Daytona 500 - Mike Bliss Notes

Mike Bliss will make his 36th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start when the green flag drops for the Daytona 500 February 20th.

BLISS ON THE DAYTONA 500."We've spent a lot of time preparing for this season and it's finally here, and we think we're ready. It's always exciting and still a bit scary to make a change like I have this season, - coming from the Busch Series to make another run in NEXTEL Cup - but I feel good about this opportunity. We had a chance to work together for a couple of races last season and we had a pretty good test in Daytona so I feel optimistic about the way things will go when we get there. We tested a brand new car and decided to bring it back for the race. It's a better car in the draft than it is alone, so qualifying may not be our strong suit, but the way things work for the Daytona 500 with the qualifying races on Thursday you obviously want a car that will be as strong as it can be in race trim. Our Hendrick power is second to none and Bootie and the guys have built a solid car for the draft. Our goal isn't to go out there and win the Daytona 500, though I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice, but we want to come out of the box strong this season and be able to put together strong, consistent, solid performances everywhere we go. We're so happy to have NetZero back on board and we hope we can really show Best Buy what we are capable of both on the track and off starting in Daytona and continuing throughout the season."

DAYTONA NOTES OF INTEREST