The 2011 Daytona 500 is about to get underway on FOX and the Bay Area and much of California is well represented in this year's race. NASCAR great Jeff Gordon (born: Vallejo), A.J. Allmendinger (Los Gatos), and Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield) are three of the top favorites in today's race. Gordon is are going off at 12 to 1, Kevin Harvick is the odds-on favorite at 8 to 1, and A.J. Allmendinger is a 50 to 1 long-shot.
Gordon has won the Daytona 500 three times but is coming off a 26th place finish in last year's race. Gordon finished ninth in the 2010 Sprint Cup Series, netting 11 top-five finishes and 17 top-ten finishes. Kevin Harvick won the 2007 Daytona 500 and finished seventh last year. Harvick won the 2007 Daytona 500 and finished seventh last year. He finished third in last year's overall Sprint Cup Series, netting three victories, 16 top-five finishes, and 26 top-ten finishes. Allmendinger has never won the Daytona 500 and finished 32nd last year. He finished 19th in the 2010 Sprint Cup Series, netting two top-five finishes and eight top-ten finishes.
Gordon will start today's race in the second position, Harvick will be seventh, and Allmendinger will be 15th. Here is the complete starting lineup for the 2011 Daytona 500:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jeff Gordon
- Kurt Busch
- Jeff Burton
- Regan Smith
- Clint Bowyer
- Kevin Harvick
- Michael Waltrip
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Brian Keselowski
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Jamie McMurray
- AJ Allmendinger
- Brad Keselowski
- Mark Martin
- Denny Hamlin
- Paul Menard
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Carl Edwards
- Jimmie Johnson
- David Reutimann
- Tony Stewart
- Greg Biffle
- Brian Vickers
- Robert Richardson Jr.
- Bill Elliott
- Robby Gordon
- Bobby Labonte
- Trevor Bayne
- JJ Yeley
- David Ragan
- Marcos Ambrose
- Steve Wallace
- Andy Lally
- Joey Logano
- David Gilliland
- Travis Kvapil
- Joe Nemechek
- Dave Blaney
- Terry Labonte