With just one day to go until his address before Congress, President Obama will likely spend today fine-tuning his jobs proposal.

On Tuesday, Republicans returning to Capitol Hill put forth areas of potential agreement and urged the president to find common ground ahead of his address. Democrats meanwhile outlined their expectations for the president, calling for him to “be bold” and “hit it out of the park” on Thursday.

The president will take a break this afternoon when he welcomes NASCAR drivers to the White House to honor Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.

Four of the invited drivers will not be present this afternoon. Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart made the unusual decision to decline the president’s invitation. While the move raised some eyebrows, the drivers, citing scheduling conflicts, say it does not have anything to do with politics.

Obama will also meet separately today with Secretary of State Clinton and Defense Secretary Panetta.