Rating the Coke Zero 400: 5 Stars *****

The final ride on Daytona International Speedway’s pavement proved to be a wild one. After a race that involved a 19-car “Big One,” only 17 cars on the lead lap at the finish and 47 lead changes, the Fourth of July celebration at Daytona gets a 5 Star Rating.

Congratulations to Kevin Harvick and the #29 team. Harvick made a wise decision to stay with Richard Childress Racing after this season. Last year was one of the worst the team has ever had, but lessons were learned and many of the negatives from a year ago have turned into positives this season.

For the third time this season, a race ended with at least 45 lead changes. Each restrictor-plate race this year has been fantastic in its own way. NASCAR certainly made the correct changes when they opened things back up before the season started. There are those that say plate racing is not “real” racing. To them, I say show me a track other than Daytona or Talladega that consistently provides as much action year in and year out. Something interesting almost always happens at those tracks each time the series visits, and people talk about what happened for a couple weeks following the race. This time the talk revolves around the huge wreck.

Many things factored into why this race was such a wreckfest. First, the track needs to be repaved. There is no question about it. I know a track like that is fun for the drivers, but it was only going to get worse and something had to be done sooner or later. Second, the spoiler was back on the cars at Daytona. This may have had more of an effect at this race than at Talladega because the car needs to handle well to be successful at Daytona, especially at the July race. An unstable track with a spoiler that makes the cars looser is a tough combination to control, but the drivers did a great job until it came time to get in position to have a chance to win the race.

This race was a satisfying way to say goodbye to the old pavement. Daytona will produce great racing no matter what type of pavement it has. It is just a special place. However, Speedweeks next February could be amazing. The rule package this year at Talladega made for one of the best races ever, and Daytona is much narrower than the track in Alabama. There will not only be tons of passing, but there will be a lot of pushing and shoving because there is not much space to work with. This season has been very good, and the future seems just as bright, if not brighter.

Next week is on to Chicagoland Speedway; a track that has a race because of its location. Several tracks have lost a race, or lost everything, to Chicago, Kansas and California. That doesn’t make much sense. I’m sure next week’s race will be fine, but it would be surprising to see a memorable race at that track. Jeff Gordon taking out Matt Kenseth in 2006 is the only moment that stands out in the nine years it has been on the schedule.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a terrific holiday weekend. If the second half of the season comes anywhere close to the interest level of the first half, 2010 will go down as a pivotal year in NASCAR history.