NASCAR Daytona practice starts today

The Great American Race will be run Feb. 15.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Jeff Burton fondly recalled sitting in a ski lodge watching the first live telecast of the Daytona 500 in 1979.
"I was 10 years old and my family was out skiing and they let me stay in the cabin to watch the race," Burton said as he looked forward to the opening of practice today for the 46th running of NASCAR's biggest event. "It was cool.
"I kept looking at my watch all morning, just waiting for that race. You know, it's a long winter when you love stock car racing."
Racers' thinking
Starting the season with its biggest race has sometimes drawn criticism, but Burton's nostalgic recollections go along with the thinking of many of NASCAR's top drivers.
"We spend all winter preparing for it and, if it's not the biggest, somebody needs to stop by and tell us," Kevin Harvick said. "It's the first race, it's got all the hype, all the prestige and the most money.
"If you have it at the end of the season, who's to say that somebody's not leading by 300 or 400 points and is on a big hot streak and everybody else is running into each other. I don't think you can put any more hype into it than having it first."
With a new points format, dividing the year into a 26-race regular season and a 10-race championship shootout, there was some concern that the Great American Race might lose some of its luster.
The drivers say no way.
"When you win this race, you know you've beaten the best," Elliott Sadler said. "Everybody brings the best of everything they've got to this racetrack.
All the signs
"That doesn't happen at any other race. They bring the best available stuff they've got, but they might have their best car tore up after wrecking it last week or something like. Here, the equipment is new, the uniforms are new. It's a great way to start the season off."
As much as he anticipated the Daytona 500 when he was a youngster, Burton said having the biggest race of the year leading off the schedule never made sense to him until after NASCAR announced the new points format. It begins with the 500, scheduled for Feb. 15.
"In every other sport, their biggest event of the year is their last event," Burton said. "Look at how many people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. Even my wife watched the Super Bowl.
"But, in today's format, it's my opinion that the Daytona 500 is certainly the biggest race of the year, although it may not be the most important race of the year. Now we have a system that may make the last race of the year the most important. But not the biggest."
No one doubts the prestige of winning the Daytona 500.
"This race can save your career," Sadler said. "This race can make your career go to the next step."