***NASCAR Pepsi 400 at Daytona on NBC at 4pm PT / 7pm ET***

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR race fans attending this weekend's NASCAR and Grand-American Road Racing Series events at Daytona International Speedway -- or even those watching on television -- had better keep their eyes open.

There's no telling whom they might see, or who might decide to show up at the "World Center of Racing."

It seems that Winston Cup racing has become a magnet for celebrities of all manner, and Daytona is one of its brightest beacons. Thus, speedway president Robin Braig never knows who's going to show up at his office, or drop a quick call.

"You know, it's kind of neat when you're running an event of this kind, of this magnitude," Braig said. "You'll get a lot of phone calls from all kinds of people.

"They not only want to be seen, and to promote their record label, or album or their latest movie, but they want to come to the race, as well, and we try to accommodate them all.

"I think that's part of the (fans') experience, when you come to a major sporting event like the Pepsi 400 or the Daytona 500. You want to see the superstars and it's kind of nice to see them (celebrities) wanting to come around."

During Speedweeks 2003 at the speedway in February, a diverse lineup that included world heavyweight champion boxer Evander Holyfield, former NBA player Artis Gilmore, woman's tennis standout Serena Williams, actor John Travolta, skateboarder Tony Hawk, comedian Wayne Brady and pop diva Mariah Carey.

The hits will keep on coming at the Pepsi 400, when NFL Super Bowl champion defensive lineman and Florida native Warren Sapp; supermodel Angie Everhart, who has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Glamour and Time magazines; and RCA recording artist, Sara Evans are part of the festivities.

Sapp and Everhart will add "Grand Marshal" to their list of distinguished accomplishments when they give the command to fire engines to the 43-car field of Winston Cup drivers and lead the field to the green flag, respectively, on Saturday at the Pepsi 400.

Evans, whose single "Born to Fly" propelled her to the top of the Country Music Charts and garnered rave reviews in Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times, will perform a pre-race concert on the speedway's frontstretch and will also sing the National Anthem prior to the Pepsi 400 before a national television audience and tens of thousands of race fans.

"Having Warren, Angie and Sara as part of our exciting weekend at the World Center of Racing proves once again Daytona and Pepsi are committed to putting on a spectacular show," Daytona International Speedway president Robin Braig said. "We are thrilled to have them on site to help us celebrate our 45th annual event."

Sapp will give the command, "Gentlemen, start your engines" at the event that will be nationally televised in prime time by NBC Sports, while Everhart will get the race underway by leading the field from the Pontiac Grand Marshal car.

The Central Florida native, one of the most feared and intimidating figures in the NFL, has been the point man for arguably the league's most dominant defense over the past six seasons.

He has been selected to six consecutive Pro Bowls, joining Lee Roy Selmon as the only Buccaneers linemen to earn repeat nominations to the game.

Everhart, whose lengthy and impressive resume includes supermodel as well as television and film roles, began her modeling career at the age of 16. In addition to her recurring role on the NBC action-drama "UC: Undercover," the versatile Everhart, who is fluent in French, was cast in the NBC TV miniseries "First To Die," which aired in February 2003.

Evans' current single "Backseat Of A Greyhound Bus," is currently at No. 18 on R&R and Billboard's Country Singles Chart and her new project, "Restless," is slated to hit stores Aug. 19.

On Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, Evans will perform Born To Fly and participate in a question and answer session with guests inside the Daytona Club, a special fan hospitality area located behind the Winston Tower on the track's frontstretch.

Evans will also perform a pre-race concert on the speedway's trioval at approximately 5:40 p.m. To get an up-close view of the concert fans can purchase Pre-Race Infield Passes for $50.

For more information on joining the Daytona Club, contact the Sales and Marketing Partnerships at (386) 947-6475.

As of midweek, Braig wasn't sure what calls he was going to take, or who was going to decide to come to the speedway for the Independence Day holiday event.

"You can be walking around and not know who you're going to run into," Braig said. "Last Speedweeks, Holyfield just showed up -- didn't call ahead, ask for tickets or anything.

"Darn it, we would have gotten him tickets, but you just never know (who'll show up)."

Sorry for the late reply.

"Is there al alternative to restrictor plates that keep the cars on the ground at 220 when they get out of shape?"

Roof flaps are one, and they have worked to an extent. Other than that, I don't know.

