“You can’t be too unsatisfied with second place, especially considering where this car was yesterday,” said Stewart, referring to the fact his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala had to be rebuilt after a crash 30 minutes into Friday’s opening practice. “It’s the same car we crashed yesterday, and we almost won the race with it today. I’m really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. They got it back together.”

Stewart led once for seven laps in the 82-lap race around the 2.5-mile oval, taking the lead from Busch on Lap 74 and holding it through a green-white-checkered restart on Lap 81. But Busch, who made two outstanding saves of his racecar earlier in the non-points race, would not be denied as he and Stewart roared to the checkered flag off Turn 4.

Busch ducked out from behind three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Stewart as the two entered the tri-oval with Stewart in the lead. Using the high side of the track, Busch nipped Stewart at the line to take his first Budweiser Shootout victory.

“I knew once Kyle and I got free that we were going to have to do something between Turn 4 and the start-finish line,” said Stewart, who won the Budweiser Shootout in 2001, 2002 and 2007. “When we got there, it was like, ‘Well, we’re going to run first or second here.’ So I knew we had enough of a gap that it was going to be a race between the two of us. It was a matter of when he was going to make his move off of (Turn) 4. I saw it coming. I thought I gave myself enough room to get away from him, but I didn’t. Guess I’ll have to work harder on it this week and see if we got something for them on Sunday.”

The result was Stewart’s second runner-up finish in the Budweiser Shootout (the other came in 2008) and his 11th top-10 finish in 13 career Budweiser Shootout starts.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing, finished seventh.

The Budweiser Shootout is an exhibition race featuring the following, with eligibility based on a driver having competed in the Sprint Cup Series in 2011:

• Anyone who finished among the top-25 in the 2011 championship point standings
• Past Budweiser Shootout winners
• Past Daytona 500 winners
• Past Coke Zero 400 winners

Stewart’s spot was secured by way of his three Budweiser Shootout wins and three Coke Zero 400 victories (2005, 2006 and 2009).

This year’s field included 25 drivers but was decimated by a string of multi-car accidents that left only 13 cars running at the end of the race.

Finishing third behind Busch and Stewart was Marcos Ambrose. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five, while Greg Biffle, Newman, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya comprised the remainder of the top 10.

Next up for Stewart-Haas Racing is Daytona 500 qualifying, during which Stewart and Newman will be among 49 drivers going for the pole for the 54th annual Daytona 500. Qualifying is set to get underway at 1 p.m. EST Sunday, with live coverage provided by FOX. The Gatorade Duel – twin 150-mile races which will set the rest of the Daytona 500 field – takes place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, with live coverage on SPEED. Speedweeks then culminates with the Daytona 500 at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

Newman rode near the back in his No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet for much of the race while hoping to avoid “The Big One” – the multi-car melees that the 2.5-mile speedway has become famous for over the years.

That plan paid off for South Bend, Ind., native Newman, as he finished seventh in the non-points NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. His No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet finished the race unscathed while nearly half (12) of the cars in the 25-car field retired to the garage early.

“I laid back in the back there just because I didn’t have the confidence to stay up front,” Newman said after earning his fourth top-10 finish in 10 Budweiser Shootout starts. “The cars were really on edge, so I’m just happy to get the WIX Filters Chevrolet back in one piece. After watching that, I think we are going to go through some cars on Thursday, so it will be nice to have a good backup.

“I think we learned that we have a little work to do before Thursday’s Duel race. We aren’t quite as fast as we need to be.”

The seventh-place effort continued Newman’s solid record when driving the No. 39 with the gold-and-black colors of WIX Filters on the hood. In four starts with WIX Filters, Newman has never finished outside of the top 10.

Newman started 13^th in Saturday night’s race, and it wasn’t until late in the running that he moved from the safer option of hanging back in the field. Newman rarely ran higher than 10^th until the final caution flag of the night waved on Lap 74.

After pitting for four fresh tires, Newman found a partner for the final dash to the checkered flag. With help on his back bumper, Newman maneuvered his No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet as high as third. But he held on to that spot for only a moment, as he was left without help and was shuffled back in the draft to seventh place by the time the checkered flag waved.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished second after leading once for seven laps. Stewart was at the point exiting Turn 4 on the final lap when Kyle Busch moved past him on the high side of the racetrack just before the start-finish line to take the victory by .013 of a second in the closest finish in Budweiser Shootout history.

The Budweiser Shootout is an exhibition race featuring the following, with eligibility based on a driver having competed in the Sprint Cup Series in 2011:

• Anyone who finished among the top-25 in the 2011 championship point standings
• Past Budweiser Shootout winners
• Past Daytona 500 winners
• Past Coke Zero 400 winners

Newman earned an ironclad spot in the race by winning the 2008 Daytona 500. This year’s field included 25 drivers.

Busch edged Stewart for his first Budweiser Shootout victory. Marcos Ambrose finished third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Greg Biffle, Newman, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya comprised the remainder of the top 10.

There were five cautions for 22 laps in the 82-lap race, which was extended seven laps past its scheduled distance due to a multi-car accident on Lap 74 creating a green-white-checkered finish.

Next up for SHR is Daytona 500 qualifying, during which Stewart and Newman will be among 49 drivers going for the pole for the 54^th annual Daytona 500. Qualifying is set to get underway at 1 p.m. EST Sunday, with live coverage provided by FOX. The Gatorade Duel – twin 150-lap races which will set the rest of the Daytona 500 field – takes place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 with live coverage on SPEED. Speedweeks then culminates with the Daytona 500 at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

With 12 of the 25-car field sidelined in four multi-car crashes that forced a green-white-checkered finish which extended the race seven laps beyond the scheduled 75, Stewart pushed his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet to its limits in a drag race that delivered the closest finish in the 34-year history of the Shootout. The three-time NSCS champion had to settle for the runner-up spot by a mere 0.013 seconds to the race winner, Kyle Busch.

Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman, finished seventh in the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet, with Juan Pablo Montoya crossing the line in 10^th position behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

For the first time in his 20^th year career of NSCS competition, four-time champion Jeff Gordon took a wild ride in his No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.  Caught up in a multi-car accident on lap 74, Gordon’s car rolled three times before coming to rest on its roof. Gordon was easily extracted from the badly damaged race car and after examination in the infield care center, emerged uninjured from the accident. He was scored 15^th in the final finishing order.

Rounding out the top-five finishers were Marcos Ambrose (Ford), Brad Keselowski (Dodge) and Denny Hamlin (Toyota).

Next on track will be qualifying for the Daytona 500 beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 19, 2012.

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET FINISHED 2^ND

KERRY THARP:  Let’s roll into tonight’s post-race of the Budweiser Shootout.  We’re joined at the podium by three time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.

Tony, talk about the way the race unfolded and your thoughts about how things went out there tonight.

TONY STEWART:  We took the first 25 lap segment easy and tried to watch guys, more to pay attention to what they were doing than really what was going on with our car, just kind of watch the trial and error process and see what guys could get away with and what they couldn’t, then after the break go back after it.

We got kind of separated at the point that Kyle (Busch) got sideways.  An unbelievable save, just a great save.  We tried running that pack down.  They had that big wreck in front of us and that got us up to where we needed to be to make a charge at the end.

It was definitely a lot more fun and you felt a lot more eager to be engaged in the race this way than in the two car deal.  I actually had fun racing at Daytona again which I haven’t had for a while, so I’m really, really appreciative to the work that NASCAR has done in the off season and the test session and even after the test of the changes that they made to try to make it better for us out there.

I don’t know what the consensus is from everybody else, but I had more fun as a driver tonight than what we’ve had in the past.

KERRY THARP:  We’ll open it up for questions.

Q.  Tony, unless I’m remembering wrong, in years past, the pack racing at Daytona, you weren’t that big a fan about it.  Tonight you’re speaking glowingly of it.  What’s different?

TONY STEWART:  You’re kidding, right?  Do you remember what we did here six months ago?

This is a lot more fun than the two car stuff was.  I still like the open motor races better where we can literally control our own destiny, but this is by far a lot better than what we had with the two car stuff.

Q.  Better than the two by two but not better than before?

TONY STEWART:  C’mon, work with me, dude.  I’m just happier.

Q.  How much of the style of tonight’s race will be tempered a bit next Sunday?  You have 500 miles, more strategy.  Tonight there was a lot of aggression, shorter race.  How much are you going to sit down and formulate what you can and can’t do?

TONY STEWART:  Historically you’ve always seen this race be a scenario where everybody sees what they can get away with and they use it for a practice session.  You do try to see what you can, get away with what you can.  Everybody, no matter what their outcome was tonight, learned something they’re going to take into the qualifying races and we’ll take into Sunday.

You can always push harder in this race than the 500 because we always run this at night and it’s a lot cooler.  We’ll have most likely a lot warmer conditions a week from tomorrow.  That will eliminate some of the stuff that guys were really trying to push the envelope on.

Q.  Don’t get mad.  It was fun for you, but three cars out of the whole field are the only ones that didn’t sustain damage.  A lot of accidents.  Jeff Gordon ended up on his roof.  It was fun for us to watch when you were battling, but none of us want to see the carnage we saw out there tonight.  What are we expecting for the Daytona 500?  Are you going to temper it back a little bit?  These new rule changes, it’s fun, but how do you think next Sunday is going to be?

TONY STEWART:  Do you have any better ideas?  I think everybody’s always open.  NASCAR asked the teams and the drivers what we could do to make it better.

My point is this is better than having to sit there and stare at the back of a spoiler for 500 miles and not be able to see where you’re going half the race.  We had control of what lane we got to run in.  We got to move whenever we wanted.  You didn’t have to not move because you had a guy behind you that you had to rely on making your decision on what he had to do also.  We had more control as drivers today.

Look at the history of this race.  They always crash here.  Go to Talladega, they crash cars there.  It’s a yard sale every time we go to a restrictor plate track.  I don’t know what you guys want.  Everybody complained about the two car stuff.  Now we got this today, and it’s better.  We’re telling you it’s better.  You guys are like, Is it going to be that bad next week?

It’s not that bad.  It’s the Bud Shootout.  Everybody pushes the envelope.  Everybody tries to see what that limit is, what that boundary is.  When it comes to Sunday, you have to race 500 miles, you have to make it last till the end.  It’s not that they’re not conscious of the fact you have to make it to lap 75 tonight, but you have the flexibility of not worrying about points standings and not worrying about the 500 title, losing it if you make a mistake tonight.

The competition is so tight, you have to try things tonight.  If you don’t, somebody else is and they’re going to learn from it whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent.  You had to be aggressive tonight and you had to see what you can get away with.  You have to try things.  It’s a great opportunity for trial and error.

As you saw tonight, it worked out sometimes and it didn’t work out a lot of times.  The guys that crashed, it didn’t work out, there’s something they took away from it and said, That didn’t work out so well.  Just like last night when I crashed Kurt, that wasn’t even close to what I had in mind for practice, but that’s what happened.  It’s part of the trial and error process.  You have to go through that.

43 cars can win this race a week from tomorrow.  If you don’t push yourself into figuring out what you can or can’t do, I would rather do it with my Shootout car than I would with my 500 car.

Q.  I don’t know if either one of you saw the two times Kyle nearly got sideways.

TONY STEWART:  ‘Nearly got sideways’?

Q.  How many drivers in the field might have saw that and how amazed were you?

TONY STEWART:  I was right behind him when he had the deal in one and two.  He had to catch it three times before he saved it.  You get 3400 pounds moving like that, to catch it once was pretty big, to get away from it and catch it again was big, and the third time was big.  That’s three big moments in one corner and he never quit driving.  There’s a lot of guys that wouldn’t have caught that.

