Daytona will be hot, which could make for an interesting Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night.
“The key is grip, and there is no doubt that the heat does make it easier to hold your line at Daytona,” TNT broadcaster Larry McReynolds said.
McReynolds will host the “Countdown to Green” prerace show with Lindsay Czarniak and Kyle Petty at 6:30 p.m.
The race will start an hour later. Much like the Daytona 500 in February, Saturday’s race will feature tandem drafting, in which drivers pair up nose-to-tail to get an aerodynamic boost.
“What will be important is how the guys plan for this race,” McReynolds said. “We all remember the [Daytona] 500 where we saw guys choosing dance partners, and that will not change. Finding the right partner is really key again at Daytona, and Kyle Busch told me that he was going to work with the first partner who asked. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. worked together at Talladega, and it worked for Jimmie. … We had 77 lead changes in February, so heavens knows what we could see Saturday night, but it will be fun.”
The race will utilize TNT’s “Wide Open Coverage.” The groundbreaking format provides continuous race coverage free of national commercial breaks by using a letterbox widescreen format, which allows for a continuous scroll of race information.
In place of the national ads, the telecast features a variety of animated sponsor messages, unique branded content and distinct on-screen graphic elements.
“Race fans have seen this done on the Indy races before, but Turner Sports was able to set it up with our sponsors to do it for this one race each year,” McReynolds said. “I think that the fans love that they see every lap of the race, and the sponsors benefit because fans won’t tune them out because their spot is in a box next to the live action.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
