Daytona thoughts and observations

Ryan Newman broke an 81 race winless streak Sunday night by winning the Daytona 500, the first for both him and his car owner Roger Penske. Newman only led eight laps all day, but he led the one that counted. It was also the first one-two finish for Roger Penske in the Great American Race, as Kurt Busch pushed his teammate Newman to the victory.

Thoughts and Observations:

People are already starting to wonder if Tony Stewart is ever going to win a Daytona 500. Sunday's race was Tony's 10th attempt to win and his 10th failure. He was obviously upset after the race and he had every right to be. He was running first when he took the white flag and he ended up third. I'd be upset too.

Did anyone else notice Kyle Busch trying to lay the blame on NASCAR for not catching drivers laying back on the final restart? Granted, Kyle had the car to beat all night, leading a race high 86 laps, but blaming someone else for not closing the deal really isn't gonna work. It's Daytona, things happen.

Regardless of how the race ended for the Joe Gibbs machines, they proved they were the class of the field most of the day. Out of 200 laps, Joe Gibbs Racing cars led 134 of them. I'd be very afraid of those three cars when they return here for the Coca-Cola 400 (formally the Pepsi 400) in July.

How about Robby Gordon coming home an impressive 8th in his first run under the Dodge flag. Not bad considering he made that change less then a month ago.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't nearly as impressive as I, and I imagine a lot of other people, thought he was going to be. In fact, Hendrick Motorsports as a whole had a bad night. Earnhardt Jr. was Hendrick's lone bright spot. The rest of the Hendrick drivers finished well outside the top 10 (Johnson 27th, Mears 35th and Gordon 39th).

Was anyone else impressed with how well Sam Hornish Jr. did during the race? Not only did he run with the leaders most of the day but when he fell a lap down he didn't give up and rallyed to a 15th place finish, the best finish by a rookie.

Where did Reed Sorenson come from? We didn't hear a word about him all day and then when it came down to it he was right in the thick of things and ended up with a top 5. Too bad his two teammates, former open-wheel stars Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti, couldn't do the same.

Nice run for the Gillett-Evernham Dodge's of Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler. Both drivers ended up with top 10 finishes. Let's hope they can build on that and get one of those cars back into victory lane this season.

What happaned to the Ford drivers in this race? Last's year's Pepsi 400 winner Jamie McMurray was a non-factor and the only Ford's to get out front at all were Matt Kenseth (for one lap) and Greg Biffle (for seven).

Summing it up:

The first race at Daytona for the Car of Tomorrow (now the Car of Today) was better then I had thought. The drivers did a good job keeping the race interesting and the finish, while not as good as last years, was still an exciting way to end NASCAR's biggest race. Here's hoping we get more finishes like that in the year's to come.