He did a fantastic job with that save.  I’m sitting there and the green is still out.  I’m like, Man, that’s the coolest save I’ve seen in a long time.  It was big and it hurt us all at the time, but that was a pretty big moment.  Pretty cool to see somebody that went through two big moments like that come out and win the race still.

Q.  Let’s forget about the comparative degrees of craziness, it’s pretty rare when you go to the last lap and two guys are there and there’s not several nearby to worry about.  Having seen that, this is a matter of a few feet.  Who has the edge there?  You said you had a little room and almost did it.  Is that a pretty even thing or would you rather have been behind?  Where would you rather be there?

TONY STEWART:  First, I was just happy that I was in the pairing at the end, to be up there.  But I think history shows that you want to be that second guy I think in all reality.  Especially here, it just seems like for some reason you can make that move here.  Talladega for some reason, it seems like you make the move, the start/finish line being further around the tri oval, almost seems like it’s too early when you make it.  It just seems like that second spot is kind of the one you want to be in.

I’m not ruling out that you can’t win it from being that lead car.  You got to plan ahead for it.  As soon as we came off of turn two, I was already thinking about it.  I knew how much of a gap we had, the third and fourth.  Had that flexibility to do that without us getting freight-trained.  You knew it was coming; it was just a matter of what to do to guard against it.  Guys are figuring out what to do to get by, now you have to figure out what to do to not let them get by you.

Q.  Tony, with what you saw for 78 laps, did you expect the end to come down to a two car tandem as it did?

TONY STEWART:  Yeah, I think so.  I think it’s realistic that that’s what you’ll have at the 500, that it will come down to that.  The good news is we’re not going to have to do it for the entire day, all 500 miles.  You’re not going to have to worry about, Man, if I don’t have a partner, you’re going to be in big trouble.  I would say it’s a pretty safe bet.  No guarantee it’s going to have to come down to that.  Especially if it’s a lot warmer conditions, I think it will be harder to do that.  But I think that’s a good possibility that that’s the way it will come down to it.  Maybe even the qualifying races, that’s what it will come down to.

Q.  Tony, the accidents tonight appeared to all have been caused by a guy in the back hitting a guy in the front.  Is there anything NASCAR can do with the shark fin of the spoiler to alleviate it or is it up to the drivers?

TONY STEWART:  I think it’s in the drivers’ hands.  Everybody, people that didn’t even run the Shootout tonight, will watch and saw better than we did behind the wheel how the scenarios played out in each one of those accidents.

I think that’s kind of to a certain degree what NASCAR had in mind when they came up with this package, was to put the decision in our hands.  You don’t want to make it obvious that we have that opportunity to do it.  We’re all thinking twice of do we want to put ourselves in that position so it makes that guy that has that opportunity to push to think twice about is that the right time and do I want to take that risk at this point of the race.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing.  I kind of like us having the decision of whether we want to put ourselves in that position or not.  I think everybody will look at that and determine at what stage of the race that’s going to be an important decision for them to make.

Q.  Tony, do drivers almost have to get acclimated to pack racing?  Kevin Harvick said there was too much of guys hitting in the left front.  Is there going to be an adjustment back to this style of racing because there was so little of it the last year?

TONY STEWART:  I don’t think so.  I think people, especially guys at this level, pick up on it pretty quick.  Like I said, even the drivers that didn’t run tonight will have learned a lot even though they didn’t get to be in the race.

I think the fact that we got practice on Wednesday, then the qualifying race on Thursday, that is a lot of practice to sort it out and figure it out.  I don’t think it will be that big of a drama for everybody to get used to it again.

It’s no different driving on the interstate and driving on city streets.  Two different styles of driving, but you’re still driving.  It’s not that big a deal.

Q.  Tony, this is so dramatically different to last year.  Is this a field like we had two, three years ago at Talladega or Daytona or is it still different because the packages are different?

TONY STEWART:  No, I think it’s very similar to what we had two, three years ago.  Probably three, four years ago in all reality because I think we already switched over.  But I think it is very, very similar to that.

You still sit there and you try to figure out, like being on the freeway in rush hour, which lane is moving and whether you want to switch over.  I was the best at switching over and that line stopping all of a sudden, switching over, seemed like that line stopped.  It’s still kind of back to figuring out, like a chess match, sitting there, who can hang on and not get blocked when they’re pushing a two car deal through there again.  It’s definitely a lot better deal.

KERRY THARP:  Tony, thank you so much.  Great show tonight.  Can’t wait for the rest of Speedweeks.

For Newman, there’s nothing like climbing behind the wheel of his No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet and feeling the rumble of the 850-horsepower engine underneath its hood.

It’s Newman’s love of automobiles and engines – what he calls the heart of the racecar – that led him to his career as a racecar driver.

His love of engines and racing came naturally.

Newman’s father Greg had wanted to be a racecar driver, but that dream ended early. So, when young Ryan was born, his father declared in the delivery room that his son would one day be the racecar driver he had never been.

And so, it was only natural that his father would share his love of racing, cars and engines with his son.

Whether in his father’s auto body shop or in their home garage, or even during their trips to Daytona for the NASCAR races, Newman grew up around cars and engines. He always had grease under his fingernails, as he learned how to change oil, rotate tires and even pull and clean an engine.

As a youngster growing up in South Bend, Ind., the winters were brutally cold. But despite the freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds, Newman and his dad spent their nights working on racecars in their garage.

When it would get too cold and the two needed to warm up, they would fire up the Silver Crown car in the garage. Since Silver Crown cars run on methanol, the two could only run it for just a little bit before their eyes would start to burn and they would have to crack the doors.

But listening to the engine roar and smelling the methanol burn were moments Newman treasures. Those were things they did just for fun back then.

