Of course there is always the Ryan Newman factor to consider as well as the fact that both he and Penske teammate Busch will use the 2004 Dodge Intrepid model rather than the current Charger. Almost certainly a Bud Pole contender, Newman's race performance should be helped by the fact that he is; a) in an Intrepid, and that b) he doesn't have to worry about his qualifying set-up being impounded until the start of the race.
Defending series champion Tony Stewart has already given himself enough potential problems to deal with that could, in years passed, have distracted him from his duties on the track. While the 2005 Tony Stewart seemed to be serene above all media clamour, whether the 2006 Tony Stewart is capable of matching that remains to be seen. The fact that, to many, Stewart left
Daytona as ‘the bad guy' won't be a concern to the Joe Gibbs driver but the fact that the reigning champion looked somewhat hypocritical at the end of the day, may ranker a bit further.
On top of that, Stewart won't find much help from the Matt Kenseth/Roush or Kyle Busch/Hendrick quarters either, and while on-track rivalries are usually settled at some of NASCAR's slowest venues, the fact that Stewart admitted to ‘settling the score' with Kenseth at more than 190mph last weekend, means that anything could happen to the orange #20 on Sunday.
And on top of all those contenders, there is also a man called Earnhardt Jr to consider…and all those with eyes on victory lane on Sunday will have to consider the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet very carefully before they make any celebration plans for Sunday night.
