyone’s mind will be – Which TNT personality will squabble with which other party over what this time?

It seems everyone’s getting a bit of a chuckle over the mysterious suspension of Bill Weber for one race, but we expect Weber to be back in front of the cameras, and we expect him and everyone else involved in the sport to be focused on NASCAR’s second trip of the year to Daytona. The unofficial start of the season’s second half offers both opportunity and risk, and we take a quick look at the varied teams involved in the 50th anniversary of the Beach’s first July 4th race extravaganza.

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HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS – Suddenly Hendrick Motorsports isn’t quite the juggernaut they were. Certainly three of Hendrick’s cars are in the Top 11 and they’ve won six of the first 17 races, but as the season has gone on the level of dominance Hendrick once had isn’t quite the same – we’re no longer talking about Hendrick dominance, we’re talking about all the new and comeback winners the sport is seeing.

It’s still a high level of muscle by the Hendrick group, though. No one should mistake the organization’s recent stretch as a slump – except for the one car that will get a disproportionate amount of media attention this weekend. The new crew chief for Dale Junior was supposed to be the answer to his dismal efforts in the Hendrick #88; so far what improvement one has seen out of the #88 has been mild at best. Some of Junior’s finishes have been better than they might have been, but the muscle expected here not only isn’t there, it doesn’t look like it will come back outside of the plate tracks. If Daytona is not Junior’s only chance to win a race right now, it’s certainly a far better opportunity than a lot of other places.

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING – Points-racing appears to be the order of the day here, as Matt Kenseth’s 500 win and Fontana follow-up have been the only jewels of the season here. Kenseth remains in the top ten in points with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, but the entire organization looks a little bit lost right now, not showing the same kind of muslce they showed earleir this year. Jamie McMurray appears to be a lost cause and David Ragan may join him.

RCR ENTERPRISES – Speaking of lost, RCR lost three cars in the Kyle Busch melee at NHMS and lost cause may be an appropriate term here, as nothing has gone right for this team aside from seven top fives, nine other top tens, and a paltry 95 laps led between four cars. To expect much from RCR at Daytona may be asking too much.

JOE GIBBS RACING – Never mind Joey Logano’s rain-strategy win at Loudon; the big story here is Kyle Busch, wildly inconsistent all year with three wins but only three other top tens; Loudon was the first top ten for Busch since Charlotte and also the first time since Richmond his car has actually looked like it is handling traffic to any significant extent. Logano’s win was his first top ten since Charlotte, and if he learned anything at Talladega he won’t be just another lapped car this time around. The enigma remains Denny Hamlin, who has led over 500 laps and has four top-fives but hasn’t been able to punch it in this year.

PENSKE RACING – A one-man show in Kurt Busch; expecting anything from Sam Hornish is still a stretch, and David Stremme hasn’t yet shown anything. Busch has come close to winning at Daytona before and the #2 has been overcoming a poor May.

MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING – They’re no joke anymore, especiall David Reutimann, who has been proving his 600 win may have been a fluke but his own talent isn’t. He’s yet to show real muscle on the plate tracks, though.

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS – The almost-upset of the 500, they come back to The Beach with sponsorship for AJ Allmendinger and a renewed confidence after Kasey Kahne’s Sears Point win. Kahne and Allmendinger have been the leaders of the team and AJ likely is doubly excited to return to Daytona, especially to better forget a miserable day at New Hampshire.

EARNHARDT-GANASSI RACING – They’ve won the pole at both plate tracks so far; it hasn’t translated to anything in the race, though.

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One other aspect bears close watch in this Firecracker 400 – this is the first plate race to run double-file restarts. Given that restrictor plate racing is the most competitive in the sport even with single-file restarts, the new two-abreast rule may not add as much here as at some other tracks, but then Daytona could benefit from it given how the track becomes a handling issue during its last races before new pavement arrives in two years.

With the sport now seeing a shot in the arm of new winners and improvement in racing, Daytona comes at a propitious moment.