The 2009 online NASCAR betting season countdown to green is underway, which revs up with the 51st running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. The Great American Race is NASCAR's ''Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing'' and Sprint Cup's biggest event. The Daytona 500 is the most prestigious race on the NASCAR wagering calendar that annually begins the 36-race season.

BetPhoenix NASCAR odds are giving Hendrick Motorsports drivers enormous respect to win this year's Daytona 500, listing Jeff Gordon at +700 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. +600. Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing is the odds on favorites at +500. The 2008 and three-peat champion Jimmie Johnson is oddsmakers fourth choice priced at +900 to take the checkers in 51st running of The Great American Race. If you bet on NASCAR, BetPhoenix is buckled up to place you into Victory Lane throughout the season.

Before getting to all your Daytona 500 betting goods, newcomers to the sport of betting NASCAR online should know The Great American Race is the only event of the year that uses a unique format for qualifying to set the starting grid of 43 cars. Here's a brief overview of the qualifying events.

Qualifying Procedure for the Gatorade Duels/Daytona 500:

Daytona 500 Pole Day on Sunday, Feb. 8 (1:10pm EST: FOX) “locks in” the first two positions – the front row – for the Daytona 500. It also establishes the starting orders for the Gatorade Duel at Daytona, which are two 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 to be held on Thursday, Feb. 12 (2:00pm EST: SPEED).

The fastest car earns the pole for the Daytona 500 AND the pole for the first Gatorade Duel race. The second-fastest car earns the outside pole for the Daytona 500 AND the pole for the second Gatorade Duel race. These two 150-mile qualifying races set positions 3-39 for the Daytona 500.

The final four spots in the 43-car field will be based on the Daytona Pole Day qualifying speeds of cars that have not already earned a starting position. Note: Cars that finished in the top 35 in the car owner point standings at the end of last season automatically make the Daytona 500 field.

Who To Watch For?—Jeff Gordon (+500)—After six wins in 2007, Gordon failed to post a win during last season for the first time since his 1993 rookie year. However, he made last season's Chase and started in tenth. The problem seems to be Gordon's still not comfortable in the COT. Though, being Jimmie Johnson's teammate at Hendrick, he's most likely only one step from returning to his winning ways by catching up to the COT program.

We certainly know the four-time champ has the talent to make the adjustments. Gordon is probably going to benefit the most from the offseason, because time away will help him rejuvenate himself mentally, provide the opportunity to share team notes, do some testing and allow him to put the 2008 season in his rear-view mirror. He'll begin the season at Daytona riding a 41-race winless streak, however, oddsmakers are still giving him a lot of respect to start this season strong by winning The Great American Race, having him priced among the favorites to win the prestigious race.

Looking For A Long Shot?—Carl Edwards (+1200)—Edwards started second and was runner-up in the Chase, finishing with an overall Sprint Cup series-best nine wins. Incidentally, he finished second in the Nationwide Series standings, too. He was on eventual three-peat champion Johnson's bumper throughout the Chase and in terms of 2008 regular-season stats he was better than Johnson in several major categories, including series-bests top-5's (19), top-10's (27) average of finish (9.5), most laps ran on lead lap (9993) and finished with the highest driver ranking of 108.6.

What To Know: With less than two weeks remaining before the command of ''Gentlemen, start your engines!'' is given to begin the 51st Daytona 500, what you need to know is now. A lot of shuffling and merging took place during the brief off-season, including three major mergers of teams. The Stewart-Haas' new two-car team of Stewart and Newman came as no surprise since the announcement of the new team was made during mid-season of 2008.

The newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing was a surprise, which will send DEI's Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola's to join forces with Ganassi's No. 41 (Driver TBA) and No. 42 of Juan Pablo Montoya. The Ganassi cars will make the switch from Dodges to Chevrolets.