This weekend, the 10-year Sprint Cup veteran hopes his February fun is a trip to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway’s victory lane for his No. 39 WIX Filters team.

Newman has tasted victory at Daytona and celebrated in the sport’s most famous victory lane on three different occasions.

Before joining the full-time ranks of the Sprint Cup Series, Newman earned his first win at Daytona in the ARCA Series in 2001. In his first-ever outing at the high-banked superspeedway, Newman started 11^th and led the final 12 laps of the 80-lap event to win by more than two-tenths of a second.

Three years later, in 2004, Newman scored his only IROC Series victory at Daytona.

And then, four years ago, Newman celebrated the greatest moment of his racing career at the historic 2.5-mile oval. On that February 2008 evening, Newman achieved a lifelong dream when he stole the lead on the backstretch on the final lap of the season-opening race. He never looked back, winning the 50^th Running of the Daytona 500.

While Newman has never claimed a win in the non-points Budweiser Shootout, he has three top-five finishes in nine starts. Last season, he came within one turn of claiming his first Shootout victory. Newman led 12 of the race’s final 13 laps but, coming off turn four of the 2.5-mile oval on the final lap, his challengers used slingshot moves to scoot around him, relegating him to a third-place finish.

This weekend, Newman will pilot the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevy, which features the “We love engines” tagline on the car’s TV panel. In three starts behind the wheel of the gold-and-black car, Newman has three top-10 finishes – a sixth-place effort at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August 2010, a third-place finish in last season’s Budweiser Shootout, and a fifth-place effort at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in August 2011.

Newman is ready to fire his engine and kick off his 11^th season in the Sprint Cup Series with a win on Saturday night. With a strong engine underneath the hood, a solid-handling racecar and an impressive performance by his pit crew, Newman hopes to continue his success with WIX Filters and get another win at Daytona.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

As an organization, Stewart-Haas Racing enters Daytona for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season opener as the defending champion. How encouraged are you going into a new season with that knowledge?
“After Homestead, it took me until that night at the banquet to actually feel like I was part of a championship team. Just my mindset and the way my mind works, being the competitive driver that I am, I still felt beat. Not until then did I feel like it actually hit me – I think I was going in the elevator – that I was part of a championship team. That’s just my mentality. You can fault me for it, if you want. But that’s my competitive drive. Now, I’m part of a championship team, but I still know we – the No. 39 team – got beat, and we need to fix those things that beat us or we failed internally to be better. We have the knowledge that we’re capable of winning a championship. We did last year. We didn’t and they did, which is still rewarding. But, from the No. 39 team’s standpoint, we have to fix what we did wrong.”

“Going into Daytona Speedweeks with that championship banner is awesome to see what we did as an organization. But, at the same time, I’m the protective guy in the back saying, ‘Man, we can’t get caught surprised here at Daytona thinking we’re awesome and did all these great things and nobody’s going to beat us again,’ because that’s not the case. Those guys we beat from an organizational standpoint are fired up and mad and they’ve been working really hard. So it’s our responsibility to do that and more. I don’t want to be the headlines of, ‘What happened to Stewart-Haas? Why did they flop?’ And I don’t think it’s going to happen, but that’s the way my mind works and I’m confident this team will do everything in its power to make sure that’s not the case.”

You were at the Daytona test in January but you were pretty sick and ended up leaving early. Will being in the Budweiser Shootout help your team since you didn’t get a lot of information from the test?
“That was probably the sickest I’ve been in 20 years and that was really rough. I think I did five runs and we ran all day Friday. We got some good information even though I was sick. NASCAR was making a lot of changes, so we’ll see how much the information helps when we get back down there. But for us, it was an important test just to be able to get reunited and get back in the swing of things and make sure we know what we need to do when we come back there.

“To me, the Budweiser Shootout is a valuable race because of the extra seat time we get. I’ve been in it and I’ve had to sit out of it, and I definitely think there is value from being part of it. We get a couple of more practices and, of course, we have the race. We can learn a lot in those few hours as a team that could be really important to us the rest of the week and even during the 500 the following Sunday. I know my crew chief Tony Gibson will be taking a lot of notes about what works and what doesn’t so we are on top of our game for the Daytona 500. I guess you could say being in the Shootout is a nice bonus. It’s a fun race. The shorter races always lead to a lot of fireworks, so it should be a cool night.”

Last year, you led 18 laps in the Budweiser Shootout, including 12 of the last 13. You were leading coming off the final turn, but your fellow competitors used a slingshot move to pass you in the end. Do you feel like one got away?
“I knew I was a sitting duck at the end of that race. I didn’t know what to expect, other than the fact that I knew it was going to happen off of (turn) four. I didn’t know if Denny Hamlin was going to go high or low, and I didn’t know if I was going the right way, pointed in the right direction that the No. 22 (Kurt Busch) and the No.1 (Jamie McMurray) were going to go. It’s a unique race and I’m glad we got back to the finish line in the way we did. That was the least-scratched car we’ve ever had at a superspeedway in my history at Stewart-Haas Racing. It was a wild finish – I just wish we would have been able to get the win. Afterward, I said it was the most unexpected race ever for me with how everything worked out.

“As for this year, I’m not sure any of us know what to expect. NASCAR did a lot with the rules at the test so it wouldn’t be just two-car drafts, but I think it will probably be a two-car breakaway that wins the race. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the Shootout so we can prepare for the Gatorade Duels and the Daytona 500.”

Your team has endured a lot of bad luck at Daytona since you joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009. You mentioned that your third-place finish in the Shootout last year was the least scratched-up racecar you had had at Daytona since joining SHR. But then, in the Daytona 500, you led the most laps and, with a handful of laps to go, you got shuffled out of the lead and were involved in an accident. How important is it for you to turn that luck around and start off this year on a high note?

