Stewart will likely be ploughing his own furrow at Gibbs this year with two rookie teammates by his side. Although Denny Hamlin was a front-runner in the #11 FedEx Chevrolet, the unforgiving draft at Daytona is not a kind place for rookies and both he, new teammate JJ Yeley and the other five rookies, Truex Jr included, could find it difficult to find friends on the high banking.
The other major powerhouse of 2005, Roush Racing, was conspicuous by its collective absence from the top of the testing timesheets but even with the new Ford Fusion and not the venerable Taurus, many feel that a certain degree of sandbagging was present in their test times. Of the five Roush cars Matt Kenseth led the way in testing and both he, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards are guaranteed frontrunners in the big race. Mark Martin will make one last shot at Daytona 500 glory after coming so close many times in the past while new boy Jamie McMurray will be looking for a debut win for his new team.
Of the other former Daytona 500 winners in the field Michael Waltrip will find it tough to repeat his 2001 and 2003 triumphs with new team Bill Davis Racing while triple ‘500 winner and last year's Bud Pole winner Dale Jarrett will want to make a better go of things this year after a disappointing race performance in 2005. Double winner Sterling Marlin's new #14 MB2 Motorsport team may have struggled at most tracks last year but Daytona wasn't one of them as Scott Riggs raced to a fourth place finish. With 1985 and 1987 ‘500 winner Bill Elliott joining Marlin on the MB2 roster for
Daytona, the two veterans could both have strong runs this year.
Of the remaining contenders, Jarrett's Robert Yates Racing teammate Elliott Sadler, Richard Childress Racing's rookie contender Clint Bowyer, new Chip Ganassi Racing team leader Casey Mears and a resurgent Kyle Petty all showed well in testing while the DEI powered Robby Gordon could also be a factor, if he gets through the qualifying lottery.
