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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Despite the unusually chilly temperatures during Speedweeks 2010, the fans are out in force and the Daytona 500 is a sellout.

After all the interviews, all of the personal appearances and all of the PR activities, it's almost time to race.

But first, a parade of celebrities passes through the media center, and attend the annual driver's meeting two hours before the green flag

FanHouse has been out and about, snapping images of drivers and events.

Here's another small photo gallery with some of the sights and scenes here on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including some wire photos during and after The Great American Race.



Jamie McMurray celebrates in victory lane after winning the Daytona 500 Sunday.


An emotional Jamie McMurray wipes his eyes while crew chief Kevin Manion beams during the Daytona 500 winner's interview in the infield media center of Daytona International Speedway


Jamie McMurray takes the checkered flag to win the 52nd Daytona 500.




Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray does a burnout after winning the race.


Even if it didn't look like asphalt, good old automotive Bondo turned out to be the best fix for a pothole in the track surface at Daytona International Speedway.




Bobby Labonte stands next to his Tax Slayer.com Chevrolet on pit road just before the race.


Fans head to the grandstands after the pre-race concert and driver introductions before the Daytona 500.


In a brief interview in the media center at Daytona International Speedway Sunday morning, Richard Petty talks about his wife Lynda's battle with cancer.


Daytona 500 Grand Marshal Junior Johnson, winner of the 1960 race, talks in the media center on Sunday morning.



Tim McGraw is photographed in the infield media center on race morning. He was the featured performer in the pre-race concert.


Harry Connick Jr., shown here in the media center Sunday morning, performed the National Anthem before the 52nd running of the Daytona 500.



Danica Patrick answers questions at Daytona International Speedway's infield media center on a rainy Friday.


Carl Edwards and Subway's Jared Fogle chat after an interview Friday at Daytona's infield media center.


Carl Edwards and Subway's Jared Fogle pose for photographers after an interview Friday at the infield media center.


Michael Waltrip talks to reporters Thursday about making what may be his final Daytona 500.


Juan Pablo Montoya enjoys the give-and-take of an interview with reporters at Daytona.


Sprint Cup drivers Mike Bliss and Scott Speed talk to reporters Thursday after getting into the Daytona 500 field through the first 150-mile qualifying race.


Sprint Cup driver Marcos Ambrose passes out Valentine's Day roses (provided by his sponsor) in the infield media center.


Maurice Jones-Drew, running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, answers questions in the media center.


NASCAR's Kerry Tharp conducts a press conference with Scott Speed. That's FanHouse's senior motorsports writer, Holly Cain, with her back to the camera, at center right, and blogger Geoffrey Miller to her right.


The AOL FanHouse motorsports crew at our seats in the infield Media Center at Daytona International Speedway. From left, blogger/writer Geoffrey Miller, editor Bob Zeller and senior motorsports writer Holly Cain.

 

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A cold, driving rain washed out all track activity at Daytona International Speedway Friday, forcing the postponement of the truck series race to 7 p.m. Saturday.

The rain also forced the cancellation of the Nationwide series qualifying session, which means the field will be put together from last year's points rankings, with champion Kyle Busch starting on the pole. Danica Patrick will make the race and will start 15th on the grid. The race is set to start at 1:15 p.m.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series cars were supposed to have a one-hour practice at 1:40 p.m. but the rain was particularly fierce around that time, accompanied by umbrella-killing gusts. The final one hour, 25 minute practice for Sunday's Daytona 500 is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

All of the activities set for Saturday, including the postponed truck series night race, should happen as scheduled, as the weather forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and a high of 53.

It has been one of the coldest weeks at Daytona in many a year, with temperatures staying in the 50s, at best. That's about 15 degrees below normal. Usually at least part of the final week is warm, but not this year. The forecast for Sunday's big race, set to start at 1 p.m., is for partly cloudy skies, but a high of only 56.

 

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Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip, Regan Smith, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson started the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season as he ended 2009 -- as a winner.

Johnson nipped Kevin Harvick by less than a foot at the finish line after 60 laps around the high banks of Daytona International Speedway on Thursday in the first of two Gatorade Duels. The official margin of victory was five one-thousandths of a second -- the second-closest Duel finish since the advent of electronic scoring of NASCAR races in 1993.