Petty Enterprises as it has been known no longer exists, as NASCAR's most storied franchise of 60 years that won 10 Sprint Cup titles between Richard (7) and his father, Lee (3), merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports to form what will be named Richard Petty Motorsports. A.J Allmendinger recently joined Richard Petty Motorsports' teammates Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorenson.

While the three mergers are official, there's still a lot of driver shuffling going on. There will be numerous deals and signings over the next week, leaving several unknowns. However, here's some information and tid-bits that is known as the countdown to green is underway.

—Larry Gunselman, who won races in the old Winston West Series and its most popular driver award in 1996, has formed a new team along with veteran brothers, Geoff and Todd Bodine—Gunselman Motorsports. Geoff Bodine will drive the #64 Toyota entrant in an attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500.

—A new team called Prism Motorsports will call on two-time Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte to qualify for the 500 in a Toyota. Prism Motorsports, co-owned by former NASCAR driver Phil Parson and Randy Humphrey, plans to compete in the full Cup schedule in 2009 with Dave Blaney taking over the driving duties after Daytona.

—David Gilliland will be left out of the 500. Yates Racing co-owner Doug Yates says that David Gilliland remains under contract with the organization this season, though he does not have a Sprint Cup entry for Gilliland to drive. Gilliland, 32, drove full time for the team last season, finishing 27th in driver points and 28th in owners points. Those have been moved to the #96 team with Bobby Labonte, through an alliance with Hall of Fame Racing.

—Travis Kvapil, who finished 23rd in the driver standings in 2009, is still driving the #28 but is not guaranteed a full schedule this season as the organization continues to seek sponsorship and will most like also miss the 500. His points have been moved to the #98 of Paul Menard.

—A driver that will be in The Great American Race is 18-year old Joey Logano, who will pilot the #20 Home Depot. He will make history as the youngest driver to start a Daytona 500. If Logano can put the Joe Gibbs Racing machine into Victory Lane in his first Daytona 500 start, he will surpass Gordon as the youngest driver to ever do so. Gordon won his first Daytona 500 as a rookie back in 1997 at the age of 25. If you bet on NASCAR, keep an eye on this young driver who's receiving high praise from the biggest names in the business, as becoming the next brightest star since Gordon.

With all the shuffling of drivers, here's a list of drivers with new rides and sponsors:

—No. 07: Casey Mears (Jack Daniels)
—No. 8: Aric Almorola (Sponsor TBA)
—No. 12: David Stremme (Alltel)
—No. 13: Max Papis (Geico)
—No. 14: Tony Stewart (Old Spice/Office Depot)
—No. 15: Marc Davis (BobCat/Howard University)
—No. 20: Joey Lagano (Home Depot/Farm Bureau)
—No. 33: Clint Bowyer (General Mills)
—No. 36: Scott Riggs (Sponsor TBA)
—No. 39: Ryan Newman (US Army)
—No. 43: Reed Sorenson (Multiple Sponsors)
—No. 44: AJ Allendinger (Multiple Sponsors)
—No. 47: Marcos Ambrose (Little Debbie/Clorox/Kingsford)
—No. 78: Regan Smith (Furniture Row)
—No. 82: Scott Speed (Red Bull)
—No. 96: Bobby Labonte (Ask.com)
—No. 98: Paul Menard (Menards)

NASCAR Wagering Tips—A great deal of information can be obtained from NASCAR Now, which can be seen daily on ESPN2. NASCAR Now returned to the air for its third season on Monday, Feb. 2, to coincide with the beginning of the 2009 NASCAR racing season. To get more in-depth information on car's strengths, or lack thereof, and insight from driver's interviews be sure to watch qualify for each event.

Lee Petty, father of ''The King'' Richard, won the inaugural running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959, pocketing a winner's purse of $19,050. Last year, Ryan Newman won the notorious spectacle and took home a cool $1,543,045. That's a testimony of the sport's growth and popularity of wagering NASCAR online, because of the excitement and money-making odds.