NOTEBOOK From Daytona Beach

Surprise finish: Kirk Shelmerdine was the most unlikely qualifier for the Daytona 500. He may have been the most unlikely finisher, too. Shelmerdine, a former crew chief who helped Dale Earnhardt win four series championships, finished 20th in his first Daytona 500. He beat Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, pole-sitter Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and many others. He did it without a major sponsor, without a full-time crew and without much of a chance. "There were 58 cars here, so I guess we had one-in-58 odds, but really it was a lot taller than that," Shelmerdine said. He avoided trouble, stayed on the lead lap and picked up the biggest paycheck of his driving career, earning $272,008. Richard Childress donated an engine in exchange for getting his Childress Vineyards logo on the quarter-panel of Shelmerdine's Chevrolet. Childress also flew Shelmerdine's son in for the race. Another donor -- a family Shelmerdine called "very devoted Dale Earnhardt fans" -- picked up his tire bill. "That's the kind of thing that's gotten us the whole time," he said. "People like that have helped us enough to get here. That's something you can't sustain for a long time. We're going to have get sponsors to keep going."
Gordon's gripe: With 26 laps to go, Jeff Gordon appeared to be on the verge of salvaging a decent finish despite tangling with Tony Stewart early in the race. Gordon, who had fallen to 41st after a tap from Stewart forced him to make an impressive save to keep from spinning out, was back in the top 10 in the final stages of the race. But Gordon got caught up in Kurt Busch's accident on lap 187 and finished a disappointing 26th. "We fought back all we could," Gordon said. "Unfortunately, we got caught up in that last deal with Kurt Busch. That really got us behind. I think we had a shot at a top-10 with that tore-up race car."
Associated Press
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