“There’s a lot of emphasis on Speedweeks. Everybody brings their A-game. Everybody wants to get off to a good start but, ultimately, you control only a part of it and racing luck controls the other part of it. And Daytona is a tough place. It always has been. And, honestly, I think our last three years have been bad luck in the way our season has started. Last year, we finished third in the Budweiser Shootout and then we had the strongest car I have ever had at Daytona. We led the most laps and we were definitely one of the front-runners to win with just a few laps left. But we got shuffled back and ended up in a wreck. It was the same thing in 2010 – we got involved in a wreck. And, the year before, we got involved in multiple wrecks before the 500 ever started and we were on our third racecar by the time we took the green flag for the 500. So, all three years, we’ve started further back in points than we wanted and we have had to dig ourselves out of that hole. We’ve been able to make the Chase two of the three years. So, I guess you never know what’s going to happen. That’s why we all enjoy NASCAR Sprint Cup racing and, hopefully, it’s a good start to the season for us this year.”
Ryan Newman’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Performance Profile:

×Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

Often in restrictor-plate racing at Daytona and its sister track at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the lead car is in a precarious position – especially on the last lap. If the cars that are behind pull out of the draft, they can slingshot around the defenseless lead car, which is what Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Denny Hamlin did to Newman as the four-car pack exited turn four on the 75th and final lap of the Budweiser Shootout.

“Well, I knew I was a sitting duck,” said Newman, who notched his third top-five finish in nine Budweiser Shootout starts. “I wish it would’ve been just a two-car battle instead of a four-car battle, but that’s selfish of me. I want to thank WIX Filters for the opportunity and to come here and sponsor us for this race.

“I didn’t know what to expect other than the fact that I knew it was going to happen off of (turn) four. I didn’t know if he (Hamlin) was going to go high or low, and I didn’t know if I was going the right way, pointed in the right direction that the No. 22 (Busch) and the No.1 (McMurray) were going to go. It’s a unique race and I’m glad we got back to the finish line in the way we did. That’s the least scratched car we’ve ever had at a superspeedway in my history at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

Hamlin actually crossed the finish line first, but was awarded 12th-place after NASCAR officials ruled he went below the double-yellow line at the bottom of the racetrack in order to advance his position. Because of the rule violation, Busch was declared the winner, while McMurray and Newman finished second and third, respectively.

Throughout the race, every car needed to draft with a second car in order to achieve maximum speed. Rather than running in one large pack as in previous years, the cars were separated into pairs for much of the night, while achieving speeds in excess of 200 mph. At the end of the race, however, a four-car pack formed, which surprised Newman.

“From what I had seen in practice, at times depending on the two cars that got together, they could break away from other two cars that were together, and we didn’t see that at the end of the race tonight,” Newman said. “So, I don’t know if my car was off in speed or if it was just the way things worked out and the way the cars lined up between my car getting pushed by Denny’s Toyota and a Dodge getting pushed by a Chevrolet or just the combination of four cars together. I’m not sure what we’re seeing as far as the variations in that two-car or four-car breakaway.”

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing, led three times for four laps before finishing 11th.

The Budweiser Shootout is an exhibition race featuring the following, with eligibility based on a driver having competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series within the last two seasons:

· The 12 drivers who qualified for the 2010 Chase for the Championship

· Past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions

· Past Budweiser Shootout winners

· Past Daytona 500 winners

· Past Coke Zero 400 winners

· Past Rookies of the Year

Newman earned his way into the race by winning the 2008 Daytona 500. Stewart is a three-time winner of the Budweiser Shootout and a two-time Sprint Cup champion.

This year’s field included 24 drivers.

Busch’s victory was his first in the Budweiser Shootout and his first restrictor-plate win of any kind. Defending Daytona 500 champion McMurray finished .058 of a second behind Busch in the runner-up spot, while Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five. Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Bobby Labonte comprised the remainder of the top-10.

“I wish I knew what I did wrong to turn Michael,” said Stewart after finishing outside the top-10 for only the second time in 12 career Budweiser Shootout starts. “I honestly don’t know. You can only see the car in front of you.”

Stewart was a mainstay at the front of the field until the end of the race’s first segment on lap 25. He led laps 1-2, 7 and 12, but following the 10-minute break, he lost radio communication with his team. It came back just as the field returned to green, but went in and out the rest of the race, and played a role in Stewart’s contact with Waltrip.

With drivers having to align themselves in two-car drafts to make any headway toward the front of the field, it created a dicey game of bumper cars that sometimes led to drivers involuntarily spinning out their drafting partner. It happened when Mark Martin tagged Kyle Busch on lap 37 and it happened to Stewart when he got Waltrip loose in turn three on lap 49.

Stewart was able to continue on, but with his radio issues preventing him from always hearing his spotter, he played it safe for the rest of the race and rode behind his former teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing – Bobby Labonte – to finish 11th.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished third after leading three times for 18 laps. In fact, Newman held the lead on the very last lap, but coming off turn four, his challengers used sling-shot moves to scoot around his WIX Filters Chevy, relegating him to third.

The Budweiser Shootout is an exhibition race featuring the following, with eligibility based on a driver having competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series within the last two seasons:

· The 12 drivers who qualified for the 2010 Chase for the Championship

· Past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions

· Past Budweiser Shootout winners

· Past Daytona 500 winners

· Past Coke Zero 400 winners

· Past Rookies of the Year

Newman earned his way into the race by winning the 2008 Daytona 500. Stewart is a three-time winner of the Budweiser Shootout and a two-time Sprint Cup champion.

This year’s field included 24 drivers.

Kurt Busch won the Budweiser Shootout to score his first Budweiser Shootout victory and his first restrictor-plate win of any kind. Defending Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray finished .058 of a second behind Busch in the runner-up spot, while Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five. Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Bobby Labonte comprised the remainder of the top-10.

• Newman earned his entry into the 33rd annual Budweiser Shootout, his ninth start in the non-points event, via his 2008 victory in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500. Newman is also eligible for the Shootout via his 2002 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year title.

