'11 NASCAR Driver Countdown Recap

The Daytona 500 is right around the corner - and after that little football game that still needs to be played - the Great American Race is the next marquee sporting event on the sports junkie's calendar.

To kickoff our 2011 NASCAR coverage, Athlon Sports is counting down to the start of the 2011 Sprint Cup season with a top-30 driver countdown. Each driver profile offers a driver bio, in-depth 'state of the franchise' analysis, predictions for 2011, quotes from around the garage and past statistics. 

Athlon Racing Editor Matt Taliaferro will release two drivers per day until after the Super Bowl, where he will release the top ten drivers for 2011 one per day leading into Speed Weeks.

Keep track of the Athlon Sprint Cup driver countdown here until No. 1 is released on Feb. 18:

Mon., Jan. 24th: No. 29 David Ragan and No. 30 David Gilliland
Tues., Jan. 25th: No. 27 Bobby Labonte and No. 28 Marcos Ambrose
Wed., Jan. 26th: No. 25 Paul Menard and No. 26 Regan Smith
Thur., Jan. 27th: No. 23 David Reutimann and No. 24 A.J. Allmendinger
Fri., Jan. 28th: No. 21 Kasey Kahne and No. 22 Brian Vickers

Mon., Jan. 31st: No. 19 Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 20 Brad Keseloswki
Tues., Feb. 1st: No. 17 Jeff Burton and No. 18 Ryan Newman
Wed., Feb. 2nd: No. 15 Mark Martin and No. 16 Kurt Busch
Thur., Feb. 3rd: No. 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. and No. 14 Jamie McMurray
Fri., Feb. 4th: No. 11 Kevin Harvick and No. 12 Denny Hamlin

Mon., Feb. 7th: No. 10 Martin Truex Jr.
Tues., Feb. 8th No. 9 Joey Logano
Wed., Feb. 9th: No. 8 Matt Kenseth
Thur., Feb. 10th: No. 7 Greg Biffle
Fri., Feb. 11th: No. 6 Kyle Busch

Mon., Feb. 14th: No. 5 Tony Stewart
Tues., Feb. 15th: No. 4 Clint Bowyer
Wed., Feb. 16th: No. 3 Jeff Gordon
Thur., Feb. 17th: No. 2 Carl Edwards
Fri., Feb. 18th: No. 1 Jimmie Johnson