NOTEBOOK | Daytona International Speedway

Aching hello: Helio Castroneves was shaken up in a crash while practicing for the International Race of Champions. Castroneves was running with sprint car champion Danny Lasoski when NASCAR driver Ryan Newman got in the mix. There was no contact, but Newman apparently took the air off Castroneves' car, sending him into the wall between turns one and two. Castroneves's hobbled out of the car, favoring his left knee, and was taken by ambulance to the infield care center. An examination found no major injuries and he was released. The IROC season begins Friday at Daytona. The four-race series matches top drivers from the Nextel Cup, Busch Series, Craftsman Trucks, the Indy Racing League and the World of Outlaws sprint series.
New young gun: The Young Guns might have a new member. Rookie Kasey Kahne, making the jump to Nextel Cup with Evernham Racing, surprised himself by posting the seventh-fastest speed in qualifying Sunday. "It's really happened quick," said the 23-year-old Kahne, who raced last year in the Busch Series. "I would have been happy somewhere around 15th or 20th." Kahne actually had more speed during the windy qualifying session than he managed in practice, when conditions were calmer. Most teams went slower in qualifying than practice. Kahne's taken the seat in the No. 9 car held last year by Bill Elliott, who's now a part-time driver and coach for Kahne and teammate Jeremy Mayfield.
Bad day: Former NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and last year's leading race winner, Ryan Newman, all qualified at the back of the pack Sunday. Stewart was 37th of the 45 drivers who made qualifying attempts, while Gordon was 39th and Newman 42nd. Now all of them have their work cut out in the qualifying races to earn a decent starting spot in Sunday's Daytona 500. Neither Gordon nor Newman seemed very concerned, though. "The nice thing about Daytona is that if you don't qualify well, you've got that qualifying race to get you a good starting position," said Gordon, a two-time Daytona 500 winner. "It's nice to get a good starting position for the 125s, but it really doesn't mean anything." Newman, who won 11 poles and eight races last year, said his car was decent during the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night and he's ready for Thursday's race. "We were average in the draft last night," he said. "We weren't the fastest by far, but we weren't the slowest thing out there, either. We were able to work our way up to the front with strategy." Newman was running with the leaders before crashing on the last lap of the Shootout. Gordon led several times in that race and finished fifth, while Stewart never led and wound up seventh in the 70-lap special event for pole winners and former Shootout winners.
Work remaining: A year ago, Jeff Green was on the pole for the Daytona 500 and looking forward to a week of preparation for the big race without pressure. This time, Green will have to work a little harder to nail down a starting spot in NASCAR's biggest race after posting the 25th-fastest qualifying lap. His position in the 43-car field will be determined following the qualifying races. "We sat on the pole last year and everything was grand until Sunday," said Green, who crashed and finished 39th in a Chevrolet fielded by Richard Childress Racing. "We're going to try to reverse that this year and make it grand come Sunday."
-- Associated Press