Who Knew? Newman Tops 500 With Help From Teammate

Not visiting Victory Lane in over two years is a pretty hefty motivator. The 50th running of the Daytona 500, even bigger. Ryan Newman put his roller coaster struggles of the last few seasons behind him, renewing his winning ways by winning the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway.
 
Newman got drafting help from Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch on the white flag lap, pushing his Dodge ahead of Tony Stewart’s Toyota.
 
"When I pushed Tony through (turns) 1 and 2,  I was hoping he was going to hang on to it because I was pushing as hard as I could," Newman said.
 
“Kurt came up behind me off of (turn) 2 and just gave me the push from heaven. It was awesome. Listening to my Dad on the radio spotting for me, all the other things, all the other emotions, all the hard work, people that gave me a shot racing quarter midgets, midgets, sprint cars, silver crown cars, I have to thank everybody, including the fans.”
 
The 500 win was the first for car owner Roger Penske after over two decades of trying. It was also the first time his team scored a 1-2 finish in any event on the Cup level.
 
”I was emotional pushing him across the line. It felt incredible to have a Penske 1-2 finish today.  To have Newman jump up in front of me, I thought that was the most beautiful thing in the world because I knew one of us Penske cars was going to win at that point. I'm just very happy.  I'm not bitter at all for finishing second,” Busch said.
 
Jeff Burton was the leader on a restart with three laps remaining but as the green flag waved Stewart jumped out front. His move was the right one, but happened two laps too early.  He abandoned the outside lane, dropping in front of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, freeing the high line for the Penske duo to move ahead.
 
Stewart, who followed Newman and Busch across the finish line in third, took full blame for letting the historic race win slip through his fingers on the last lap.
 
“It would be a lie to come in here and say I was happy about going from first to third on the last lap of the Daytona 500,” Stewart said. “I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch. I tried to get down in front of Kyle, thought I would get a push down there, and the top line, the 2 got glued to the 12.”
 
“It's hard to explain. It's probably just one of the most disappointing moments of my racing career.”
 
Toyota seemed poised for their first Sprint Cup Series win with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Stewart, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin leading multiple times throughout the race. Busch led a race high 86 laps, but settled for fourth at the finish.
 
“We had the dominant car all day long.  I could hold it wide open every single lap of the race. (It’s) just frustrating to come home fourth, but that’s a part of the Daytona 500 when you run as good as we had all day long,” Busch said.
 
The very first Daytona 500 ran caution-free and through the early portion of the race it looked as though the 50th anniversary could possibly run flag to flag as well, but 81 laps in, a yellow flag dropped for debris.
 
The first race-halting incident of the day happened on lap 162 when David Ragan got sideways and into the turn 4 wall, collecting Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.
 
A barrage of trouble followed as Hamlin, defending series champion and pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Dave Blaney and Casey Mears all watched their shot at contention fall just as fast as the yellow flags. There were four caution periods spread out over the last 25 laps.
 
The string of yellows switched up the field as pit stops came into play. But track position is far from a guarantee when it comes to restrictor-plate racing. Burton took the lead 10 laps from the finish following a lap 188 restart only to lose it just three laps from the finish.
 
Mears was running in the top 5 before slamming the wall in turn 1 just four laps from the finish, setting up the final restart which put Burton on the hot seat.
 
Reed Sorenson added to Dodge’s Daytona success by finishing fifth. The third-year driver put on a stellar show during Speedweeks, finishing fifth in the Bud Shootout, second in the first of two qualifying races and capping it off with an impressive run in the 500.
 
“It was pretty fun there at the end,” the Ganassi pilot said. “We got two- or three-wide and pushed each other really hard and there happened to be about four Dodges lines up at the end. Everybody on the team has done a great job since we got here and I think that says a lot about what we can do this year.”
 
The Dodge domination continued with Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Robby Gordon — all out of the Gillett Everham stable — taking positions six through eight.
 
Pre-race favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the highest finishing Chevrolet in ninth. He carried the banner for Hendrick Motorsports through Speedweeks, claiming two wins and a top 10 in the 500. Johnson finished 27th, Mears 35th and Jeff Gordon 39th after breaking a suspension with less than 15 laps remaining.
 
Greg Biffle was the highest finishing Ford, closing out the top 10.

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