By Jenna Fryer
The Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The fans will stand in silence, three fingers raised toward the sky, on the third lap of the Daytona 500 as a tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt.
The tribute to mark the 10-year anniversary of Earnhardt’s fatal accident is the only certainty going into today’s season-opening Sprint Cup race. Everything from the style of racing, the dominant drivers and what it will take to win NASCAR’s biggest race of the season remained a mystery after one of the more eventful Speedweeks in recent history.
Then again, the drivers have accepted that nothing ever goes as planned leading into the Great American Race.