It is at once the longest single race week and shortest single season of them all. That is, after all, what makes it so special.

For a solid month-and-a-half, NASCAR Winston Cup Series teams bust their rears preparing for what is technically just the season's first of 36 races -- the Daytona 500. Really, though, the race is it's own mini-slate called Speedweeks, which spans nine days from the initial qualifying session to the actual show.

	Michael Waltrip won the 2001 Daytona 500.

Down there, the rules teams race under, the cars they drive and the attitudes they bring with them are all different from anything you see the rest of the season.

And when the six weeks is up, one driver will have captured the most sought-after checkered flag in stock-car racing, while 42 others throw all that work out the window and focus on getting started on a new year.

"When you're done with the Daytona 500, you pull into Rockingham (N.C.) the next weekend and that's when you turn to your buddies and ask about what they did in the off-season. You don't talk about that stuff at Daytona because it doesn't feel like a new season there," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "Daytona is it's own thing. You put a season's worth of energy just getting through that. It's a big deal, so you work hard. But nothing you do down there helps you with the rest of your year."

It is the only race of the year like that. Most events build off each other at least a little, but preparation for the Daytona 500 is hands down the most taxing work a team will do for a single race all year.

They'll lobby to have the rules tweaked, even though those efforts won't help them at most tracks. They'll spend weeks assembling and polishing a "superspeedway" car that meet Daytona's unique specifications. They'll spend months mulling over what the week will be like and how to navigate it successfully. And they'll spend years chasing a victory in this small beach town.

That's why that tri-oval-shaped trophy is so coveted. A team will have invested more effort by go-time on Sunday, Feb.17 than it will during the next three race weeks combined.

"You put that much into anything and you're going to want it so bad you'll hurt," said Earnhardt Jr., who finished second in last year's Daytona 500. "That's why the race is so thrilling for fans to watch. We're out there fighting for every little position because we're not going to let all that work go to waste."

It is a phenomenon unmatched in sport -- the pinacle of the season serving also as its preface. But for a group that gets its kicks at 7,000 rpm, the only way to get juiced for a new year is to start fast. Zero to 180 before the nuts and bolts are even tightened for the long-haul.

"That's the best way to do it," Dale Jarrett said. "You come off a short offseason and it's right back at it in the biggest way imagineable. The most exciting way to start any season is with a bang. For every other race, you'll work three days in the shop and three days at the track, and you're tired after all that. With the 500, you could work for a year and your heart's still pumping because you can't wait to see how you'll do."

For a car owner, however, preparing a team for the Daytona 500 is an exhausting task. Just ask Jack Roush, who oversees a five-car stable of drivers. Not only must you iron out strategies for a new year, Roush says, but you have to get your driver to focus while the circus atmosphere of Daytona abounds all around.

"It can be a distracting atmosphere," Roush said. "People say it isn't the start of the season, but it is. Those points count just the same when the championship standings are done. But while you're trying to talk to your driver about the race, he's got a million other side shows on his mind."

This year's affair will be no different with all its exhibitions. The Winston Cup week will begin Saturday with qualifying for just the top two spots, the pole position and outside pole, for the race. On Sunday, the Bud Shootout will feature pole winners from 2001.

On Feb. 14, the rest of the Winston Cup drivers will fight for the remaining invitations to the 500-mile dance by running in two 125-mile qualifying races. Then, after NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and IROC races on the Feb. 15 and a NASCAR Busch Series event on Feb. 16, the date will finally arrive. One would think they were on a treadmill striding toward Feb. 17 it will take so long to arrive, but when it does ...

"You've worked so hard and you've waited so long, it's the most exhilerating feeling in the world," said Dave Marcis, who this year will attempt to qualify for a record 33rd Daytona 500. "There's nothing like it. When it's done, and you won the Daytona 500, it doesn't matter what happened the rest of the year. You are the Daytona 500 winner."

You've already won a season's worth of spoils in and of itself.

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for the Raleigh News and Observer.