As the 2013 season gets underway this weekend at Daytona for the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck Series, it’s time once again to analyze the statistics and see just who you should be watching this weekend at the “World Center of Racing”.
First on the docket of racing this weekend will be the Camping World Truck Series, which will take to the high banks Friday night in the Nextera Energy Resources 250.
Top 10 Camping World Series drivers at Daytona International Speedway (last 10 races):
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| John King | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 23.0 | 1.0 |
| Todd Bodine | 8 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 136 | 9.0 | 5.4 |
| Timothy Peters | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 23.0 | 6.4 |
| Kyle Busch | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 19.2 | 7.8 |
| Ty Dillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
| Clay Greenfield | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26.0 | 10.0 |
| Chris Fontaine | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19.0 | 13.0 |
| Justin Lofton | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17.0 | 13.0 |
| Dusty Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 13.0 |
| Matt Crafton | 10 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16.2 | 14.6 |
Who to Watch: Defending winner John King returns in 2013 after winning in his first attempt last year in a wild finish. King will be with a different team, but is batting 1.000 in his career at Daytona, so he will definitely be one to keep an eye on. Todd Bodine leads the series regulars with 2 wins and an average finish of 5.4. Other series regulars who run well at Daytona include Timothy Peters with 1 win and an average finish of 6.4 and Ty Dillon, who finished top 10 in his first outing last year. Throw in Cup regular Kyle Busch with an average finish of 7.8 and Friday night’s Truck race should be a great race, as usual.
Next up will be the Nationwide Series taking on the famed 2.5 superspeedway in Florida in the Drive4COPD 300 on Saturday afternoon.
Top 10 Nationwide Series drivers at Daytona International Speedway (last 10 races):
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Tony Stewart | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 146 | 10.2 | 4.2 |
| Austin Dillon | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 23.5 | 4.5 |
| Kurt Busch | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 65 | 9.5 | 5.5 |
| Kyle Busch | 10 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 132 | 12.9 | 8.7 |
| Matt Kenseth | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 7.3 | 9.7 |
| Brian Vickers | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 17.2 | 11.8 |
| Kasey Kahne | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 14.5 | 12.5 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 62 | 8.5 | 12.8 |
| Parker Kligerman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 13.0 |
| Elliott Sadler | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 49 | 9.5 | 13.8 |
Who to Watch: The field will be stocked full of Cup regulars, with Tony Stewart as best by far when the Nationwide Series rolls into Daytona. Stewart has 4 wins in 6 starts and has finished no worse than 10th in all but 1 start. This year should be more of the same from Stewart as he will be the one to beat for the win. Others to keep an eye on will be Austin Dillon with a 4.5 average finish in 2 starts, as well as the Busch brothers and Matt Kenseth, all of whom have an average finish of 9.7 or better. Should be another exciting race for NASCAR’s 2nd tier series.
Rounding out the weekend will be Sunday’s 55th running of the Daytona 500, which should be even more of a spectacle than usual with the points race debut of the Gen6 car.
Top 10 Sprint Cup Series drivers at Daytona International Speedway (last 10 races):
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Carl Edwards | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 14.4 | 11.1 |
| Matt Kenseth | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 164 | 15.7 | 11.1 |
| Tony Stewart | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 149 | 13.3 | 12.0 |
| Kevin Harvick | 10 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 90 | 15.7 | 14.1 |
| Kurt Busch | 10 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 82 | 20.3 | 14.4 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 10 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 78 | 9.0 | 14.9 |
| Kasey Kahne | 10 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 15.0 | 15.5 |
| Bobby Labonte | 10 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 28.0 | 16.3 |
| Paul Menard | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 20.8 | 16.6 |
| Kyle Busch | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 252 | 13.9 | 16.8 |
Who to Watch: The top 10 is a virtual who’s who of restrictor plate masters with recent Daytona winners Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick, who have 5 wins among them in the last 10 races at Daytona, being book-ended by a consistent Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch. All 5 of these drivers have an average finish of 14.4 or less over the last 10 races and all of the top 10 drivers could be threats for the win on Sunday. The one X-factor, however, will be the debut of the Gen6 car and the vast array of unknowns associated with it, so anyone could be a winner in the “Great American Race” this year.
