PATRICK OR PETTY?: NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot, which first aired in February 2006, opened the 2010 season with its highest Nielsen ratings of all time. Serving as the pre-race show for the Budweiser Shootout, RaceDay scored an average Household Rating of 1.87 (1,402,000 households). Handed a great lead-in from the stock car racing debut of Danica Patrick in the ARCA Racing Series opener, RaceDay grew its audience throughout the broadcast, peaking at a 1.92 (1,439,000 households) in the last 15 minutes. The show also marked the debut of Kyle Petty, who joins John Roberts, Kenny Wallace, Wendy Venturini and Hermie Sadler on the NASCAR RaceDay crew for the 2010 season.

The RaceDay telecast was up 18 percent from 2009 (1.87 vs. 1.58) and up 27 percent with Men 35-54 (2.05 vs. 1.62) compared to the ’09 Bud Shootout edition.

NASCAR RaceDay returns tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. ET to kick off SPEED’s coverage of the Gatorade Duel at Daytona. In addition, SPEEDtv.com has a new NASCAR RaceDay branded micro-site that will include a stage locator and weekend planner, online community hosting and photography from each event.

TWO-SCREEN EXPERIENCE: To complement SPEED’s live and exclusive coverage of the Gatorade Duel at Daytona tomorrow at 2 PM ET, NASCAR.com will offer RaceBuddy, an animated character that brings fans closer to the race action with in-car audio and live feeds from four camera angles: two In-Car Cameras, Battle Cam, Backstretch Cam and a Mosaic View. RaceBuddy

TUNNEL VISION: Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain returns for an eighth season this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. As Wind Tunnel closes in on 500 episodes, Despain has his eyes on several stories heading onto 2010:

“Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula One is a huge story worldwide, less so in the United States because Formula One doesn’t have quite the traction it does in other parts of the world,” Despain said. “The future of IndyCar racing without Tony George, who essentially divided the sport in 1996 and now is gone from any significant role in the sport other than his car owner role. How will they do? That’s a continuing story but a very big development. And then Jimmie Johnson – how long will his reign continue? What he has done is phenomenal and I don’t know what comes next after phenomenal. That certainly is the biggest story in NASCAR, which by extension, I think makes it the biggest story in American motor racing.”

SPEEDtv.com OPENS SPEED FANTASY RACING: The Cup Edition of the newly formed SPEED Fantasy Racing game will be played over three seasons (spring, summer & fall), with participants selecting three drivers per race weekend from three defined groups. On-air personalities from SPEED’s popular pre-race show, NASCAR RaceDay, will participate in the game, highlighting their weekly Sunoco Performance Picks on-air before each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. For more information or to sign up, visit: cupedition.speedfantasyracing.com.

NEW NASCAR ON SPEED SHOWS LOCKED & LOADED: Several new NASCAR shows, including Jimmy Spencer’s Monday night premiere on What’s the Deal?, are scheduled to make their debuts following the Daytona 500 weekend:

•What’s the Deal? – Feb. 15 (8:30 p.m. ET)

•NASCAR in A Hurry Monday Edition - Feb. 15 (8 p.m. ET)

• Race in 60 – Feb. 16 (8 p.m. ET)

•Sounds of NASCAR – March 1 (Time TBA)

•The Racing Chef – March 1 (Time TBA)