• In eight starts in the Shootout, Newman has posted two top-five finishes. The nine-year Sprint Cup veteran finished fourth in 2003. His best finish came in 2005, when he scored a second-place effort. Newman finished .199 seconds behind race-winner and five-time and reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

• In 18 starts in point-paying Cup races at Daytona, Newman has one win (February 2008), two top-five finishes and three top-10s.

• Three Victories in Three Series at Daytona – While Newman’s recent starts at the famed 2.5-mile racetrack haven’t ended on a high note, the South Bend, Ind., native has savored the sweet taste of victory on three separate occasions in three different divisions. Newman earned his first Daytona victory in the ARCA Series in 2001. He started 11th and led 12 laps en route to his first win in his first-ever start at the superspeedway. Three years later, Newman won the season-opening IROC Series race at Daytona in February 2004. He started on the pole and led five laps during the 40-lap event to claim his first and only win in the IROC Series. It was four seasons later, in 2008, when Newman scored the biggest victory of his racing career by winning the 50th Running of the Daytona 500. Newman led just eight laps during the 200-lap race. He took the lead for the final time on the last lap on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile superspeedway and never looked back as he took the checkered flag.

• Time for a Reversal of Fortune for the No. 39 – To say that restrictor-plate tracks – particularly Daytona – have been a real sore spot for Newman and the No. 39 team could be a bit of an understatement. In the five races Newman has run at Daytona since joining SHR in 2009, the team has never finished better than 19th and has three finishes of 26th or worse. The team’s first outing during Daytona Speedweeks 2009 can serve as a microcosm of what the team has endured each trip to the Florida racetrack.  Here’s a look at the trials and tribulations Newman’s team faced that week:  the No. 39 was involved in an on-track incident in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race while running in third place, forcing him to a backup car for the Daytona 500. Then, in the final practice of the weekend, he had a right-rear tire explode, forcing him to a second backup car in as many days. He finished that race in 36th. Since then, Newman has finished 20th (July 2009 Coke Zero 400), 19th (not finishing the 2010 Budweiser Shootout), 34th (not finishing the 2010 Daytona 500) and 26th (not finishing the July 2010 Coke Zero 400).

• Flashback to 2008: A Daytona Dream-Come-True – On Feb. 17, 2008, Newman achieved a lifelong dream by capturing a win in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500. Newman, who had led only a handful of laps during the 200-lap event, took the lead on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile superspeedway on the final lap and was pushed to victory by then-teammate Kurt Busch, with Newman’s father Greg spotting. It was, without a doubt, the biggest moment of Newman’s racing career and it provided a huge sense of accomplishment as everything he and his family and friends had worked for over the years culminated in a large celebration in the sport’s most famous victory lane.

• Newman has a career total of 14 wins, 46 poles, 72 top-fives and 135 top-10 finishes in 332 Sprint Cup starts. His most recent Sprint Cup win came 29 races ago at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., to end a winless streak of 77 races dating back to the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in February 2008.

“You Must Be a Local” – Three members of the WIX Filters Racing Team are from Florida:

• Crew chief Tony Gibson is from Daytona Beach, Fla.
• Mechanic and driver support Jay Guarneri is from Naples, Fla.
• Engine tuner Jay Nolan is from Jacksonville, Fla.

Ryan Newman's WIX Filters car at Bristol. photo courtesy http://www.facebook.com/wixfilters

KANNAPOLIS, N.C.- To say that restrictor-plate racing has been the Achilles’ heel for Ryan Newman and his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team is without a doubt an understatement.

For Newman, it’s been an ongoing series of “wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time” incidents at both superspeedways on the circuit since joining SHR in 2009. In fact, over the past two seasons, the South Bend, Ind., native and his No. 39 Chevrolet have become the poster child for rotten luck and hard crashes at the high-speed racetracks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

It’s just bad racing luck, Newman says. Good thing for Newman and his No. 39 team that luck can change.

As Newman & Co., prepares for its third go-round at Daytona Speedweeks, there is confidence that this year’s February outing to the famed “World Center of Racing” will be the charm.

So it seems somewhat appropriate that the team kicks off Speedweeks with WIX Filters on board the No. 39 Chevrolet Impala as the primary sponsor for Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout. The team will definitely appreciate the help from WIX as it works to “filter” out all the bad luck it has endured at Daytona and turn its racing luck around.

Of course, Daytona hasn’t been all bad for Newman during his first nine years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In fact, Newman has tasted victory at Daytona and celebrated in the sport’s most famous victory lane on three different occasions.

Before joining the full-time ranks of the Cup Series, Newman earned his first win at Daytona in the ARCA Series in 2001. In his first-ever outing at the high-banked superspeedway, Newman started 11^th and led the final 12 laps of the 80-lap event to win by more than two-tenths of a second.

Three years later, in 2004, Newman scored his only IROC Series victory at Daytona.

And then three years ago, in 2008, Newman celebrated the greatest moment of his racing career at the historic 2.5-mile oval. On that February evening, Newman achieved a lifelong dream when he stole the lead on the backstretch on the final lap of the season-opening race. He never looked back, winning the 50^th Running of the Daytona 500.

It is that victory that earned Newman his berth in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout.

There’s no doubt Newman knows what it takes to win at Daytona. But, as Newman says, the driver and the team only control a very small part of what the outcome will be at the 2.5-mile layout. A lot of what it takes to win at Daytona is pure racing luck, and Newman and his No. 39 WIX Filters team just need a little help to “filter” out all that bad luck to make room for the good.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Your team has endured a lot of bad luck at Daytona since you joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009. How important is it for you to turn that luck around and start off this year on a high note?

