Ryan Newman leads a Penske 1-2 to win the Daytona 500
Quote selected text Published February 17th, 2008 in NASCAR News
Ryan Newman snapped an 81-race winless streak Sunday, using a huge push from teammate Kurt Busch to give car owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 victory.
Penske, the most successful owner in open wheel history with 14 wins in the prestigious Indianapolis 500, now has a victory in NASCAR’s showcase event.
It only took him 23 years to get it.
It came in the historic 50th running of The Great American Race, and it came in thrilling fashion.
“We did something very special for the Captain tonight,” runner-up Kurt Busch said.
The Penske cars were quiet for 199 of the 200 laps, letting Joe Gibbs Racing stars Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch race each other in a battle of Toyotas. With one lap to go, it appeared Stewart finally would get a Daytona 500 win in his 10th try.
Running out front in the high line, he held off the two Penske cars as they circled the famed speedway. With a pair of teammates closing in on him, Stewart didn’t feel safe running out alone with no allies.
So at the last second, he dropped low on the track to line up in front of Kyle Busch. The JGR teams had talked about using teamwork all week, and Stewart thought he’d need Busch to make it to the checkered flag.
But the decision backfired when the two Penske cars flew past him on the top, and Newman pulled away for his first win since New Hampshire in September 2005.
“I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch,” a dejected Stewart said. “My intention was to get in front of Kyle and pull Kyle along with us. It’s hard to explain. It’s probably one of the most disappointing moments in my racing career.”
And for Joe Gibbs Racing and the entire Toyota camp.
Toyota seemed destined to win its first points race in NASCAR’s top series behind the strength of JGR, which joined the manufacturer this season and gave it instant credibility. After a strong month of testing and a Denny Hamlin win in one of Thursday’s qualifying races, the JGR cars seemed poised to battle mighty Hendrick Motorsports for the win.
Instead, Stewart had to settle for third, Kyle Busch— who led a race-high 86 laps — finished fourth and Hamlin was 17th in a disappointing day for JGR.
It was a stark contrast to the euphoria in the Penske camp, which finished 1-2 in NASCAR’s Super Bowl.
More at USAToday.com
Driver quotes and notes to follow…
RESULTS:
FIN, ST, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, PTS/BNS, LAPS, STATUS
1 7 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 190/5 200 Running
2 43 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 175/5 200 Running
3 6 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 170/5 200 Running
4 24 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 170/10 200 Running
5 5 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 160/5 200 Running
6 35 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy 150/0 200 Running
7 10 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 151/5 200 Running
8 26 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Jim Beam 142/0 200 Running
9 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy / National Guard 143/5 200 Running
10 18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 139/5 200 Running
11 13 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 130/0 200 Running
12 23 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 127/0 200 Running
13 36 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 129/5 200 Running
14 16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 121/0 200 Running
15 19 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 118/0 200 Running
16 20 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 115/0 200 Running
17 4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 117/5 200 Running
18 42 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 109/0 200 Running
19 11 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 106/0 200 Running
20 25 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 103/0 200 Running
21 27 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 100/0 200 Running
22 21 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet PEAK / Menards 97/0 200 Running
23 33 70 Jeremy Mayfield Chevrolet Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon 94/0 200 Running
24 31 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 96/5 200 Running
25 37 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 88/0 200 Running
26 38 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal Cask No. 16 85/0 200 Running
27 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 87/5 200 Running
28 32 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 79/0 200 Running
29 2 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 81/5 200 Running
30 30 28 Travis Kvapil Ford K&N Filters 73/0 200 Running
31 12 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 70/0 200 Running
32 15 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 67/0 200 Running
33 40 40 Dario Franchitti* Dodge Dodge Journey 64/0 199 Running
34 39 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 61/0 197 Running
35 28 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 63/5 194 Running
36 29 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet Principal Financial Group 55/0 194 Running
37 9 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST 52/0 194 Off Track
38 34 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 54/5 189 Off Track
39 8 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 51/5 186 Off Track
40 22 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Makoto 43/0 184 Running
41 41 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 40/0 171 Running
42 14 6 David Ragan Ford AAA 37/0 161 Out of Race
43 17 187 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row / DenverMattress.com 34/0 141 Out of Race
Bookmark to:
- Newman to leave Penske at end of season
- Newman may or may not stay at Penske
- Penske Racing South President to retire, Newman to get new crew chief
- Newman’s future still up in the air
- Ryan Newman looking elsewhere in 2008?
Grrrr…. Well I guess Newman is MUCH better than Kurt. Too bad my boy got double teamed at the end there
Although I was rooting for STEWART!!!!!…. that was a fantastic finish.. Newman deserved it.. gj by those 2 penske drivers.
He better cherrish this that will be the only race he wins this year!!!!!!
I’ll try to be as nice as I can but the race coverage was absolutely horrendous!
How many commercials were there anyway?
Joy, DW and Mac were too busy talking about themselves to notice things like Jimmie Johnson’s long pitstop as it was happening right on the screen!!
I’ll stop….just the worst I’ve ever seen! Fox please go away.
someones angry his diver spun huh? good job although jeff didnt have a great race i rather have newman win than toyota
Thats just practice for him…..
Dang open wheelers invading NASCAR and winning the Daytona 500…….!!!!!1
l0l
I didn’t really want any of the Penske drivers to win it, but I’m glad that Roger finally got a 500 win under his belt.
