It seemed just yesterday we were just getting ready for the season opening Daytona 500 and here we are back for the annual 4th of July visit to the World Center of Racing. Daytona truly is one of the big spectacles during the Sprint Cup season and a pivotal point as the Chase is getting closer and closer.

Carl Edwards’ consistency in 2011 has kept him at the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings all year long while Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon were the big gainers at Sonoma as they moved into fourth and ninth respectively. Reed Sorenson remains in control of the Nationwide point battle after scoring his first series victory since 2007 at Road America last week.

On track action begins Thursday with a full day of practice for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars. The Nationwide Series have two practice sessions with the first at 2:30 p.m. on SPEED and final practice at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The Sprint Cup cars take to the track at 4 p.m. and again at 6:35 p.m. Both Sprint Cup practice sessions can be seen live on SPEED.

Friday kicks off at 2 p.m. with Nationwide qualifying on ESPN2 followed by Coke Zero 400 qualifying at 4 p.m. live on SPEED. The day wraps up under the lights with ESPN’s live coverage of the Subway Jalapeno 250 at 7:30 p.m. with driver introductions taking place at 7 p.m.

A return to Daytona signals the return of TNT’s Wide Open Coverage of the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the Countdown to Green.

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