Stewart came into the season-opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, which was postponed to Monday due to rain, with high hopes after finishing second in the Feb. 18 Budweiser Shootout and winning his Gatorade Duel qualifying race on Thursday. The Gatorade Duel victory slotted him third for the Daytona 500, and Stewart knew his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) was capable of delivering him a win in his 14th Daytona 500 start.

Stewart led laps 59-60 and constantly lurked among the lead pack. He made a charge toward the front three laps from what was scheduled to be the end of the race, but was collected in an accident that doomed any chance he had of picking up the coveted Harley J. Earl trophy.

“I can win the short races, but I can’t seem to figure this one out,” said Stewart, who has 17 total victories at Daytona, second only to Dale Earnhardt’s tally of 34 overall wins at Daytona. “The guys did a really good job of getting the car fixed back up quickly to where we could go out and get a decent finish, but it’s still not what we really wanted.”

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala for SHR, rallied to finish 21st after going two laps down early in the race with a flat tire that sent him spinning off turn two on lap 14.

SHR driver Danica Patrick finished 38th in her Sprint Cup debut after getting collected in a multi-car crash on lap two. Patrick drives the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for Tommy Baldwin Racing via a collaborative agreement with SHR. Her next race as part of her 10-race Sprint Cup schedule for 2012 is May 12 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 to score his 22nd career Sprint Cup victory and his second in the Great American Race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished .210 of a second behind Kenseth in the runner-up spot, while Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 10 caution periods for 42 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 202-lap race, which was extended two laps past its originally scheduled distance by a green-white-checkered finish.

The red flag was displayed for a bizarre incident on lap 160 when Juan Pablo Montoya exited pit road, lost control of his car and hit one of the jet dryers. The jet dryer erupted into flames and the fire quickly spread down the track toward the grass. It took several minutes for safety workers to extinguish the fire and there was a lengthy clean up and track repair process afterward. The red flag was displayed for two hours, five minutes and 29 seconds.

With round one of 36 complete, Stewart leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is 16th, 18 points behind series leader Kenseth. Newman stands 20th, 24 points out of first. Patrick did not earn any points as she is declared as a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, thereby she only earns championship points in the Nationwide Series.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the March 4 Subway Fresh Fit 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

Newman and Co. demonstrated what it means to be Army Strong by fighting their way back onto the lead lap and nearly earning a top-10 finish before getting collected in a multi-car crash in the waning laps of the Great American Race. The No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala sustained substantial damage, but the crew maintained the strength to complete the mission, quickly repairing the car and sending Newman back onto the 2.5-mile oval to record the best result possible – a lead-lap finish in the 21st position.

“This was not the night we had hoped for,” said Newman, winner of the 2008 Daytona 500. “I thought we had a shot at the end, but we were once again caught up in something not of our making. Typical wrong-place, wrong-time deal that we’ve had time and time again at Daytona. It’s really disappointing because we had fought back, gotten back on the lead lap and put ourselves in position to win, which is what we needed to do, then we got caught up in a wreck just a few laps from the end.

“I have to hand it to this U.S. Army/Quicken Loans team. They really proved how focused, determined and Army Strong they are. We were two laps down, came back from that and had a shot. It’s just frustrating. We’ll soldier on and head to Phoenix, which has been a really good track for us.”

This year’s Daytona 500 could easily be termed one of the longest and most bizarre races in NASCAR history. For the first time ever, heavy rains forced the race to be postponed to Monday, with the green flag being dropped at 7 p.m. EST. FOX aired the race in prime time, jettisoning its hit shows “House” and “Alcatraz” in favor of NASCAR racing – a strong endorsement of the sport’s power and mainstream appeal.

Newman started 18th after finishing ninth in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race on Thursday. His plan was to take a cautious approach at the beginning of the race, given his recent history at Daytona where more often than not he was left with battered racecars that had to be towed into the garage area rather than driven.

Newman’s plan was foiled early when, on lap 14, his left-rear tire began going down, which caused him to spin off turn two. But thanks to Newman’s impressive driving which reflected the mental, emotion and physical strength of the U.S. Army Soldier, he avoided contact with the wall.

