Busch propels Newman victory

The Dodges made the final three laps a challenge for Tony Stewart.

SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Throughout Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, all the talk had been about teamwork — and most of it involved the dominant Hendrick Chevrolets and the presumptive pretenders to the throne, the Joe Gibbs Toyotas.

But it was the unsung Dodges of Penske Racing that ganged up on Tony Stewart during a three-lap run to the finish, with Kurt Busch propelling Ryan Newman to victory in Sunday’s 50th Daytona 500.

The victory was team owner Roger Penske’s first at a restrictor-plate racetrack, and with Busch running second behind his teammate, it was the first time Penske cars have finished 1-2 in a Cup race.

With his 13th NASCAR Cup victory, Newman broke an 81-race drought dating to Sept. 18, 2005, at New Hampshire.

“Just to be part of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 ... 15 years ago I was sitting in the grandstands in the Seagrave Tower,” Newman said. “Obviously, [I want to thank] Kurt Busch. Without a doubt, he could have easily gone three-wide and split us through the center and made one heck of a mess going into [Turn] 3.

“But he chose to be a teammate, and that’s the most honorable thing that he could be — and I would have done the same thing for him.”

Stewart salvaged a third-place finish, with Kyle Busch finishing fourth despite leading 86 laps in the race’s dominant car. Reed Sorenson ran fifth and Elliott Sadler sixth, followed by Kasey Kahne and Robby Gordon — as Dodge claimed six of the top eight positions.

“I’ve been here probably almost 30 years trying to get in victory circle, and to achieve this, with this competition and with Ryan, a student of the sport, and [crew chief] Roy [McCauley] and the whole team, it’s really unbelievable,” said Penske, who now has a Daytona 500 win to go with his 14 victories in the Indianapolis 500. “We’ve worked hard, and we’ve come close, but I think it was a pure team effort.

“You saw the end there, and you saw the 18 [Kyle Busch] lined up with the 20 [Stewart] and the 2 [Kurt Busch] lined up with the 12 [Newman]. I think that’s what it took. Ryan drove a masterful race.”

After a restart on Lap 198, Stewart held the lead until Newman moved to the outside on the final circuit and picked up a push from Busch, who started 43rd on a past champion’s provisional and survived a pit road speeding penalty to achieve the runner-up finish.

Newman and Busch surged past Stewart as the cars approached Turn 3 and won the race to the finish line.

“For us to come home and push Ryan Newman to victory, I feel like I’ve got a small bit of that victory within me,” Busch said. “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.”

“Every year, the emphasis on team is a bigger factor into it,” said Stewart, clearly disappointed, but gracious in his praise of the Penske teammates.

On Lap 195, Casey Mears, who was running fourth at the time, moved up the track across the nose of Stewart’s No. 20 Toyota and slammed into the Turn 1 wall to bring out the seventh caution of the race and the fourth in the final 24 laps. That set up the three-lap run to the finish.