ESPN analyst Andy Petree says he expects Roush Racing driver Carl Edwards to be the man to beat for the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series driving championship and that Toyota’s new entry will be “formidable” in competition on the series. Petree will be part of ESPN’s broadcast booth as it televises the entire NASCAR Busch Series season this year, starting with Saturday’s opening event at Daytona International Speedway.

The Daytona race telecast on ESPN2 will start at noon ET with NASCAR Busch Series Countdown followed by the race start at 1:15 p.m. Twenty-nine of the 35 races on the NASCAR Busch Series season this year will be on ESPN2 with six select races televised by ESPN on ABC, the first time in the 26-year history of the series that all events will be aired by the same company.

“Carl Edwards looks like the hands-down favorite for the championship,” said Petree, winner of two NASCAR Cup championships as a crew chief with the late Dale Earnhardt. “I really see Carl being the guy that they’re trying to knock off. The Roush team has tremendous depth and Carl is a great race car driver. He’s due to do some great things.”

Petree, who drove some races on the NASCAR Busch Series and helped form a team for driver Dale Jarrett that competed on the series in its inaugural season, also doesn’t discount a repeat championship by Kevin Harvick, who ran away with the series title last year and won by more than 800 points.

“Harvick says he’s not going to run for the championship this year although I don’t believe him, at least not yet,” said Petree. “I think he’ll miss a few races but I don’t know that he won’t change his mind later if he has some really good races and is still within striking distance. I can see him doing that.”

Petree also expects a triumphant return to NASCAR Busch Series racing by Bobby Hamilton, Jr. “Bobby had kind of a rough season in the NEXTEL Cup Series last year but he was really good in the Busch Series,” said Petree. “If he can come back where he left off, he could challenge for the championship. And he will win some races.”

There will be three times this season when Edwards and other fulltime NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers who also race on the NASCAR Busch Series will have to literally be in two places at once when races for the two series are scheduled on different days at different tracks in different parts of North America on the same weekend. One will include trips from the Cup event at Infineon Raceway near San Francisco to the Busch race at The Milwaukee Mile.

“It’s got to be really hard and exhausting,” said Petree. “Those are long days and nights, but that kind of plays into the hands of someone like Carl Edwards because he’s in such great physical condition. And as a crew chief I’m selfish, I want my guy there all the time and don’t want him thinking about anything else.

“But there’s another side to that because the guys that are doing this really like running those races,” he said. “And all these laps and races helps build momentum. The momentum from winning a Busch race on Saturday carries over to Sunday for the Cup race. That happened with Harvick last year.”

Toyota, which raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series the past two years and is entering the Cup and Busch Series this year, is having its early problems in the Cup Series but Petree expects the new entrant to be strong in the Busch Series because it will be running the same engine that it uses in the Trucks. “Toyota was really tough in the Truck Series last year,” he said. “Their engines are really good, and that engine package coming to the Busch Series is going to help those teams that are running Toyota. Dave Blaney and Jason Leffler are running Toyotas and could take advantage of that. This Toyota engine will be very formidable.”

Petree will share the booth analyst role on ESPN’s NASCAR coverage with 1989 NASCAR Cup champion driver Rusty Wallace. Jerry Punch will be the lead announcer. Pit reporters will be Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro.

“ESPN has made such a commitment to covering the Busch Series and elevating it from not just a day before the Cup race race but to its own big stage,” he said. “I think that’s going propel the Busch Series to be able to grow and have another big jump.”

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