But the spin, which brought out the caution flag, was only the beginning of Newman’s issues. He wheeled the No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet down pit road to the attention of his crew, which changed four tires. But when Newman left his pit box, the lug nuts on his recently-changed left-rear wheel weren’t tight, and the wheel came off the racecar.

Immediately, Newman backed his racecar up pit road and back to his pit box, but while en route, Newman’s No. 39 Chevy was hit by the No. 22 Dodge of A.J. Allmendinger, causing extensive damage to the rear bumper and right-side quarter panel. Newman’s team replaced the wheel, pulled out the sheet metal and again sent its driver onto pit road.

But Newman had one other issue the team still needed to repair. As the South Bend, Ind., native peeled out of his pit box, crew chief Tony Gibson told him he would need to return to pit road once again so the crew could remove the excess tire carcass from his earlier spin, which was wrapped around the right-side wheel. Newman again brought his car to the pits and returned to the track in 38th place, just one lap down. But because Newman had to pit multiple times and was left without a drafting partner, he fell two laps down by lap 25.

Despite being two laps down, Gibson quickly chimed in and reminded his driver not to give up – “We’ve got time. We’ll get it back,” Gibson said.

And get it back, they did. With patience and determination, Newman put himself in position to regain laps when the caution flag waved. He earned one lap back at lap 87 and then a second lap back at lap 128. Newman restarted on the lead lap at lap 132 in 27th place.

But the race took an odd turn at lap 160 when the red flag was displayed for a bizarre incident when Juan Pablo Montoya exited pit road, lost control of his car on the backstretch and hit one of the jet dryers in turn three. The jet dryer, which was spilling hundreds of gallons of fuel, erupted into flames. The fire quickly spread down the track toward the grass. The red flag was displayed for two hours, five minutes and 29 seconds.

Following the lengthy red flag, Newman was scored in 14th place. He told his crew all he had to do was to play it smart and put himself in position to make a run for the win. When the race restarted, Newman was able to maneuver his racecar in the draft, moving into the top-10.

The U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevy appeared strong as Newman made a move to the high side of the racetrack in hopes of moving up from his ninth-place position at lap 196. As he went high, the No. 6 car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., tagged Newman’s Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Tony Stewart. Stewart turned into Kyle Busch, who then tagged the left rear of Newman – spinning him as he crossed the start/finish line. Newman’s car was then a target as several other cars hit his damaged No. 39 Chevy.

Newman pitted for four tires and also to allow his team to repair the crinkled sheet metal and damage to the front bumper and splitter. But with a green-white-checkered finish setting up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag, Newman’s banged up ride limped home to a 21st-place finish.

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala, started third and finished 16th. He led once for two laps before getting caught up in the same late-race crash the doomed Newman.

SHR driver Danica Patrick finished 38th in her Sprint Cup debut after getting collected in multi-car crash on lap two. Patrick drives the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for Tommy Baldwin Racing via a collaborative agreement with SHR. Her next race as part of her 10-race Sprint Cup schedule for 2012 is May 12 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 to score his 22nd career Sprint Cup victory and his second win in the Great American Race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished .210 of a second behind Kenseth in the runner-up spot, while Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 10 caution periods for 42 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 202-lap race, which was extended two laps past its originally scheduled distance by the green-white-checkered finish.

With round one of 36 complete, Stewart leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is 16th with 29 points, 18 points behind series leader Kenseth. Newman stands 20th with 23 points, 24 points out of first. Patrick did not earn any points as she is declared as a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series driver. She only earns championship points in the Nationwide Series.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Subway Fresh Fit 500k on Sunday, March 4 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EST, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

Patrick qualified 29th but dropped to the rear of the field at the start of the event per NASCAR rules as a crash in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel Qualifying race forced her to a back-up car. Patrick drives the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) via a collaborative agreement with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

Unfortunately, Patrick never got the chance to settle into the race’s rhythm. As she entered the first turn on lap three, the front of Elliott Sadler’s Chevrolet hit the back of five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet and sent him nose first into the outside retaining wall.