"I believe it was Bobby Allison's ride into the fence on the front stretch at Talledega that made NASCAR clamp the plate on, right?"

That and other aerial ballets.

"Would allowing more weight stabilize the cars?"

I'm no scientist, but a cup car is wedge shaped tapering from front to back, opposite an airplane wing. If the cars get backwards at speed, they lift. IMHO Adding weight wouldn't help much.

"Super speedway racing is just plain boring, under the current setup."

It can be. I hate them, as do most of the drivers and crews.

IMHO...I don't know if they should go back to the days of 215 mph laps, but cutting the cars down to 185 is ridiculous. Especially when they avg 195 at the much smaller and tighter Atlanta track. If they can go that fast at Atlanta, then they can go that fast at Daytona.

As a long time Dale Earnhardt fan I want to agree with you, viligantcitizen, that Sterling was not at fault for the fatal crash. Everything combined for a perfect storm in that crash. Sterling was below and there were three cars side by side going up the track up with Ken Schrader high. Earnhardt bumped Marlin causing his car to fishtail. If the three cars lined up side-by-side hadn't been so close to Dale's rear, he probably would've had the air to recover. If Schrader hadn't been in the exact spot he was at, Dale would not have been turned into the wall so hard and would not have hit so hard on the front corner, a type of crash that claimed three other drivers that year.

And the camera angle is misleading. If there would've been a camera down the track, it would've better represented how fast Dale was going relative to the wall when he impacted. It was very hard impact so I don't believe that repositioning the belts or a full face helmet would've saved him, but that's a speculation and you could easily be right about this point rather than I. I mention this because I hope that the tracks can go to soft walls as quickly as possible to save the drivers from these right corner impacts that will occur from time to time. I hope they can get them installed before the next impact of this sort.

Thanks for the bump, Norm. I was fit to be tied last night, I couldn't believe there wasn't a caution for that many laps.

Let me put in a vote for Benny, he's always been one of my favorite announcers. Bestwick's OK too. Wally needs to quit nitpicking on Bestwick though, I think Bestwick is genuinely peeved by it. LOL

"You here or there?"

I was there...it was so doggone hot I was sweating saltwater by the time it was over and I didn't even get to go to the BEACH! ;-0

That was one of the weirdest races I've ever seen. By the end, I didn't know who was where or why they were there or how they got there. The biggest question of the night appeared to be this one:

"WHO THE %$#%! IS #16? ANYONE GOT A PROGRAM???"

I was thoroughly amused by some of the antics on pit road...we sit right at the end, so we get some great sideshows. The NASCAR official that holds the "STOP AND GO" sign had a few drivers try to kill him....several times. Actually, several times the same driver tried to kill him...he nearly got run over by Kurt Busch.

But, of course, the most fun was watching 200,000 people (give or take 50,000) try to stagger out of the stands..one guy fell head first down three rows. Ouch.

I hate when that happens...

Sorry for the late comments, but I want to add a few.

1. The "episode" with the hood was hushed up so fast by the media that if you didn't catch it on the scanner (if you were at the race that is) you wouldn't have known it even happened. Hubby heard it from Rusty's spotter and we looked left and you could see people just running over to the area. Never heard about the woman, I heard about 1 man that had been taken to Halifax after being hit with the hood.

2. The "RAT" who's campaigning for president is none other than Bob Graham of Florida. What team did he use? Roush Racing, that's who. He is (and will be) sponsoring the #50 truck of Roush Racing in the NASCAR Craftman Truck Series. Read yesterday that the amount he's paying won't be released until he has to file. Surprise surprise! Mark Martin is about the only driver who isn't a Bush fan. I was thinking that I might call him and tell him how much I loved the truck but that he should go for a Busch team since they get so much more coverage. ROFLOL...Can you imagine how funny that would be? His ego is so fragile he might just do it. ;-)

3. The funniest thing I heard all night was the interview that MRN Radio did with Warren Sapp somewhere near the middle or end of the race. He was talking about how much he loved racing (?) and his experience meeting Jeff Gordon in the garage area:

"People say to me all the time that I don't look as big in person as I do on TV. But...I met Jeff Gordon today and he is really small...I'm talking he's appetizer size...."

I was ROFLMAO....

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	Evander Holyfield Credit: AP