Only a few days remain until “The Great American Race” gets the green light for the start of Daytona 500, and several of the web’s motor-headed analysts have already weighed in with their predictions for Sunday’s event.
As this is the first race of the renewed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, are last year’s top contenders still primed to win, or are there other worthy competitors on the rise that we should take a shot at? Let’s find out below what the experts had to say.
After this, check out our complete preview for the race to gather even more insights for NASCAR’s most influential race from Daytona Beach.
Four-time Sprint Cup champion and recently retired NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon isn’t technically an actual analyst in the online blog circles yet, but his word as a former three-time Daytona 500 winner should still be taken with sincere earnestness nonetheless.
FOXSports.com recently interviewed Gordon about his take on Sunday’s race and he predicted that his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+500), will take home the win. Gordon praised Earnhardt for his prowess on restrictor plate races such as Daytona.
Last season, Earnhardt won two of the four restrictor plate races. He also won at this event twice already, most recently in 2014. Looks like Gordon truly does have a future in the broadcast booth if he provides sound analysis like the one he did for his good old friend.
Beyond the Flag (Fansided)
Brian Thornsburg of Beyond the Flag – Fansided’s dedicated section for everything motorsports – picked another stock car racing icon as well (obviously not Jeff Gordon, though).
Thornsburg is hoping for a win for Tony Stewart, who is presumed to retire from the sport at the end of this season. BTF’s columnist argued that while Stewart hasn’t won the Daytona 500 throughout his 17-year career, he’s still a legitimate contender based on his previous performances at DIS. The 44-year-old has won four races in to go with 14 top 10 finishes at the famed track.
With that in mind, “Smoke” sounds like a solid bet at +3,000 indeed, especially knowing that he’ll pull out all the stops to likely mark the end of his storied career by winning the one big race that has eluded him for so long.
FOX 59 (Indianapolis)
Lastly, Chris Hagan from FOX Networks’ Indianapolis-based local affiliate FOX 59 made the boldest move in this here article by predicting that Danica Patrick will win on Sunday.
Calling Hagan’s prediction “bold” is actually an understatement, as Patrick only has seven career finishes of ninth place or better in her four seasons at the Sprint Cup level. What’s worse is that she had never won a single race yet with the big boys, let alone secure a top five finish at that.
Then again, she won pole position at this event back in 2013, which still justifies her as a very tempting albeit risky wager at +6,000.