While trying to avoid the accident in front of her, Patrick and David Ragan made contact and began to spin, causing both to hit the wounded car of Johnson. Patrick’s car suffered heavy damage, and she was forced to drive the garage for repairs.

For more than one hour, the Go Daddy team worked to repair the car, including replacing the entire rear-end, while also fixing cosmetic damage to several portions of her Chevrolet. Patrick returned to the 2.5-mile oval on Lap 65, 62 laps behind the leaders and in 40th position.

From there, she and race strategist Greg Zipadelli decided that logging laps, getting valuable seat time and experiencing live pit stops were all that could be salvaged from a disappointing day.

“Any lap that I turn is progression, that’s for sure,” Patrick said. “That’s why I was so proud of everyone working so hard. They were working hard to get me back on the track. Was there much to gain as far as position? No. What there was to gain was for me to get the experience of running out there. We ran in packs for a while. The car is a little bent up. Honestly, it didn’t feel perfect. So as it got later and later in the race, I didn’t want to have an influence on it. I didn’t want something to happen to it or break and shoot across the track.

“I kind of feel like I almost need to put the whole week in perspective; it’s just been up and down. Everything from running good in the Duels to crashing on the last lap, to qualifying on the pole, to running well in the Nationwide (race) to crashing; and a lot of this stuff obviously is out of your control at times. And that’s kind of the exciting time about Daytona and big tracks is that anything can happen and will happen, as we’ve seen. But I learned a lot. I got a lot of experience, and I’m really proud of the Go Daddy crew putting the car back together. They had to do some welding and whatnot. But I got back out there. It felt all right considering the fact that they were welding; I think it felt really good.”

Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 to score his 22nd career Sprint Cup victory and his second win in the Great American Race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished .210 of a second behind Kenseth in the runner-up spot, while Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 10 caution periods for 42 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 202-lap race, which was extended two laps past its originally scheduled distance by a green-white-checkered finish.

The red flag was displayed for a bizarre incident on lap 160 when Juan Pablo Montoya exited pit road, lost control of his car on the backstretch and hit one of the jet dryers in turn three. The jet dryer erupted into flames, and the fire quickly spread down the track toward the grass. It took several minutes for safety workers to extinguish the fire and then there was a lengthy cleanup and track repair process. The red flag was displayed for two hours, five minutes and 29 seconds.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Subway Fresh Fit 500k on Sunday, March 4 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EST, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BEING IN DAYTONA AND WHAT THIS WEEKEND MEANS TO YOU:
“I guess once you’ve won the race (Daytona 500) it is always special to come back and be a part of the sport that you love. Starting off Speedweeks we have just been a little bit off on overall speed. We really played it safe in the (Budweiser) Shootout, after watching Shootout practice and purposely laid in the back. We didn’t get the right moves at the end there. Kyle (Busch) kind of snuck one in on us. Just working on a little bit of speed, working on seeing how everything unfolds with the rules changes. Making sure we are doing the best on our end to capitalize on the cooling and the speed and the handling and all those types of things with the U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet.”

HOW MUCH INFORMATION ARE YOU GATHERING FROM THE NO. 14’S (TONY STEWART) SUCCESS THIS WEEK? HOW ARE YOU APPLYING IT TO YOUR RACE ON SUNDAY?
“The information sharing is no different with us and the No. 14 versus us and the No. 10 or across the board with anybody. Tony’s been in just a little bit better situation I would say. My car likes to be up front. When I’m hanging out in the back, I’m just hanging on. His car has been really good up front. I think our car will be too we just haven’t been able to put ourselves in that situation. We never got to the front in the Duel. When the pit cycling came around we lost one of the guys that was helping in our draft. We never got back to the lead group to mix it up. I feel confident in our car. He is 14 thousandths of a second away from two victories going two for two this year so far. We’re good.”

