Photo Credit: Racing One/Getty Images

By: Toby Christie

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads into Daytona International Speedway this week for a Saturday Night showdown known as the Coke Zero 400. However this race has not always been held under the lights, in fact the last time this race was ran during the daylight was the 1997 running of the event. That race is this week’s NASCAR Flashback.

It was a hot summer day in Daytona Beach, Florida on July 5th, 1997. Rookie Mike Skinner, who actually sat on the pole in February’s Daytona 500, would lead the field to the green flag in this race as well.

Skinner would lead the first two laps, but a crash on lap 33 would force him out of the race with a 41st-place finish.

John Andretti started third on the day, and would take the lead for the first time on lap three. Andretti driving for legendary driver Cale Yarborough’s team would dominate the day by leading 113 laps, however with just five laps to go he had some of the fiercest drivers in the sport breathing down his neck for the victory.

Earnhardt, Jarrett, Marlin, and Labonte were all in position to make a pass on the young-gun who made his way to NASCAR from open wheel racing. The race was setting up for an intense down-to-the-wire fight.

However later that lap there was a huge crash involving Michael Waltrip, Hut Stricklin, and Morgan Shepherd. Because of how late in the race the incident occured, it appeared that this would seal the deal for Andretti’s first career Sprint Cup victory and that the race would finish under caution. However NASCAR feverishly cleaned up the debris that was scattered on the racetrack.

NASCAR would get the track cleaned off in time to give the fans a one lap shootout for the victory.

Andretti brought the field down to the green flag at a snail’s pace, and Dale Earnhardt nearly bumped him across the line. Andretti’s No. 98 RCA Ford would jump out to a small lead, but with Earnhardt receiving drafting help from Dale Jarrett it appeared that Andretti was nothing more than a sitting duck.

However Jarrett pulled out from behind Earnhardt to make a pass for second-place. As Jarrett made his move, so too did Sterling Marlin. Jarrett, Marlin, and Earnhardt sat three wide fighting for second, while Andretti closed in on his first ever victory.

Going down the backstrech just behind the leaders, Ward Burton was attempting to move further up inside the top-five and actually got a shoved into the grass. When they got to turn three Burton and others would run out of room, and this would set off yet another huge crash.

Burton slammed hard into the outside wall collecting with him Mark Martin, Dick Trickle and several others who had great runs going.

Meanwhile up front Andretti cruised to the finish line 29-thousandths of a second ahead of  Terry Labonte, who somehow squeezed by Sterling Marlin who finished third and Dale Earnhardt who ended up fourth. Dale Jarrett would round out the top-five.

Not only was this the first win for Andretti as a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but it was also the first and only victory for Cale Yarborough as a car owner.

Upon entering victory lane for the first time Andretti praised his team for their efforts on restrictor plate tracks.

“I’ve been saying that this team is best when it comes to restrictor plate races. We’ve been saying it and today we proved it.” Andretti said. “Anybody could of drove the car.”

When asked about NASCAR’s decision to restart the race with one lap to go, Andretti explained he wasn’t too worried.

“This car accelerates really hard on the restarts. I just figured that if we had to restart that we’d be in pretty good shape.”

Terry Labonte overcame starting 35th to finish second. He explained his day as a work in progress.

“We started pretty far back. It was a struggle early for us. There for a while I didn’t even know if we could get to the top-ten.” Labonte said.

The 1997 Pepsi 400 was a relatively clean and fast race, up until the final few laps. There were four cautions on the day, and the race took just over two and a half hours to complete. The racetrack would install lights around the track in 1998, and thus the new tradition of running the July 4th race under the lights was born.

By: DJ DeSpain

The field is set for the 2009 Sprint Cup Chase but the specter of 2005 rears its head again. In 2005, both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon failed to make the Chase. Now, it’s Kyle Busch’s turn to be the one on the outside looking in and fans are wondering if something besides him is broke.

At the time in 2005, the Chase format was still new, started the year before in fact, as the result of a rallying cry to make the races more exciting and dramatic for the fans. The system created because being consistent as Matt Kenseth was in 2004 paid off in a championship, but at the cost of making him cold and methodical. Remember those Nextel commercials making fun of Kenseth, comparing him to a robot?

When Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon, two NASCAR superstars and fan favorites, missed out in the Chase in 2005, there was some rumbling that the new system wasn’t good enough if those two drivers couldn’t get in. NASCAR held off on changing in 2006, wanting to give the new system a chance to prove them right. Dale and Jeff made it in 2006, but 2005 defending champion Tony Stewart failed to make it, which then started another clamor.

In 2007, NASCAR finally relented and both the Chase format and overall points system were tweaked. The Chase field was expanded from 10 to 12 spots and participants were awarded 10 bonus points for each race win during the first 26 races added to the 5,000 points reset. Those that were tied in points were then ranked on their overall average finish order. In addition to all that, 5 points were added to the 1^st place position for each race in the points system, increasing the maximum number of points earned from 190 to 195 (win plus most laps led bonus).

