Sunday, February 17, 2008

Ryan Newman wins Daytona 500


Leading into today's Daytona 500, most of us were talking about the Hendrick Chevys and the Gibbs Toyotas. The Dodges didn't seem very strong. So after an exciting race, the surprise winner was Ryan Newman in the #12 Alltel Dodge with his Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch finishing second. This gave car owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 win. Tony Stewart & Kyle Busch followed in their Toyotas. Kyle had the best car all day but he got into trouble on the final restart by going under the yellow line while trying to pass leader Jeff Burton. He would have been penalized if he hadn't checked up. Reed Sorenson finished fifth in his Dodge. The Hendrick Chevys had problems. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished ninth but the decision not to pit on the second last caution when the other leaders made final pit stops probably sealed his fate. He wasn't going to win on old tires. Jeff Gordon had mechanical problems and Jimmie Johnson & Casey Mears crashed so Earnhardt didn't have any teammates to help him anyway. Elliott Sadler & Robby Gordon also had top ten finishes so it was a big day for Dodge. It just goes to show that anything can happen in NASCAR Sprint Cup.

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