DID AT ANY POINT LAST YEAR YOU LOOK AT JIMMIE (JOHNSON) AND THINK ‘MAN THIS GUY IS JUST NOT HITTING IT THIS YEAR. IT’S NOT THE SAME SEASON FOR HIM.’ OR WAS IT JUST NOT THAT OBVIOUS?
“We were more worried about ourselves than what he was doing. We are part teammates with him; with our information sharing with their information sharing and things that we have with Hendrick (Motorsports). At the same time we want to win and at the same time we wanted to see somebody else win. We never really focused on what their struggles were. In the Chase itself we had struggles of our own. It was not much of an issue.”

A LOT OF DRIVERS ARE HAVING TROUBLE SUCKING-UP IN THE DRAFT. IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE SEEING? DO WE KNOW WHY?
“There are two reasons to that and part of it is just the rules package the way the cars are drafting. The second part of it is the cars are getting so hot. My feet were glowing inside the race car just from heat off the firewall. My pinky toe was laying up against the side of the foot rest and wherever there was any contact on metal it was hot. We are doing everything we can to get the cars cooled off. That means staggering out and getting some air and things like that. I think there are times when guys are paying more attention to their gauges than they are where they are going. I don’t know where that makes for the best racing.”

YOU CAN SUCK-UP THOUGH?
“When you have somebody behind you then you have no issues sucking up. You just can’t be the last car.”

WHY DID WE NOT SEE A LOT OF CARS PRACTICE TODAY AND A LOT OF TEAMS NOT TALKING ABOUT PRACTICING TOMORROW?
“I think it’s a little different with the testing. We have more to lose than we have to learn at this point. At least the people that aren’t practicing feel like they have more to lose than to learn. We worked on a couple of small things today. Just perfecting my brake bias and coming to pit road, simple things like that. Those things can really catch you off guard when you are trying to do a quick stop and no tires. When you have to do that abort and put tires on it and lose the draft. That is a significant change in your race strategy. We are working on a couple of small things, but as far as making the race car that dominant race car, I think everybody knows that the rules package doesn’t allow us to big like that or to do those things that we have in the past.”

DOES IT MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE THAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE COOLER ON SUNDAY?
“It is going to help my feet. It’s going to help my radiator. It’s going to help a lot of things, but we are still going to push the cars to that limit. When it cools off we can push a little bit farther, instead of a straight-a-way we can push two straight-a-ways or three straight-a-ways. It just depends on the situation that you are in. The farther you are out front the more opportunity you have with the cleaner, cooler air. When you are in a group of 30 cars if you are 20 cars back then you are going to be hot no matter what. The grill opening is so small that the cars just don’t recover like they should or they need to.”

Stewart improved his finishing position by one, winning his Gatorade Duel race in convincing fashion by leading three times for a race-high 21 laps, including the final 18 around the 2.5-mile oval. The win places the three-time and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion third in the starting lineup for Sunday’s 54th Daytona 500.

“This Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy has been awesome all weekend,” Stewart said. “This thing has been fast, so we’re hoping to be there at the end on Sunday.”

The win was Stewart’s 17th overall triumph at Daytona, including previous Gatorade Duel victories in 2005 and 2007. Stewart now stands alone at second on Daytona’s all-time win list, surpassing 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Allison and trailing only the legendary Dale Earnhardt, who has 34 victories at Daytona and was a part of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class of 2010.

Despite all of that success, Stewart remains winless in the Daytona 500 as he heads into his 14th career start in the Great American Race.

“To be able to come out and have two really good strong and solid races, back-to-back, is an awesome start for us,” Stewart said. “It’s good momentum for the crew – everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing – to carry that momentum from last year. It gives you confidence going into Sunday.”

Forty-nine drivers were split among the two Duels, putting 25 drivers in the first 150-mile race and 24 drivers in the second 150-mile race.

“We only raced against half the field in this qualifier,” Stewart said. “It’s a long race on Sunday, and a lot can happen. Even though we had success today, it’s no guarantee that can happen Sunday.

“I think we showed the rest of the field that we have a car that has good speed. That’s a really strong point, just like Trevor Bayne (defending Daytona 500 winner) showed last year that he had a strong car, so people wanted to go with him. Hopefully that will work for us on Sunday, too.”