Harvick had the lead coming off turn four, but he lost this race ins the same fashion he won the 2007 Daytona 500. That time, he was on the inside of Mark Martin and edged past him. This time, Harvick was on the outside of Johnson, and suffered the same fate as he dished out to Martin.

Johnson won the race in his backup car after a crash in practice Wednesday damaged his primary car.

"I didnt feel like beating this thing up anymore," Johnson said. "It just showed we build good race cars at Hendrick Motorsports. It wasn't easy driving a car that loose. But I'm really stoked."

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The momentum is picking up at Daytona International Speedway as Speedweeks rushes toward Sunday's Daytona 500, the first race of the season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Here's another photo gallery of sights and scenes around the speedway on Wednesday, the day before the Gatorade Duels twin 150-mile qualifying race.

In between practice sessions on the track, and today's races, the drivers are slammed with other obligations. As Tony Stewart told the audience Wednesday evening during Performance Radio Network's Up To Speed - Daytona Beach radio show at Volusia Mall, 10 percent of his job is a blast and the other 90 percent is a job and not always so fun.

It has been extraordinarily chilly down here thus far, with temperatures 15 degrees or more below normal, and rain is predicted for Friday, but it's still more comfortable than a lot of places around the country and if the temperatures aren't really heating up, the excitement is.

 

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Filed under: Kyle Petty, Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Besides everything that happens inside the track at Daytona International Speedway, plenty of activity takes place outside the vast complex during Speedweeks. From driver appearances to appearances by the cars themselves, there is plenty going on that would get any race fan revved up heading into this weekend's big race.

Between practice sessions and the races themselves, drivers are constantly shuttling from here to there for sponsor appearances, press conferences in the media center, autograph signings, radio shows, television appearances, parties and other events.

Chad Knaus took time from his busy schedule Wednesday evening to drop by the infield media center for an online chat with FanHouse's Holly Cain.

Tony Stewart signed more than 700 autographs during a two-hour autograph session Tuesday at the Office Depot in Ormond Beach, just north of here. One of the more popular events is the Performance Radio Network radio shows during Speedweeks from Volusia Mall. The shows are free for fans, and co-host Kyle Petty keeps the audience in stitches with his one-liners.

Here are some scenes from a rainy Tuesday and a chilly Wednesday in the Daytona Beach area.

 

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Lynda Petty, wife of all-time leading NASCAR race winner Richard Petty, has been diagnosed with a Central Nervous System lymphoma, which is a type of cancerous brain tumor.

A statement released Thursday by Richard Petty Motorsports said that Lynda will be treated at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., which is about 65 miles east of the Petty home in Level Cross, N.C.

"We are thankful for the medical team at Duke. My wife Lynda is in good hands," Richard Petty said. "The doctors and our family are very optimistic that the treatment for this cancer will be successful."

 

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The struggling economy has reached out and touched NASCAR in a new way: reduced purses.

In a cost-cutting measure, NASCAR is decreasing race purses - the amount it pay drivers and car owners in race winnings - by approximately 10 percent in 2010 for all three national series.

‬‪"Last year we launched an industry-wide effort to help the sport manage budgets in this economy," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said in a statement. "NASCAR did the right thing to work with the tracks to reduce their costs in order to manage the economic realities.

"In return, the tracks have done a great job reducing ticket prices and enhancing the fan experience. Likewise, we worked with the teams to contain costs, such as elimination of testing and other steps. This is consistent with how virtually every sport and business has adjusted to the economy over the past year."

The decrease will help track owners, who have been hit by falling revenues during the recession, but will come at the expense of drivers and team owners in NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series.

International Speedway Corporation, owner of Daytona International Speedway and 11 other major tracks, reported Thursday that revenues fell 11.8 percent from 2008 to 2009. ISC reported revenue of about $693 million for the 12 months ending November 30, 2009 compared to $787 million for the same period in 2008, according to the company's fourth quarter financial report, which it released Thursday.

The ISC report said ticket sales alone were down $40.5 million, or a drop of 17.1 percent.

Speedway Motorsports, Inc., owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway and seven other major tracks, in November reported a drop in revenues of about $20 million for the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, or a drop from about $480 million to about $460 million.

Both companies managed to remain profitable, but their net income plummeted. ISC's net income dropped from $134.5 million in 2008 to only $6.8 million last year. Speedway Motorsports's income dropped from $84.9 million for the first nine months of 2008 to only $4.8 million for the same period last year.

 

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