Chase is on

DEI Chevrolets try to continue dominance in Daytona 500

The Great American Race opens the 2004 Nextel Cup season at Daytona International Speedway. AP Off and running ... How the last 10 Daytona 500 winners finished the season in the points race Year Driver Finish Points Wins 2003 Michael Waltrip 15 3,934 2 2002 Ward Burton 25 3,362 2 2001 Michael Waltrip 24 3,159 1 2000 Dale Jarrett 4 4,684 2 1999 Jeff Gordon 6 4,620 7 1998 Dale Earnhardt 8 3,928 1 1997 Jeff Gordon 1 4,710 10 1996 Dale Jarrett 3 4,568 4 1995 Sterling Marlin 3 4,361 3 1994 Sterling Marlin 14 3,443 1

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Ticker) -- In a sport that often has become more hype than substance in recent years, Sunday's 46th Daytona 500 may show how the competition has met the challenge posed by the DEI Chevrolets.

In recent years, DEI drivers Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have dominated the restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega speedways.

Waltrip won the Daytona 500 in 2001 and 2003. Earnhardt won four consecutive races at Talladega Superspeedway from 2001-03 and drove to victory in the 2001 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

The dominance cannot be measured in terms of victories but in the way DEI has dominated the races. Earnhardt has been able to drive his Chevrolet wherever he wants on a track that depends on drafting. Waltrip has been a master of timing, scoring two of his three career victories at the 2 1/2-mile high-banked speedway.

This year's Daytona 500 may not be the same type of Chevy chase as Ford has raised the level of competition and is poised to make a strong run in the showcase event of the NASCAR Nextel Cup series.

When it comes to Daytona, it's more than just the race on the track.

President George W. Bush will be attending along with grand marshal Ben Affleck. Whoopi Goldberg will be the honorary starter along with such celebrities as Boston Red Sox pitchers Tim Wakefield and Derek Lowe; World Series Most Valuable Player Josh Beckett of the Florida Marlins and Miss America Ericka Dunlap.

Other celebrities will be team guests, either in the pits or VIP suites.

While the Daytona 500 is the NASCAR race for celebrities to be seen, the real reason for the 200,000 fans and the attention is the frantic racing by the 43 drivers who will try to earn a share of a record $16 million purse.

The Indianapolis 500 used to be the richest race in the world, but the purse for the Daytona 500 passed it at the turn of the millennium and has continued to stake its mark on the American sporting landscape.

Earnhardt assumed the pole after pole-winner Greg Biffle blew an engine in practice and had to move to the back of the field.

The style of racing Sunday will be a bit different than in the past, when the draft determined who won and who lost and there was little if any margin for error. If a driver dropped out of the draft, he would drop back.

That still can happen Sunday, but NASCAR's decision to use a softer tire and reduce downforce from the cars has worked in breaking up the large packs. As a result, some of the big crashes may be minimized.

That was the case in last weekend's Budweiser Shootout and Thursday's Gatorade Twin 125s. The biggest incident in the three races was a two-car wreck involving Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield in the Shootout.

The changes have allowed the best drivers to form packs of four or five cars that have been able to pull away.

It's the one race of the season where every team has its best ready to go. Teams have been preparing for this race since November.

"Everybody brings their best stuff here," Sadler said. "The pit crews are all fired up and everybody has had cabin fever all winter. You've got your best car, your best chassis, your best motor and you're on top of each other."

In the past few years, when the aerodynamic rules were different, the cars sped around in one large pack because of the draft. This year, cars will be broken up into several groups.

"A smaller pack that's staying in line, you have a tendency to have cleaner air, more like conditions are when you're running by yourself," Ricky Rudd said. "When you get guys running side-by-side and you get that big hole in the air, say you're in the back of the pack, the air is so disturbed that there's not a lot of air pressure pushing your car into the track.

"The bottom line is five guys can go faster than 40."

While the racing may be different, one thing remains the same -- the leader has the decided edge at the end of the race because he's in clean air. As a result, the winning pass may come with 20 laps to go instead of the last one.

The Daytona 500 is the one NASCAR race that leaves a lasting impact on a driver's career. The Brickyard 400 may be the only other NASCAR event with a similar pedigree.

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