As the Sprint Cup Series takes a brief break between qualifying and practices for the Budweiser Duels and Daytona 500, Monday and Tuesday are opportunities for drivers from NASCAR's regional and touring series to take to Daytona.

On Monday night, it was the NASCAR All-American Late Model Series and Kyle Larson spun CE Falk for the win as the two headed towards the checkered flag on the 0.4 mile temporary oval on the Daytona backstretch.

The evening's crashfest finally got an extended green-flag run at the end of the race, and Larson rumpled up his front bumper significantly while racing with Ben Rhodes for second place. At first, when Larson got around Rhodes, it looked like the damage on the front end of his car would be too significant to reel in Falk, but over the next laps, Larson did just that, setting up a great 10 lap battle between the two.

Over those 10 laps, the contact that Larson and Falk had made was nothing more than customary short-track late-lap fender rubbing. But on

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As we count down to the 2013 Daytona 500, we're also counting down how we think the Chase will play out this season as predicted by Nick Bromberg, Jay Busbee, Jay Hart and Geoffrey Miller. So sit back, relax, and watch the 2013 Chase unfold before your very eyes. Though you should be warned, we picked Carl Edwards to win last year.

2012 Finish: 1st. 5 wins (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicago, Dover)

2013 Predictions:
Bromberg: 3rd
Busbee: 2nd
Hart: 4th
Miller: 3rd

Crew Chief: Paul Wolfe

When we last saw Keselowski: Did Keselowski get to have a live interview on SportsCenter after winning the championship? I can't remember. The champ's fuel strategy moves near the end of the race at Homestead proved to be a non-factor as Jimmie Johnson had rear-end gear trouble and Keselowski was able to clinch the championship before the race ended. (For good measure, however, Keselowski finished 15th, good enough to win the championship even if Johnson would have won the race).

Big Question for

Clint waits. (Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Clint Bowyer’s going lion-hunting.

This is not some cheap metaphor about how he’s going to chase down the biggest names in NASCAR. No, he’s literally going lion-hunting. The Monday after the Daytona 500 (unless he wins), Bowyer will head to Arizona to see if he can scare up a mountain lion or two. No, really.

Bowyer does plenty of hunting, even if it’s not always of the bow variety, as you’d think from those omnipresent Five-Hour Energy ads. (“You can’t really be walking around with a rifle in commercials these days.”) He’ll get away in the offseason when he can, and when he can’t, he’ll sneak in a little carnage during the year. (Last year, he bagged an eight-foot gator in Louisiana, and when it was stuffed by a Texas taxidermist, it was too big to fit anywhere but the back of the No. 15 hauler.)

Bowyer is one of the few current drivers you could actually see spending time in a freezing, fog-shrouded hunting blind. And for that reason, he’s one of the few

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As we count down to the 2013 Daytona 500, we're also counting down how we think the Chase will play out this season as predicted by Nick Bromberg, Jay Busbee, Jay Hart and Geoffrey Miller. So sit back, relax, and watch the 2013 Chase unfold before your very eyes. Though you should be warned, we picked Carl Edwards to win last year.

2012 Finish: 6th. 5 wins (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol, Atlanta, New Hampshire)

2013 Predictions:
Bromberg: 4th
Busbee: 1st
Hart: 9th
Miller: 1st

Crew Chief: Darian Grubb

When we last saw Hamlin: He was having a fluky electric failure at Martinsville that ruined his Chase chances. Hamlin is really really good at Martinsville and was really really good on that Sunday, driving through the field twice after pit road speeding penalties and looked like he was going to be able to stay in touch with Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. But then suddenly, his car started sputtering and coasting and eventually had to go to the garage. Hamlin's race and his championship

Antron Brown walked away from a scary and fiery crash as his Top Fuel dragster crossed the finish line in Sunday's first NHRA race of the season at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, CA.

As Brown crossed the finish line after beating Dave Grubnic in the second round of eliminations, his car's engine exploded with so much force that it sent his dragster onto its side and into the far wall on the left side outside of Grubnic's lane and cracked the wall. After hitting the wall, it then skidded down the track, into another wall and into the sand pit at the end of the strip before coming to a stop.

Thankfully, the NHRA Safety Safari crew was able to remove Brown from the car and he went to the ambulance. Brown was treated and released from the care center. Brown's car was equipped with a safety canopy to enclose the cockpit -- a measure that was approved in August of last year.

Danica Patrick has not won the Daytona 500. Yet. (Getty)

Hey Donovan, I'm sure Danica appreciates the sentiment, but you got your facts mixed up.

The former NFL quarterback sent his congratulations to Danica Patrick after she won the pole for the Daytona 500 on Sunday but instead of congratulating her for that achievement, he was a week ahead of himself.

Congrats to the Illinois native Danica Patrick on her win today. The first female to win in a big race with this magnitude. Big win

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) February 17, 2013

Donovan McNabb (Getty)Yes, Patrick is the first female to win a pole in the Sprint Cup Series (and thus the Daytona 500), so it's a historic achievement. But the Daytona 500 is next week.

And outside of the fact that McNabb got his Danica Patrick accomplishments mixed up, does anyone else think that tweet looks like it came straight out of translating software with phrases like "the Illinois native Danica Patrick" and "win in a big race with this magnitude"? Or is that just us?

McNabb played 11 seasons with the Eagles and then

Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a Sprint Cup Series pole Sunday. (Getty)

A year after making her Sprint Cup Series debut in the same race, Danica Patrick will lead the field to the green flag for the Daytona 500 after qualifying on the pole during Sunday's front row qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.

It wasn't necessarily a surprise. Patrick posted the fastest speed of Saturday's two qualifying practices and ran slightly faster during her second qualifying lap on Sunday, knocking owner and teammate Tony Stewart from the provisional pole. She's the first woman to win a pole position in Sprint Cup Series history.

Patrick, who went out 8th of 45 drivers, had to withstand challenges from her other teammate, Ryan Newman, and Jeff Gordon, who will start alongside her on the front row. Patrick's speed was 33 thousandths of a second faster than Gordon's.

[More NASCAR: Kevin Harvick's slick final-turn moves prove difference in Sprint Unlimited]

Perhaps most importantly, Patrick's qualifying run means she doesn't have to worry about qualifying for

Just like in Friday's first practice session, it didn't take long for a crash to happen after the green flag dropped in Saturday's Sprint Unlimited.

As Tony Stewart followed Matt Kenseth into turns one and two on lap 16, he dove to the bottom to get in front of Marcos Ambrose but didn't have enough room. Stewart's left rear quarterpanel made contact with Ambrose's right front fender and Ambrose checked up and drifted up the racetrack.

But consequences of that contact were felt behind the two as Stewart saved his car as it slid onto the apron and Ambrose drove away. Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson were three wide just behind and as Hamlin and Johnson made contact in reaction to the contact ahead of them, the crash was on.

"I didn’t see much," Johnson said. "I was just kind of cruising along and I saw sparks in front of me. I knew that wasn’t good. Then before I knew it just the cars inside of me and around me everybody just slid up the race track and into me and around we