Coke Zero 400 is underway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. _ The Coke Zero 400 is underway. Pole sitter Martin Truex is leading the race after 12 laps. This is the 18th race of NASCAR's grueling 36-race season and already, it seems, some drivers are starting to feel the affects of the stifling heat down here at Daytona International Speedway.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, apparently was feeling ill shortly after making an apperance on TNT's ``NASCAR Live'' and went to the infield car center to have an IV administered.

The extra fluids seemed to work. Stewart was running fifth on Lap 16 after starting the race 17th.

Before the race actor Kevin Costner, who has a comedy ``Swing Vote'' due out Aug. 1, held a question-and-answer session with the media. Costner was at the Speedway with his band, Modern West, to play a pre-race concert.

A veteran of three baseball movies, Costner was asked if his trip to Daytona might inspire a NASCAR-themed movie. ``I hadn't thought about that, but I hadn't though about the other three, either. They just came along. They weren't really baseball movies, although people think of them that way, they were about men and women. Obviously, the best movies are about men and women. When somebody makes a great movie that involves NASCAR, trust me, it will be about a man and a woman, set against the backdrop of your sport. If it's a great movie, you'll feel the texture of your sport. If it's an average movie, they're just going to get what's obvious about your sport. I would be very cautious about a movie about NASCAR because it's not in my DNA.''

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