Stewart’s SHR teammate Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala, finished ninth in the second Gatorade Duel. Newman will start 18th in the Daytona 500.

SHR driver Danica Patrick finished 16th in the first Gatorade Duel, driving the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for Tommy Baldwin Racing via a collaborative agreement with SHR.

Patrick endured a hard crash into the infield SAFER Barrier off turn two after an inadvertent nudge from another competitor on the final lap. The wall and the car did their jobs, and Patrick walked away from the accident unhurt.

With her primary racecar destroyed, Patrick will use her backup GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in the Daytona 500. While she’ll be credited with a 29th-place starting spot for her Sprint Cup debut, Patrick will drop to the rear of the field prior to the start of the race per the NASCAR rulebook.

Patrick’s accident happened after the white flag had waved, signifying the final lap. Stewart led when the white flag was displayed, and despite the caution coming out for Patrick’s accident, the race ended under caution per the NASCAR rulebook.

Stewart crossed the stripe ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., to take the win as the checkered and caution flags waved simultaneously.

Marcos Ambrose finished third, while Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, Robby Gordon and Jamie McMurray.

Matt Kenseth won the second Gatorade Duel by .209 of a second over Regan Smith. Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle took spots three through five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Newman and Kasey Kahne.

With the Gatorade Duel now complete, the field for the Daytona 500 is set. On the pole is Carl Edwards, and alongside him is Biffle, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate. By notching the two quickest times during last Sunday’s time trials, both drivers were able to lock themselves into the front row for the Daytona 500.

Failing to qualify today for the Daytona 500 were Bill Elliott, Robert Richardson Jr., J.J. Yeley, Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace and Michael Waltrip.

The Daytona 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

Patrick is driving the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) via a collaborative agreement with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

Forty-nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers were split among the two Duels, putting 25 drivers in the first 150-mile race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and 24 drivers in the second 150-mile race.

Patrick was in 14th place and exiting turn two on lap 60 when the Ford of Aric Almirola was hit by another car. Almirola’s car, which was on the outside of Patrick’s GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, was forced into the right side of Patrick’s car.

The resulting contact sent Patrick’s machine into 180-degree spin across the infield pavement before she made heavy contact with the SAFER Barrier on the inside backstretch wall with the right front of her machine. The car was extensively damaged, but Patrick walked away from the accident and was checked and released from the infield care center.

“I’m betting that everybody that was watching on TV probably had the best look,” Patrick said. “From my perspective, it was obviously the last lap and the bottom lane started moving well, so that is where I was. We were just getting our run down the back, and all of a sudden I got hit. I’m betting that somebody also got hit outside of me. I’m going to have to look.

“It was just a chain reaction. Every person that gets hit, next and next and next. It gets bigger and bigger. It felt like a pretty big hit, so I don’t know what it looked like. I’m really just bummed out that we didn’t finish the last two corners. Instead we have a Go Daddy car in the wall and lots of damage. But maybe the backup car will be faster.”

Patrick, who started 17th, still gained valuable experience in her first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

“If that would have happened at the beginning (of the race), it would have been very frustrating to not have that experience,” Patrick said. “I was definitely picking up a lot about the side drafting and about which lanes move well. How to just pick up the draft in front of me without pushing it away and trying to stay in a nice pocket there. Of course, I’m going to go back, and I’m going to be asking what I need to do. I’m definitely asking Tony (Stewart) what to do.

“At times it was much calmer than I expected, to be honest. At times when we got single file or just very steady, two-lane racing, it was pretty calm. I felt like I learned a lot. I felt like I learned a lot about the side draft and what to do in those situations and get the most out of it.”

Tony Stewart, driver-owner of SHR, crossed the stripe ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., as the checkered and caution flags waved simultaneously. Stewart collected his third Gatorade Duel win, with the others coming in 2005 and 2007.

Marcos Ambrose finished third. Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five, while the rest of the top-10 consisted of Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, Robby Gordon and Jamie McMurray.

Matt Kenseth won the second Gatorade Duel by .209 of a second over Regan Smith. Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle took spots three through five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, SHR’s Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne.