Pretty amazing with all that position swapping and lane changing in the final couple laps and that it finished green. Glad to see someone different win , good job Newman. Stewart and Shrub also had great races. And glad to see Reed in the front.
Teamwork makes the dreamwork! (Stole that slogan from work xD)
I loved the final 20 laps with all the dicing back and forth
I was glad to see Ryan win one! It has been a long time! At least it was someone new again, instead of a repeat race. It was also good of him to thank his teammate for his help.
TT wrote:
That’s why I was watching on Trackpass on Directv! Each driver’s channel has their own announcers. That alone is worth the $100 and add to that the lack of commercials and it couldn’t be better
I didn’t subscribe last year, but I think I will this year after watching the 500!
man how bout them dodges, 6 cars in the top ten at daytona, man they may have that engine problem figured out. great race,great finish, glad to see somebody new win and it wasnt kurt bush.
I didn’t care who won as long as it wasn’t $$$yoda$$$ and I hope they stay out of victory lane all year…way to Go Newman!!
Talking about Fox and its horrendous coverage, all DW could talk about was the Toyotas driving around the track. I guess when you’ve driven for them long enough and get paid enough you’ll keep repeating the same thing over and over. I know they dominated the race, but DW took pandering to a new level… guess there’s a years worth of free cars for him if he can say Toyota at least 500 times. Anyway, except for the finish today is a sign of days to come… mark my words Toyota will one day dominate this sport as much as it pains me to say so, and just like the IRL it will use this sport all the way up, ruin it, and then dump it as it becomes yesterday’s news. The Craftsman Truck series is already that way, Finishing order 1-20 is usually 18 toyotas 1 chevy and 1 ford. Enjoy it while it lasts, I suppose.
The race finish is an example of one word…vindication. The entire time during preseason thunder the Dodge’s were wrote off and the Toyota’s were called the new king of the castle. In the end of this race…it came down to grit, Toyota simply didn’t have enough. Penske’s cars have always worked well together in restrictor-plate racing, no matter who has driven them, and Newman and Ku. Busch have been the best actual “teamates” that he’s had. Another simple phrase, six out of ten, why is this significant? Because that’s how many Dodge’s were in the top-ten. Again it was vindication, but in more ways than just Dodge beating Toyota. Roger Penske has had to suffer through many opportunities to win coming up short, but now, the first restrictor-plate win, first one-two finish, first 500 victory, so many firsts have come together. Newman and Busch will be great this year, I just have a feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I like a few Toyota drivers, but I hate how critics are “selling” NASCAR to them, critics two-faced opinions are no match for grit. Roger Penske’s pair in blue proved that in an amazing finish and I won’t exclude Sam Hornish Jr., he did a great, great job in the race, definetly made some friends and earned some trust. Sam’s 15th place finish, while not a bad one, was an understatement for how well he did and how good his car had been most of the race. Dodge is back…
What is the big deal with the Toyotas? We had a this happen before very very early in NASCAR which they mentioned.. I know it’s an American sport but… Americans drive Toyotas.. The only thing I’d be pisssed about is if they started driving in tracks in Canada and Mexico like the ‘Nationwide’ Series started doing. Oh well keep complaining, because Toyota is bound to win won.. already has in the Nationwide series.
Win one*
Tim wrote:
Kinda hard not to talk about them when Gibbs cars was up front most of the race.. mostly Kyle but still. I’m guessing they didn’t talk about your driver that much and that’s why you are upset. Usually DW talks about Jr. Most of the race.. aka ‘June Bug’, I got annoyed when that happens but I didn’t whine about it.. until now.
Newman..way to go,in the DAYTONA 5.(not 500) they only raced the last 5 miles.
Oh by the way, where’s the weekend sweep, Jr fans? When it came time to perform in a points paying race, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him in Victory Circle!
I enjoyed the whole week. Jr Did Wonderful even without his Team, who all three were in the pits or running the back. He held his own, one man up front. Casey Mears, the boy cannot drive, that was the worse move of the race when he pulled out in front of Stewart and Jr.
Glad someone else won, than Toyata, their extra HP didn’t help them cross first, even thoough I was pulling for Stewart and not Punt Ass K. Busch for brainlessville.
I hated the TV coverage, when the action was taking place, they missed it all, as usual.
So many lead changes, and how many did the views REALLY SEE ???
I was ? why everyone was so down on Winning, Penske and his group were like, ya, we won the 500. I was like, Dang, what’s up people, does it mean nothing to win the 500. Must NOT to His Group.
On to next week.
We the viewer saw 99% of the lead changes. There were 42 lead changes in the race and they showed all of them except maybe for the ones that took place because of someone pitting. Remember Lead Changes only count at the line, and the only lead change that matters is the last one.
I think with what you are saying about the Penske team, is more or less just their attitude, they have always been the quiet team, even with Rusty and Kurt, the rest of the team has always been a “what happens happens we’re not gonna fuss about it” kind of team.
Jeff… go boink yourself.
Newman, enjoy your fluke win.
Laura… go boink yourself.
Newman will enjoy his “awesome” win.
Ok, enough boinking please.
boink boink
Come on guys, let’s settle this the reasonable way… I’ll boink Newman’s wife and that should put an end to all this boinking talk once and for all
haha