So did this fix everything and did everybody benefit in 2007? Not in the view of Earnhardt Jr. fans because he didn’t make the Chase field again in 2007.NASCAR didn’t quibble too much because the Chase field had 5 of 6 former champions that actively ran in 2007, Bobby Labonte was in 17^th position after Richmond that year (Elliott, Terry Labonte and Jarrett did not run full season that year).

Despite the best efforts of Earnhardt Nation, and some claiming a conspiracy for not changing both times after Junior failed to make it, NASCAR held ground again and made no changes to either the Chase format or the points system for 2008. Probably just as well because Dale Jr. did make it into the Chase for 2008, even though Kurt Busch joined Bobby Labonte as two former champions not making the field.

Even when Johnson claimed his third championship title in a row, not much was said about changing anything for 2009. In fact, talk was either could Johnson make it four in row or whether brash upstart Kyle Busch could knock him off the perch.

Unfortunately for Kyle, he won’t have that chance. Despite having 4 wins this year like Mark Martin, he missed the Chase cut-off by 8 points. Even Kyle admits that he has not had a consistent run this season, but that’s not stopping the “Change the System” train that seems to be rapidly approaching again.

A lot of chatter has been appearing in the social media sites like Facebook and Twitter regarding the question of whether wins should count for more. Once again, the idea of consistency seems to be regarded as less important than wins.

One idea is to add 5 more points to the 1^st place position, making the separation between 1^st and 2^nd 20 points instead of 15. If that were the case today, then Kyle would be locked into the Chase second behind Martin. Still wouldn’t have helped Earnhardt Jr. so I expect his fans won’t go for this as being the only change.

Another idea, more extreme and far-fetched, is that only drivers who have had wins during the season be allowed into the Chase. The last four spots of the Chase positions are occupied by drivers with zero wins this year. So Brad Keselowski, currently seeded 40^th, would surely vote yes for that plan, but he wouldn’t make it anyway as he would be the 13^th driver down the list of those that had wins this year. Rookie Joey Logano, now in 19^th, would be the 12^th driver.

I am not in favor of any change personally, as I believe that consistency does matter. In fact, I am not a fan of the Chase format at all. Who is to say that Kyle Busch, just barely out of reach of the 12^th spot, couldn’t suddenly make a run in the last ten races while those at the top have a reversal of their good fortune to date? It is definitely feasible as well as likely to happen.

The opportunity to race for a championship has been arbitrarily yanked from Kyle at this point. In this recent economy, the sponsors are more important than ever to woo and having drivers race up to a point only to hit a figurative wall that has a big “12” on it makes it hard to win over a sponsor by saying “Well, I finished 13^th last year but I really should have been ranked 1^st if you look at my last ten races.” Sponsors are only going to focus on those 12 spots.

I say if any change comes about, use today’s point system that has been around since Bob Latford created it in 1975 but minus the Chase format. Despite what NASCAR was thinking in 2004, there is still plenty of racing drama and excitement, especially with the COT making results tighter. At least the system is fair and rewards consistency instead of feeling like the equivalent of 12 “good job” ribbons handed out at the end of the year.

However, don’t expect any change for 2010. Earnhardt Jr. didn’t make it again this year, remember?

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I had a chance to catch up with “Texas” Terry Labonte in the garage area today. He looked as if he was on a mission, but he was gracious enough to give me a quick minute. In our ongoing series, we have been asking drivers what their favorite tracks are on the circuit. Since so many drivers this week have said that Atlanta Motor Speedway, that seemed like a natural lead. Unfortunately, I found out for him, that AMS was just the opposite.

“It’s probably one of my least favorites…I’m not in the majority there”, said Labote.

In a way that doesn’t surprise me. Labonte has had 54 starts at Atlanta, and has never won here. He has won one pole and had 10 top five finishes, but his average finish is 15.9. And his poor qualifying effort yesterday supports that sentiment. Labonte’s Academy Sports + Outdoors Ford had to utilize the Past Champions standing to sit in the Pep Boys Auto 500 tonight in the 43rd spot.

He did go on and say that he does like many of the tracks that they race at, but that one of his favorites is upcoming Richmond.

“I think it’s a pretty neat little race track there”.

He has fared better at Richmond International Raceway where he has won 3 times in 54 starts and has 13 top five finishes with an average finish of 14.4.

As our typical followup, I asked if there is a track that he missed driving on, due to whatever reason.

His simple answer was “no”.

Jimmie Johnson is on the pole for the 15th running of the Brickyard 400, now the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Mark Martin is sitting right beside Johnson on the front row.

Other notables in the field are that Jeff Gordon sits at Number 5 and team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 11th. Tony Stewart is 14th and points leader Kyle Busch sits 19th. Another nice to see is Terry Labonte in the field of 43 driving for Petty Enterprises, he sits 40th.