The 2008 Daytona 500, the 50th running of the Great American Race, and the entire 2008 NASCAR Sprint season, will be history-making for a number of reasons.

The high-tailed, crouching Car of Tomorrow is now the stock package for all Sprint Cup races.

Toyota, last year's also-ran manufacturer, will be starting on the front row and will be backed up by the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and this year, Kyle Busch, a dream acquisition for JGR who will replace fender-bender J.J. Yeley in the 18 car.

And sadly, some old veterans are reportedly making a last call to Daytona, namely Dale Jarrett and maybe Mark Martin.

The News

A bad batch of rod lifters in the Hendrick engines has been reported by the media this week and, though all Hendrick cars swapped out engines as a precaution, no one is confirming whether or not all is well. Watch for smoke trailing from tailpipes late in the race.

Former champions Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart start the season on probation for some excessive paint swapping during D-500 practice. Yes, practice. In the end, they both spoke to the media about the other's great talent and aggressive driving style and both state "everything is fine."

The Drama

With his headline-of-the-year move to Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will race as a teammate to fellow Daytona 500 champions Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

With the prowess displayed by the Hendrick engine builders last year, a resurgence by NASCAR's perennial favourite driver who now drives (in Ray Bourque/Gretzky-esque fashion) the 88, is to be expected. Junior is a restrictor plate master by pedigree and by practice. He handily took the 2008 Budweiser Shootout victory Saturday then pegged any naysayers by winning his Gatorade Duel on Thursday.

Michael Waltrip is back after a season of shame. Jellied rocket fuel being discovered in a manifold at the 2007 event must have been embarrassing for Mike and demoralizing for the crew. But on the heels of the debacle, Waltrip rolled into Daytona with a hot rod that put him on the outside front row.

The Invasion

The rookie class is usually a point of conversation the aficionados reserve until after the casual fans have gone to bed but, this year the collective resumes of the so-called rookies will have people checking twice that they are in the right league. Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish and Patrick Carpentier will be among the new-name drivers introduced before the green flag of at least a few events this season. These former big league open-wheelers follow in the footsteps of Juan Pablo Montoya, who made NASCAR rookie history by taking a road course victory at Infineon in 2007 and, overall, making the yellow stripe on the rear bumper of a Cup car a redundant accessory. However, don't look to any of these rookie racers to be the first to finish lap 200 at Daytona. And no, don't look to Juan either, although he did snag a victory at a wee little race called the Rolex 24 at Daytona a few weeks ago, along with teammate Franchitti.

The Picks

Strong runners for the checkers include Hendrick and Gibbs drivers, along with a few stand-out individuals that have a bit of past Daytona success. Always keep in mind that a large part of Daytona's allure and the bittersweet charm of the restrictor plate, the very thing that separates Daytona from the road courses and from tracks like California and Chicago, is that anyone in the field, really, could win. Just ask Derrick Cope.

However, as with any track, there are a few favourites. There are seven drivers with a bead on the win Sunday. In order they are:

1) Junior (7-1). If I was a bookmaker, I would not give odds on Junior at Daytona this year. I am assuming on good faith that the 7-1 odds I did find are to cover the contingency of Junior dropping a cylinder, suffering from someone else's wreck, or perhaps god himself reaching down and pinging the 88 from the track.

After this, I feel they rank like this: 2. Stewart (10-1), 3. Johnson (4-1), 4. Gordon (5-1), 5. Hamlin (25-1), 6. Harvick (15-1), and 7. Martin (18-1). On the outside, if I had a couple extry dollars, I'd throw down for old-school Michael Waltrip (75-1).

If you really wanna go for it, well, go for it with Dale Jarrett. The three-time Daytona 500 (most recently in 2000) champion raced his way to a qualifying position in the show with a ninth-place finish in his Duel heat. He's 150-1. It just ain't right.