DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR's Nationwide Series teams will take to the high banks of Daytona Friday night for the running of the Subway Jalapeno 250, powered by Coca Cola. In addition to the excitement that always comes with a Daytona race, the Nationwide teams will also be taking on double file restarts for the first time ever.

SOME NOTES OF INTEREST.

Have you ever noticed how the entertainment media has a tendency to combine the names of a super star couple to give them a unique, but often silly, nick name? For example actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were dubbed "Brangelina."

What's that got to do with NASCAR? Well it seems that two team mates from Joe Gibbs Racing-JGR has recently been given a unique, but silly, nick name. It's hardly any surprise or secret that Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have been completely dominating the Nationwide Series as of late. Because of their mutual performances they now have been dubbed "Bugano."

JGR has won three of the last four races as well as two of the last three Nationwide Series events at Daytona. They've also won four of the last five poles in qualifying. "Bugano" has finished one-two three times already this season.

Kyle Busch is running for the championship in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. He has been the Nationwide Series points leader for approximately ten weeks now. Joey Logano is running the Sprint Cup full time and 22 races in the Nationwide Series. Despite already missing three events he's still fifth in the standings. Look for "Bugano" to be very tough competition Friday night.
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Fan Favorite Dale Earnhardt will be making another Nationwide Series appearance at Daytona in the #5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Fastenal will be the primary sponsor. He will be, of course be joining red hot team mate Brad Keselowski in the JR Motorsports #88. Perhaps someone can dub them "Earnlowski."
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Kasey Kahne will be making a rare Nationwide Series appearance for Richard Petty Motorsports who recently launched a five race alliance with Braun Racing. Daytona will be the second of those five events. McDonalds' McCafe brand will be the primary sponsor on the Braun prepared Toyota.
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Kerry Earnhardt, the eldest son of Dale Sr, will be making a rare Nationwide Series appearance and will drive the #31 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. Liberty Port IT & Telecommunications has signed on to sponsor the effort in this race.
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Nationwide Series veteran Jason Keller will be honoring the anniversary of Richard Petty's historic 200th Sprint Cup win with a special paint scheme on his #27 Ford. The car will be painted grabber blue and neon orange which was the same scheme used on Petty's STP Pontiac. Mike Curb is the owner of Keller's ride and also owned the car that Petty drove to his 200th win.
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Keep a sharp eye on driver Michael McDowell in the #47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota Friday night.. Sadly he's going to have to drive his guts out in hopes of enticing new sponsorship. JTG-D has already said that if a new sponsor isn't found really soon they may have to park the team.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN

The races is 100 laps/250 miles around Daytona's massive two mile tri oval.

The race has 46 entries meaning three teams will be sent home. There are 15 entries on the "go or go home" list meaning these teams do not have a guaranteed starting berth and will have to make the race based on qualifying speed.

The entry list for this race also has 12 "insurance whackers" or full time NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. This group is led by Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards who are running both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series full time.

Denny Hamlin, from Joe Gibbs Racing, is defending race champion. However he will not be in the field for the race.

Michael Waltrip topped the speed charts during Thursday morning's first practice session, in his Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, with a speed of 185.491 MPH. Later in the day David Ragan, in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, topped the speed charts at the conclusion of the final happy hour practice with a lap of 182.626 MPH.

The battle for the series' prestigious Raybestos Brakes Rookie of the Year title is about as close as it can get. Brendan Gaughan, from Rusty Wallace Racing, goes into Friday night's race with a oh so close one point lead over Justin Allgaier from Penske Racing.

With Toyota's recent dominance in the Nationwide Series, largely from Joe Gibbs Racing, they now lead the series' manufacturer's points standings with 110. Chevrolet is second at 97 followed by Ford with 94 and Dodge at 51 points.

The Subway Jalapeno 250, powered by Coca Cola, will be broadcast live Friday by ESPN2 beginning at 730pm eastern time. Re broadcasts will be at 3am Saturday morning eastern, also on ESPN2, and again at 12 noon eastern Saturday on ESPN Classic.