Harder tires could change the way Daytona is raced

	The new Goodyear Eagles haven't slowed Tony Stewart, who won both the Bud Shootout and his Gatorade Duel. Jamie Squire/Getty Images for NASCAR
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After a week of observations in Daytona, here's my final set of observations heading into the Daytona 500:

Lost amongst the stories of cheating and penalties that have seemed to affect everyone in the garage this week have been some underlying concerns about the tires being used for Sunday's race. And judging from what you hear around the garage area, those Goodyears could end up turning The Great American Race into a 500-mile, single-file parade.

Daytona has always differed from its restrictor plate "sister track," Talladega, in that handling becomes more of a factor as the race goes on; you can't run around the whole speedway wide open. But this year more than ever before, a harder tire compound has drivers worrying about handling sooner rather than later. The Shootout and the second Duel 150 gave a sneak peek into just how much the tires are wearing down; both those races featured extended green-flag racing, and by the halfway point's fuel run, the cars would become so difficult to control running side-by-side that the field began to spread out into single file packs.

"The tires are a bit harder," said Kasey Kahne. "They slide around a little bit more. Handling is more of an issue, more of a factor than it was last year. You'll see a lot of single file [racing] after 20 laps."

According to Tony Stewart, a Goodyear engineer told him the tire company brought a different compound in response to the Daytona race in July, where there were just seven lead changes in the last 60 laps of the race, an event Stewart dominated. Unfortunately too many drivers think that change has backfired, even Stewart himself, the man who should be trumpeting the new tire package after winning both the Bud Shootout and his Gatorade Duel 150 Thursday.

"It not been the normal week here at Daytona at any means from a driving standpoint," Stewart said. "It's just been a little bit odd because of the harder tire ... it's not a typical February by any means as far as how we get in big packs two wide and we run there forever and ever. We just don't see it staying that way for long."

Let's put it this way; keep your fingers crossed for enough yellow flags to keep the race from going green for too long on Sunday.

• As Toyota heads into their first weekend of action on the Nextel Cup tour, they have high hopes for success on Sunday; but so far, their results haven't quite measured up to the debut they'd hoped to achieve. Not only has Michael Waltrip been busted for cheating, but four of the eight Toyota teams attempting to make the 500 got sent home after the Duels, including heavily hyped Team Red Bull with both Brian Vickers and rookie A.J. Allmendinger.