Newman wins 50th running of the Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH -- Shame on everyone who forgot about Dodge.
With a dramatic last-lap charge, Ryan Newman silenced two weeks' worth of talk about Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs racing over the last two weeks at Daytona International Speedway. Using a strong push from Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch, Newman stunned a sellout crowd of more than 200,000 by winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Newman became the 32nd winner of the prestigious event and snapped his own 81-race winless drought, which dated back to his win at New Hampshire in September of 2005.
"(I) don't have the words," said the 30-year-old native of South Bend, Ind. "It's awesome. It's probably the most awesome thing that's ever happened to me. To be looking face to face with all the greats (during the drivers' meeting), the guys that were on the stage up there, the former champions, to be on the same team with those guys, it's amazing."
Hendrick Motorsports, home of multi-time Sprint Cup Series champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, continued to grab headlines early in the week with wins in the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duels by new addition Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing threatened to unseat the Hendrick folks, using their baptism into the Toyota camp to produce a Duel win and a victory by Tony Stewart in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event here on Saturday. They were poised as the two superteams in the Sprint Cup Series going into 2008.
Stewart was leading Sunday when the field came to the white flag, with Newman behind him. Stewart's JGR teammate Kyle Busch -- who led the most laps -- ran third, while Kurt Busch was fourth. Racing off of turn 2, Newman and Kurt Busch gathered all the momentum they needed as they ran into the lead in the outside groove.
They never looked back, pulling away for Penske Racing's first-ever Daytona 500 victory.
"Without a doubt, (Kurt) could have gone 3-wide and made a heck of a mess going into turn three," Newman said of getting help from Busch. "But he chose to be a teammate, and that's the most honorable thing he could do."
Newman also credited Stewart for not resorting to dirty on-track tactics.
"Kurt was the push from heaven that made it all happen," Newman said, "but Tony was very much a sportsman. He could have made that Home Depot (car) very wide, but instead he chose to race."
The three JGR drivers were the three drivers who led the most laps, between them accounting for 134 laps led. That was of little consolation to Stewart, who battled a less than an ideal race car in the middle of race to put himself in position to give Toyota its first win in a Cup Series points race.
"This is probably just one of the most disappointing moments of my racing career," said Stewart, who is winless in 10 Daytona 500 starts. "It would be a lie to come in here and say I was happy about, you know, going from first to third on the last lap of the Daytona 500."
Newman started creeping toward the front in the final 100 miles of the event. He led briefly on three occasions prior to the final lap, and left Kurt Busch happy to be part of a monumental day for team owner Roger Penske -- who has dominated open-wheel racing's biggest day with 14 victories as an owner in the Indianapolis 500 but had yet to claim stock car racing's most sought after trophy.
"It was a race of durability," said Newman's crew chief, Roy McCauley. "Ryan drove a masterful race, as far as when he had the car he could run in the top five, and when he didn't have the car, he found a slot to ride in. ... I think that's the sign of a smart driver."
It's also an early sign that Dodge needs to be included in any Sprint Cup Series conversations this season.
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