So let's assess the first big day of Daytona SpeedWeeks 2010:

  Drivers are a ghostly blur at speed under the lights in the Bud Shootout (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
   Okay, sizing up the first big day of SpeedWeeks action at Daytona:
   -- Danica Patrick did great in the ARCA 200, and it wouldn't be at all surprising if she were to announce Monday she now wants to run in the Daytona's Nationwide 300, the day before the 500...even though before the 200 she seemed clearly to be leaning toward making next week's California 300 her first official NASCAR run. And Monday morning Patrick did confirm she'd be stick around town for a few more days to run in the Daytona 300.
   -- That Mark Martin-Dale Earnhardt Jr. shop pairing, with crew chiefs Alan Gustafson and Lance McGrew, looks like it's working. They took the front row for the 500....though they both ran only mediocre in the Saturday night Shootout. Martin in fact was involved in his second crash of SpeedWeeks, not a good omen. Thursday in practice Martin bobbled with Denny Hamlin; Saturday Martin banged into Kurt Busch. Earnhardt's own Saturday was mixed – he's got a fast car for the 500, but his Shootout car didn't show any punch; he ran 20th most of the race.
   -- And Richard Childress' reshuffle at his three-team race shop appears to be bearing fruit, with Kevin Harvick running strong and winning the Shootout, and with another Childress-powered driver, Jamie McMurray, also running strong (he's good at Daytona) and finishing third.
   -- Over in the Toyota camp, things weren't very promising. Kyle Busch may have picked the wrong rear end gear for the Shootout and turned too many RPM in the draft, so had to back off. Denny Hamlin ran well enough to win, but his torn ACL may be hampering his braking, not a good sign, particularly since Hamlin says he wants to wait till the end of the season for surgical repairs. Toyota too, as a company, is dealing with massive PR issues on its recalls, which may affect its racing operations, at least psychologically.
   -- And in the Ford camp? Again, questions and question marks. Greg Biffle got a shot at winning the Shootout with a no-stop gamble in the final miles, while rivals did stop for fresh tires. Biffle got slammed hard by charging Jeff Gordon the final lap and that triggered a big crash. That crash took out car owner Jack Roush's top three drivers. Late in the race Matt Kenseth appeared in position to fight for the win, and teammate Carl Edwards started from the pole and dominated the action for much of the race, until booted by Juan Pablo Montoya. McMurray said Edwards had the best car in the field and nobody could pass him.
   But in the end it was Harvick and Childress and crew chief Gil Martin celebrating. And after a dismal 2009 that was a nice change.
   Ironically when SpeedWeeks opened Thursday Harvick was home in bed with the flu, leaving his teammates to warm up his Shootout car.
    "We led a bunch of laps, ran at the front all night...and to go out and have that car start cold -- never had a lap on the track – and have it run like it ran, that says a lot for the preparation by the team," Harvick said. 
    "It's a lot about the details.  And we had good pit stops all night."
   For Martin the win takes a lot of pressure off his own shoulders. Harvick didn't start 2009 well, and Childress swapped crew chiefs midway, putting Martin in charge of Harvick. And Harvick himself wasn't in a very good mood last summer during all that, implying at one point he wanted to leave at the end of the season, because it's been since 2007 that he last won a Cup tour event.
   This is Harvick's contract year, and sponsor Shell is one of the sport's powerhouse sponsors. So it's critical for this team to get off to a good start and get contracts signed and out of the way...if possible. 
    Martin, normally an easy going if still intense guy, seems to have changed dramatically since getting the Harvick job. Maybe this win will put a smile back on his face.
  
  

  Childress' guys celebrating Saturday night's Shootout win (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   Daytona of course is such a strange creature during SpeedWeeks, with its odd scheduling and unusual races and media hype and hoopla, only accentuated this time by Danica Patrick Mania.
   "It was a different situation all week long -- in the format of the race and practice on Thursday, trying to get the cars all ready -- getting the 500 car ready at the same time," Martin said. "There was a lot of stuff crammed into a couple of days."
   Childress and Company are naturally more focused on the 500 itself, but this win is certainly nice, a good harbinger perhaps.
   "I'm really excited about the race Sunday," Childress says. "Thursday (the twin 150s) and Sunday, I think we've got some really good cars.
   "But this one -- Kevin Harvick made the right move at the right time.  He just knows how to do it here."
     "The biggest thing we learned is our handling package is fairly good," Harvick said, looking ahead. "Obviously it will change a little bit as we go through the week, because everything is going to shift to daytime temperatures.  It was pretty cool in this race, and that probably a little added grip over what we'll have during the 500, as rubber gets on the track.
     "I wasn't pinned to one groove --  I could run the top, bottom or middle.  And I didn't have to be picky about who I followed (because of aerodynamic issues). I could go wherever I want. 
    "That's nice from a driver standpoint, to have options like that.  That lets you be pretty aggressive. 
    "And obviously this is an aggressive-style race."
   The larger restrictor plates gave drivers another 12 to 15 horsepower.
    "I don't know how fast we were going, but it sure felt like we were going pretty fast, compared to normal," Harvick said. "The cars just felt fast. 
    "But they were very forgiving as well.  You could get the cars really sideways. So you could be very aggressive.
    "Even when the thing would get dead sideways, you could stay late in the gas.
     "That's probably not the way you want to drive it every lap, but you were just going 25 and 50 lap increments in this race, so it didn't really matter."
    The real winner in all this was probably more Harvick's team than even Harvick or Childress or Martin....
    "It's good for our particular group, because this is a fairly new group still from a team standpoint," Harvick said.
    "For us all to win together, it gives you that team bonding you really need. 
     "It gives you a little swagger in your step, that everybody knows they can win. 
     "We got beat-down a little bit in the middle last year.
      "And there's nothing like slinging Budweiser in victory lane that can replace that feeling.
      "It gives those guys confidence --- gives everybody that confidence that we've done it and we can still do it a lot more."

    
    

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