“There’s a lot of emphasis on Speedweeks. Everybody brings their A-game. Everybody wants to get off to a good start but, ultimately, you control only a part of it and racing luck controls the other part of it. And Daytona is a tough place. It always has been. And, honestly, I think our last two years have been bad luck in the way our season has started. Last year, starting the season, we got involved in a wreck. And, the year before, we got involved in multiple wrecks before the 500 ever started and we were on our third racecar by the time we took the green flag for the 500. Both years, we have had to dig ourselves out of that hole. Two years ago, we did that. This past year, we didn’t. We won in Phoenix but did not put ourselves in the Chase. You never know what’s going to happen. That’s why we all enjoy NASCAR Sprint Cup racing and, hopefully, it’s a good start to the season for us this year.”

Everyone is always optimistic heading into a new season. What is your level of optimism going into Daytona?

“If you look back at our last two races of 2010, we have a lot to be excited about. I would probably even go back further than that. If you look back to Bristol in August, I think our team was really coming on strong. We had some really good runs and some really good finishes, I think, with the exception of a mistake I made early in the race at Charlotte and losing our rear gear at Martinsville, we would have been a top-five car in each one of those last 10 races. I think we have momentum on our side going into 2011, so I look forward to it. It’s the strongest end to a season I’ve had in a long time and I think that carries over into the start of the next.”

Talk about Daytona’s new surface and all the changes we’re going to see when the teams get to Daytona. Does that make the Budweiser Shootout an even more important race for you and your team?

“I think it will be the biggest potential change of events at Daytona that we’ve ever had with the asphalt and new nose, the restrictor plate being as small as it is, the fuel cans and the lack of that extra man coming over to be the catch can man. I think there are a lot of things that have changed up in reference to the tires. If you look at what we are going to go through at Daytona, it might be two sets of tires. The things we typically did we don’t necessarily have to do, so the emphasis gets put on other areas to be better or faster.

“The new Daytona is definitely going to change the racing. It’s going to change the way we race. It’s going to change a lot of things in respect to the Daytona 500 but, in the end, there’s still going to be a victor and we’re still going to see a lot of drama and unexpected things happening, just like any other time in NASCAR. To me, just that extra grip and the way we draft is going to make it more like Talladega, but it’s still not going to be Talladega. It’s going to be Daytona.

“And the whole fuel can situation is going to be very critical this year with the way that can inserts and needs to be pulled out. So there’s emphasis this year, specifically, at Daytona and throughout the season, in areas we have not had to worry about or have not had to work on, so those are going to be the things I think can make a difference. You could see something unexpected happen.

“We tested down there, but we never got more than two or three drafting in a pack, so I think being part of the Budweiser Shootout is going to be a really big deal. Not just to see how the cars react in the draft, but also to see what happens on pit road with the new fuel can. The Shootout will be the first live action for the pit crews and, while I know they’ve been practicing with this for quite some time, now, I think they will learn a lot in the Shootout. There are still a lot of unknowns for the teams, so being part of the Budweiser Shootout is a big deal and it potentially will give us an idea of maybe what we can expect in the Duels and then again for the Daytona 500, both on the track and in the pits. To be honest, everybody talks about how excited they are to kick off the season and get to Daytona but, to me, I think everyone is anxious. We want to see how all the pieces of the puzzle are going to fit together.”

The biggest win of your career came at Daytona in 2008 when you won the 50^th Running of the Daytona 500. Talk about that day and what the win means to you.

“Winning at Daytona was an incredible experience. I won the ARCA race there in 2001, but nothing will ever compare to winning the 50^th Running of the Daytona 500 in 2008. That was a dream-come-true. After the race, I said I could hear my dad’s teardrops over the radio while he spotted for me as I came to the start-finish line to win, and I think that shows the importance of this race and this place to me and my entire family. I always said that just competing at Daytona was an honor. When I was a kid, my dad would bring me to Daytona for the 500 and we would make fake passes with construction paper and glitter so I could sneak into the garage and meet the drivers. Winning the Daytona 500 was a dream-come-true. I still can’t put it all into words, but I would love to do it again.

“For me, it was the culmination of everything that me and my family had sacrificed for all those years of building my racing career and getting me to that moment. I still get speechless when I talk about it. But winning one Daytona isn’t the goal. You want to win every race. It’s obviously the biggest win of my career, and it was a great day. I believe Dale Jarrett had said the second one can be sweeter than the first. So I’m looking forward to getting down to Daytona and trying to get that second Daytona 500 win. But it would be pretty cool to get the other wins that I haven’t gotten there before, too. I would love to start my season with a Budweiser Shootout win.”

TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How does running the Budweiser Shootout benefit you in your preparation for the Daytona 500 the following week?

“Anytime you get track time, it’s going to help us. If the race does nothing else, it will help us pick a drafting buddy who we can work with through all of Speedweeks, whether it’s our own teammate or someone else who we really draft well with. Sometimes it’s not another Chevrolet that you draft well with. Sometimes it ends up being another manufacturer that you really, really run well with in the draft. So the Budweiser Shootout really helps us pick that partner we may go into the Duels and the 500 with.

“It also helps speed up the process of getting your race trim figured out for the Daytona 500, which is obviously our sport’s crown jewel. Everything we do in the Shootout, we can learn from and transfer right over to the 500 car. We may take a few more risks in the Shootout because it is a short race but, for the most part, everything we do in that race – good or bad – we learn from. Not only does it help us figure out the race package, but it gives our pit crew extra practice in race conditions and, with the fueling change this year, that’s a really big deal. You know, I was a gas man for 12 years. I actually went out to pit practice one day to see what it was and how to do it. I got hung up twice trying to use the new fuel can. It’s very different. Our engineers and our pit crew have been working really hard to figure out the best case scenario of how to make the pit stop work, and being in the Shootout is a big deal because it’s their first live action. It’s kind of like a free race for all of us to make sure we are on top of our game.”

The No. 39 team has had bad racing luck every time it has been to Daytona. How important is it to come out of Daytona with a good finish, and how much does Speedweeks set the tone for the season?

