THE PUSH FROM HEAVEN

Teamwork prevails in Daytona as Newman, Busch finish 1-2

Ahhh, the sweet smell of teamwork. In a fantastic finish at the 50th running of the Daytona 500, Ryan Newman wins the checkered after being pushed by Penske South Teammate Kurt Busch past Tony Stewart on the final lap, epitomizing what the NASCAR racing teams are all about.

“If Newman stayed down low (on the racetrack) I believe the Miller Lite Dodge would have won that race, but if he pulled back up, which he did, I was gonna bash his rear bumper and push him to a win,” an excited Kurt Busch said after the race.

With owner Roger Penske’s first ever Daytona win, and a first ever 1-2 finish, it took a total team effort to take home the Daytona 500, and everyone was grateful.

“(Kurt Busch) chose to be a teammate, and that’s the most honorable thing he could do.” Ryan Newman thanked Busch for what he was calling “the push from heaven,” which propelled him into victory lane, and snapped his 81-race winless streak. “I would have done the same for him,” Newman said.

After Tony Stewart led with the white flag waving, he too went looking for his teammates. Stewart went low and stopped blocking Newman, which opened up the floodgates for Kurt Busch to continue pushing Newman past the 20 car. Stewart looked to get his own push, but his Gibbs teammate Kyle Busch was not there to help.

“Stewart stayed down with us to try and get us together in order to push up through there, but I just didn’t get big enough help from behind to get up there,” Kurt Busch said of his final tries to get behind the 20 car. After pushing Stewart out front on the final lap, Newman allowed Kurt Busch in the 2 car to get up top, eventually putting himself up top in front of 2 car, in turn leaving Kyle Busch with too much ground to make up to help Stewart. “Kasey Kahne with me there, helped me out, and propelled us to the fourth place finish we got,” Kyle Busch said of the help he had to receive in order to get in the top five.

“Without Kurt there was no way possible…he was the best teammate ever there,” Newman said in victory lane.

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Junior left to fend for himself

Without any of his Hendrick racing teammates in contention on the final lap, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was left with no help, while the Toyotas and the Dodges went neck and neck for the checkered. Casey Mears was leading, and in a promising position to win the race with 5 laps to go when he was spun out, crashing into turn one, and finished 35th. Jeff Gordon had suspension problems, and left the race after 186 laps. Jimmie Johnson, who had the pole, fell too far behind in the race, when a poor pit stop saw his car roll off the jack causing multiple delays, and eventually spinning out on lap 177 bringing up the 4th caution of the race. Johnson finished the race 27th.

Junior could have allowed himself to contend had he taken new tires with 22 laps to go, when the majority of the leaders did so. But Junior didn’t feel that was the problem. “I made a lot of poor choices in where to take my runs, and what to do with them…It wasn’t tires.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 9th in his Daytona debut with Hendrick.

With all the talk about Hendrick all week, it was Penske South and Gibbs Racing which forced Hendrick out of the race contention (in Mears’ situation literally) which should almost fuel more fire into what Hendrick racing does next. The Chevrolets should be back in top form in California, but will Dodge’s 1-2 finish, as well as 6 of the top 10, keep Penske at the top, or will the super Toyotas with Joe Gibbs Racing come on stronger next weekend? Tune in to find out!

By Rob Bickerstaff
Pro Racing Fans Guest Writer

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