Heat and Smoke on drivers' minds
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Only one thing has gotten more attention at Daytona International Speedway this week than Jeremy Mayfield's court battle against NASCAR and the slate of 25 people from which the sport will name its first Hall of Fame class.
The heat.
It's not just hot.
It's melt-the-soles-of-your-shoes hot.
"Yeah, I've had to get different shoes this year because I kept burning my left heel," Ryan Newman said.
Greg Biffle needs more than a new pair of shoes for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400.
"I'm burning my ass up," he said.
The heat definitely will be a factor for the 8 p.m. ET Sprint Cup race even though conditions will be much cooler than the 92-plus degrees and 100 percent humidity drivers have faced during the day.
The track surface still will be slick, and few are better in the summer heat than Tony Stewart, who has won this race twice but never been to Victory Lane in the February Daytona 500.
That Stewart comes in as the points leader with 10 top-10s in the past 12 races, including nine top-5s, makes him even more of a favorite.
"We had a car in the 500 here that drove really, really well," said the two-time Cup champion, who finished eighth in the opener. "That's a bigger factor at this race than it is even in February."
The usual suspects -- Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Newman, Kurt Busch, Biffle and defending race winner Kyle Busch -- should be Stewart's biggest challengers.
Gordon leads all active drivers with six wins at Daytona, with two of those coming in July. He also is the active leader in laps led with 571 -- not counting part-time driver Bill Elliott and his 616.
Stewart is second with 546, with Earnhardt and Michael Waltrip not far behind.
Don't count out others, including Waltrip, who won this race in 2002 and has three wins at Daytona. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards also could be factors. Kenseth won this year's rain-shortened 500.
And don't rule out the unexpected, which often shows up in plate races. Brad Keselowski won at Talladega earlier this year, and Jamie McMurray won this race in 2007.
The so-called "big one" also could be a factor. Kyle Busch had the dominant car in February before being caught up in a wreck that began with Earnhardt and Brian Vickers.
Pay close attention to double-file restarts, as well. This will be the first time NASCAR has implemented the new rule at a restrictor-plate track. Drivers are unsure whether the high line or low line will be most effective, and the leader has the option to choose.
"It kind of depends on who all is in your line," said Gordon, second in points to Stewart. "If you have a strong group of cars that have shown a lot of strength so far in the race, then that's the line I would go with more so than inside or outside.
"But we're really not going to know for sure how handling is going to be affected. You don't know what tires you're going to be on. So many different factors that play in, and that's why you can overthink it at this point right now."
Mayfield won't be a factor. Despite getting a temporary injunction on Wednesday that lifted his suspension for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy, he has been unable to get a ride this weekend.
The heat will be a factor for everyone, and there's little anybody can do about it.
"You really can't," Kyle Busch said. "The biggest thing that you do is try to stay hydrated as much as you can the day beforehand."
Stewart stays in the air conditioning as long as he can.
"Every time you go out, it's a thousand percent humidity here and 80 or 90 degrees, so it's hot," he said. "It's hot for everybody. The best way to stay hydrated is to stay cool to where you're not sweating the fluids out and just keep pounding away at it all week.
"That's the only way you can combat it right now."
“” -- Greg Biffle
This track drives a lot like Darlington right now -- just how hot it is, how slick it is. The car slips and slides a lot. There isn't a lot of grip.
Those in the best shape might have an advantage.
"You have to be hydrated and concentrate and [be] physically fit and all those things," Biffle said. "I know a lot of the younger guys or the other guys who have just come in have gotten sick in their cars because it's so hot after the race.
"That's a lot of it, being prepared for how hot it's going to be."
Newman said the heat -- and how it affects his shoes -- has an impact.
"It doesn't necessarily change your performance, but it changes the way you drive the car, and you don't want that to happen at all," he said.
The track surface does change performance.
"This track drives a lot like Darlington right now -- just how hot it is, how slick it is," said Biffle, referring to arguably the toughest track on the circuit. "The car slips and slides a lot. There isn't a lot of grip."
But drivers come to Daytona in July expecting the heat, so this is nothing new for them.
Well, then again …
"I always forget how warm and humid it is until we show up," Johnson said. "And then it's like, 'Oh, yeah. July in Daytona.'"
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