“It’s everything for us. We have yet to go down there and have good luck. We have always gone down there and qualified really well and run really strong, but we just haven’t had any results. It’s big for us. If we can come out of there with a top-15 finish, I’d be tickled to death because that would be almost 20 spots better than we have ever finished. I’ve told a lot of people that and they think I’m joking, but that’s what I would like for us to do. It’s so hard to overcome a bad finish at Daytona. The past two seasons, we have gone to Daytona and we have had a bad finish and then we’ve put ourselves in a really big hole. We want to change that cycle. If we can go to Daytona and come out with a decent finish, I will be pleased.”

The No. 39 team ended the 2010 season with a lot of momentum you believe will carry over to the start of this season. Do you feel that, if you have a good run in the Budweiser Shootout, it will be huge for this team and perhaps be the start of turning your luck around on restrictor-plate tracks?

“Absolutely. If we can go through the Budweiser Shootout and run strong  and come out of there unscathed, that’s going to set the tone for the rest of Speedweeks. It builds momentum. It builds confidence. And that will just carry right on through the week. It just keeps multiplying from there. Hopefully, we can go down there and do that and be strong the rest of the week.”

Does the team have any good luck charms that you guys are taking to Daytona in hopes of changing your racing luck?

“I think a couple of guys have gotten a few things they’re going to bring down to Daytona with them and even stick in the car to try and change our luck. They’re just going to try something different to see if it helps. The racing gods will either smile on you or frown on you and, hopefully, it’s our turn for them to smile on us. We finished Talladega last fall (23^rd), which was something we hadn’t been able to do previously, so, hopefully, that’s a sign our days of wrecking and destroying racecars at the restrictor-plate tracks are over. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Being from Daytona and growing up around the racetrack, does that make Speedweeks and these races more important to you, personally?

“I’ve been going down there for years. And I’ve been fortunate enough to work with teams, and we’ve won the Daytona 500 twice down there. I’ve run well down there and I’ve run badly but, anytime you go there and you get to showcase your team in front of the home people – friends and family – it means a lot. No matter what kind of sport it is, it’s always nice to go run well in front of your home crowd. You know, when you go to Speedweeks each year, there are four goals you want to accomplish – win the Shootout, qualify on the front row for the 500, win your Duel and win the Daytona 500. We have just as good a shot as anybody. So, the first goal at hand is to win the Shootout, and that would be awesome. I can’t think of a better way to build momentum for the rest of Speedweeks and the season.”

Ryan Newman’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway Performance Profile:

×Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

To kick off the partnership, WIX Filters will be the primary sponsor of Newman and the No. 39 team in the Feb. 12 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The invitation-only event marks the start of the 2011 NASCAR season, and Newman earned his way into the non-points race by virtue of his 2008 Daytona 500 victory.

“Winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 is my greatest achievement so far in NASCAR,” said Newman, the only college graduate driving full-time in the Sprint Cup Series, as he holds a vehicle structure engineering degree from Purdue University. “The opportunity to run the Shootout gives us more knowledge to make another run at a Daytona 500 victory. Having WIX Filters join us as a technical partner at Stewart-Haas Racing provides an immediate advantage, so it makes sense to start the season with them on board our No. 39 Chevy.”

WIX Filters will rejoin Newman and the No. 39 team as primary sponsor for the Aug. 21 Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where Newman is a two-time Sprint Cup race victor and a one-time pole winner.

When not serving as a primary sponsor, WIX Filters will have brand identification beneath the hoods of both Stewart-Haas Racing entries and on the sleeve of Newman’s uniform.

“With Stewart-Haas Racing, we have an excellent partner to help promote our brand, but we also have a NASCAR team that uses our products to help them win races and perform at the top level of the sport,” said Jeff Blocher, brand manager for WIX Filters. “It’s a point of pride when the guys working on the racecars come up and tell you they like using your products and they have great confidence that WIX Filters will get the job done every weekend.

“Our relationship with Stewart-Haas Racing also gives WIX a product relationship with Tony Stewart Racing in USAC and the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, along with track sponsorship at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, where we’re able to bring the WIX brand to fans of grassroots racing.”

“WIX Filters’ involvement with Stewart-Haas Racing is more than skin-deep,” said Bobby Hutchens, the director of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing who holds a mechanical engineering degree from North Carolina State University. “We use WIX Filters to help maintain our edge. Advantages in this sport are measured in thousandths of a second, and a lot can be gained by having the best filters on our racecars. Efficiency equals horsepower, and you can never have enough horsepower.”

Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), hung in the back of the pack for much of the race, hoping to avoid the multi-car accidents that are commonplace in restrictor-plate racing at Daytona.

With 12 laps remaining, Newman and his crew chief, Tony Gibson, decided it was time to make their move toward the front of the field. Unfortunately, as soon as Newman started toward the front, trouble seemed to find him.

On lap 71, Newman was involved in a minor accident with John Andretti and Michael Waltrip, but escaped having any major damage occur to his machine.

When the race restarted on lap 74, Newman continued his charge toward the front, but was involved in an eight-car accident in turn three. Newman’s car never actually made contact with the outside wall, but made plenty of contact with other cars as the No. 39 Chevrolet suffered heavy damage all around.

“I think we had a good car,” Newman said. “We lost track position in the first 25 laps, but I didn’t try to get it back. I was hanging in the back until the end to try to avoid all the accidents. Unfortunately, when we started to move to the front, we still got caught up in an accident. It’s too bad because I think we had a good Haas Automation Chevrolet.”

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala, finished ninth.

Stewart, a three-time winner of the Budweiser Shootout, led twice for six laps in the 76-lap race around the 2.5-mile oval before scoring his 10th top-10 finish in 11 starts in the event. The Shootout was extended by one lap due to a green-white-checker finish.

Next up for Newman and Stewart is the Gatorade Duel — twin 150-mile heat races that set the majority of the 43-car Daytona 500
field.