Today marks the 50th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. There are certainly plenty of storylines to follow down by the beach this afternoon from the new (and seemingly improved) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to the rise of Toyota in NASCAR. ESPN highlights the fact that very few of the men who have won the first race of the season have gone on to win the Cup title in the same year.

For those of us in Virginia, however, the story might be whether another native of the Commonwealth can win the Daytona 500 for the first time since Ward Burton became the first Virginian to achieve the feat back in 2002.

Here's your Virginia driver rooting guide:

# Name Make Sponsor
11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEX
19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy
31 Jeff Burton Chevy AT&T

I'm also interested to see the performance of Scottish native Dario Franchitti, also known as Mr. Ashley Judd, who won the Indy 500 last year.

Let's get racing. Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!