Stewart-Haas Racing Daytona 500 Race Report

Daytona Beach, FL – Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent by finishing 22nd in the 52nd Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Stewart battled handling issues for much of the 208-lap race, which was extended eight laps due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished 34th after being involved in a multi-car accident after completing 193 laps.

Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 to score the fourth Sprint Cup victory of his career, his first of the season and his second at Daytona. It was McMurray’s first Daytona 500 victory as his other win at the 2.5-mile oval came in the July 2007 Coke Zero 400.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished .119 seconds behind McMurray, while Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann rounded out the top-five. Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were nine caution periods for 40 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish the race, which lasted more than six hours as problems with the pavement in turn two caused two separate delays that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and 45 minutes, respectively.

Stewart is 23rd in the championship point standings, 93 markers back of leader McMurray. Newman is 34th in the standings, 129 markers behind McMurray.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Feb. 21 Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2 p.m.