Insider's View: Wally Dallenbach

Prime-time Daytona

NASCAR's 20-week stretch to the end of the season starts Saturday night under the lights in Daytona. The Pepsi 400 begins a grueling run for the title that will take the series through the middle of November at Homestead.

Ask any driver and they'll tell you the grind isn't as hard on them as it is on the crew members. Drivers get to helicopter in and out of the track, stay in luxurious million dollar motor homes and fly home after the race on private jets.

The crews have to sit in traffic, drive the hauler back to the shop, turn the car around and head back on the road a couple days later. That's where the real stress takes place and it'll be interesting to see which teams can handle the tough stretch the best.

Running the Pepsi 400 at Daytona at night brings a new level of excitement to the race. There's just something about seeing the cars flash by under the lights that brings things to a new level of glamour. The fans love it and it's a perfect way to kick off the second half of the season.

Unfortunately I don't see anything different happening at Daytona Saturday night that hasn't happened in the last several years. By that I mean the restrictor plate race domination of the DEI team. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip have been the kings of plate races for some time and I don't see that changing this weekend. Basically I think you're racing for third Saturday night if you're not a DEI car.

Waltrip, this year's Daytona 500 winner, will be going for his third straight win at Daytona, dating back to last year's Pepsi 400. That would tie the mark held by Cale Yarborough.

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The Childress cars seem to be best in class behind DEI at the plate tracks. Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Steve Park, in the AOL car that Jeff Green drove to the pole at Daytona in February, will challenge. Also look for Jeff Gordon to be in the mix as well. But I think in the end the 8 or the 15 will be sitting in Victory Lane.

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