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Track Smack: Budweiser Shootout

Has Speedweeks lost its luster?

Lee Montgomery: Not at all. I know the Chase may have taken some of the importance away, with regards to the entire season, but the Daytona 500 is THE one race everyone wants to win. You can't really say that about any other race.

Ryan Smithson: You mean because we have a Chase format now? Not really. I haven't been this ready to begin a new season in years. We're going to see some great stories authored this year. Especially when Mark Martin challenges in the 500.

Marty Smith: No way. Absolutely not. Speedweeks at Daytona is the real deal, Holyfield. Just like always. It's the 7,500 preseason testing sessions that are played out.

Lee Montgomery: I wonder if NASCAR would ever consider moving the 500 to the end of the year.

Marty Smith: I wish they would. That'd be off the chain, LeeMo. And I think, honestly, that's what it'll take to propel the Daytona 500 to Super Bowl status.

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Ryan Smithson: The announcers were halfway joking about NASCAR last night in the Super Bowl, wondering why NASCAR does it first.

Lee Montgomery: It would certainly change the dynamic of the season. I mean, what would replace the Daytona 500 as the season-opener? The Pepsi 400? That'd be weird.

Ryan Smithson: I agree with you Marty, I don't see why they don't do the Daytona 500 last. The only drawback is the 30-car wreck that allows a fifth-place guy in the points to win the title. But we haven't seen 30-car wrecks lately. So it would work.

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Marty Smith: I love the idea of going to Daytona first. The IDEA. But NASCAR is growing more mainstream, and they've instituted a playoff system that has proven can result in the championship chase coming down to the last lap of the year. So having your biggest race last would make much sense, in my mind.

Lee Montgomery: Heck, open at Charlotte with the all-star race.

Ryan Smithson: Too cold.

Mark Martin: "I intend to use my final season to show Elliott Sadler (below) the benefits of a good, old-fashioned buzzcut." Credit: Jeff Bisci

Lee Montgomery: It's 64 degrees here now, Ryan.

Ryan Smithson: Rarity. Won't happen every year. You remember those snowed-out RIR races? Come on. Open the season in Vegas or Fontana. Much safer.

Lee Montgomery: That'd be weird. I could see opening on Homestead.

Ryan Smithson: Besides, the all-star race would have to be run at night. And it's never 64 degrees at 11 p.m. at Charlotte in February.

Marty Smith: The buildup of a season-ending Daytona 500 would be palpable, if not plumb insane. Moving that race would certainly continue the trend of change in the sport. But honestly, I think this is one the fans would be cool with.

Ryan Smithson: They would love it, are you kidding? Have a two-week buildup.

Lee Montgomery: Yeah, fans have always wondered why it's the season-opener. Of course, it wasn't always that way. Heck, some years the season opened ... the previous year.

Ryan Smithson: We're full of great ideas today.

Marty Smith: I don't know if all the Big E fans would love it immediately, Smithson. But I think they'd come around.

Lee Montgomery: I'm glad I brought this up.

Ryan Smithson: I am reading that Curtis Turner book right now, and it's amazing. Lee's comment of season-opener at Riverside made me think of it.

Lee Montgomery: I would imagine NASCAR, if it ever does change the season-opener, would want it at an ISC track.

"Rusty, would you prefer to meet Ryan in a ladder match, a steel cage, or as the final one-on-one in the Royal Rumble?" Credit: John Bisci

Marty Smith: I know teams would dig it. They wouldn't spend an entire offseason working towards a season-opener that most drivers don't even consider real racing. How many times do we hear, "We won't know anything until we get to Rockingham/California/the season's second race." ?

Ryan Smithson: Homestead would work too.

Lee Montgomery: Funny you said Rockingham. Hard to believe we won't be there this year. Instead, I'll be in Mexico. My dad would pull his hair out if he were still around.

Ryan Smithson: I wonder if the paint is fading at The Rock yet. They painted everything up for Nextel and it was only one year.

Marty Smith: The Rock needs the Busch and Truck Series. It's the perfect match. Limit-budget teams, close to home.

Ryan Smithson: Well, not that it helps, but that region will start getting the U.S. Open about every five years because of Pinehurst.

Lee Montgomery: I'd love to see it, Marty, but you and I know that'll never happen.

Marty Smith: But it needs to, LeeMo. Hell, I'd attend those races as a fan. It's only an hour and half away.

Who will bounce back in a bigger way -- Joe Gibbs Racing or Richard Childress Racing?

Lee Montgomery: Depends on how you look at it. Gibbs wasn't that far off, but RCR was. So on simple arithmetic alone, you'd say RCR has more room to gain.

Ryan Smithson: That is a tough call, but I am going to go with RCR. Harvick's got a lot to prove this year and I certainly don't think he wants Burton or Blaney to come in and show him up. It's a healthy situation.

"I'll have three doubles with cheese, large fries, fried apple pie, and a diet cola. He'll have a side salad and bottled water." Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Lee Montgomery: Can Stewart or Labonte win a championship? I kind of doubt it. Can RCR? No offense, but no.

Marty Smith: Helluva tough question, right there. Jeff Burton will be really solid this year, count on it, and RCR already had a third team. So they didn't really "add" anything. JGR did, with Leffler.

Lee Montgomery: Stewart and Labonte have a better chance at a title than Harvick, et al.

Marty Smith: I'll go with JGR. Bobby Labonte will surprise a lot of people with Steve Addington running the show, and Smoke is due for a great year.

Ryan Smithson: It still shocks me that RCR was winless last year. I laid in bed the other night trying to remember the last time that happened. I guess it was 1992.

Lee Montgomery: 1997.

Ryan Smithson: Oh yeah. Good call.

Lee Montgomery: Media guide helps.

Bud Shootout Predicitons Lee: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Marty:  Tony Stewart Ryan:  Mark Martin

Ryan Smithson: Skinner's rookie season.

Marty Smith: If Leffler has seven, eight top-10s, that team is a great success in its first year.

Ryan Smithson: Leffler will find out just how tough 8 top-10s will be to get.

Marty Smith: Oh yeah. It won't be easy at all. That's why I say if he does it, it's a grand success.

Ryan Smithson: It's gotten where 10 top-10s is a good year.

Lee Montgomery: I just don't know what to make of Stewart/Labonte/Leffler. Lot of question marks there.

Ryan Smithson: Me neither. Part of me thinks Labonte will either finish 7th or 20th.

Lee Montgomery: But I think they'll run better than Harvick/Burton/Blaney.

Ryan Smithson: both teams have a lot to prove and a lot of big-time sponsors who will be pretty angry if they repeat 2004.

Marty Smith: You boys forget that BLab was a lock for the Chase until Fatback left. They have the components. Then again, they lost a lot.

Lee Montgomery: That's why I have questions.

The opinions listed here are solely those of the participants.