With the Gatorade Duel races now complete, the field for the Daytona 500 is set. Edwards is on the pole, with Roush Fenway Racing teammate Biffle sharing the front row. Both drivers locked in front-row spots for the Daytona 500 after producing the two quickest laps during time trials Sunday, Feb. 19.

Failing to qualify today for the Daytona 500 were Bill Elliott, Robert Richardson Jr., J.J. Yeley, Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace and Michael Waltrip.

The Daytona 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

As he climbs behind the wheel of his No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), Newman does so knowing that the more than 1 million Soldiers serving around the globe are cheering for him to make a return to victory lane in the “Great American Race,” which he won in February 2008.

Newman, of all the drivers in Sunday’s season-opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, knows that getting a win at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway takes the perfect combination of skill and luck.

In 2008, Newman found just the right combination. While he led only a handful of laps during the 200-lap contest around the 2.5-mile oval, Newman took the lead on the backstretch on the final lap and was pushed to victory by then-teammate Kurt Busch. It was a dream-come-true for the South Bend, Ind., native.

Unfortunately, in recent years, it’s been a series of wrong-place, wrong-time incidents that have either put Newman out of the race for good or have caused so much damage to his racecar that he could do little more than limp to the checkered flag.

Newman’s outing in 2009 at Daytona – where he was the defending winner of the Daytona 500 – could serve as a microcosm of his ongoing bad luck at the superspeedway.

A quick look at Newman’s trials and tribulations during that Speedweeks reveals plenty. 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 suffered a cut right-rear tire that set off a chain-reaction crash with his SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, forcing Newman to a second backup car in as many days. He finished the race in 36^th.

Since then, Newman hasn’t finished better than 20^th at Daytona (the July 2009 Coke Zero 400) and has endured three finishes of 34^th or worse.

Despite Newman’s rotten luck, the No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans team has refused to give up. And, like good Soldiers, Newman and his No. 39 teammates have persevered, tackling each trip to Florida with a strong and determined mindset to put the past behind them and reverse their fortunes.

Last year, the team had an impressive performance in the Daytona 500. The No. 39 Chevrolet led a race-high 37 laps – a first for Newman and his No. 39 team – and he looked to be a contender for the win before being collected in a multi-car crash just three laps before the scheduled end of the race, relegating him to a 22^nd-place finish. Newman and his team felt they were just two-and-a-half minutes from victory.

Back at Daytona in July for the Coke Zero 400, Newman again had a dominant car, leading a race-high 25 laps. But in the end, he was relegated to a 23^rd-place finish after getting shuffled out of the lead on the race’s final restart and was soon collected in a last-lap wreck.

In the midst of recent heartbreak at Daytona, those strong runs have given Newman & Company the confidence and hope that maybe, just maybe, luck is finally on the team’s side as it prepares for the 54^th running of the Daytona 500.

This season, new sponsor Quicken Loans has joined the No. 39 team beginning with Newman’s latest attempt to win the Daytona 500. Quicken Loans – with its “Engineered to Amaze” tagline – is one of the nation’s largest Veterans Affairs (VA) mortgage lenders and helps thousands of active and retired servicemembers and their families achieve their dreams of home ownership each year. It’s a partnership that augments the team’s tenured relationship with the U.S. Army incredibly well, for the Army is the backbone of the country, the Soldier is the backbone of the Army, and the family is the backbone of the Soldier.

It’s the complete package that allows Newman and his No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans team to embody the strength of the U.S. Army Soldier as they work to engineer an amazing win in the Daytona 500.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Stewart-Haas Racing has been successful in bringing new sponsors. This year, you’re sponsored by U.S. Army and new sponsor Quicken Loans, and both are on the car for the Daytona 500. What does that mean to you?

“I’ve said for the past several years that it is an honor to represent the U.S. Army. We know that we are representing a million Soldiers across the globe who are fighting to give us the freedom to do what we want to do, and I’m very grateful for what they do for us. I know I have a million reasons to win every time I put on that U.S. Army uniform. Then, you look at Quicken Loans: ‘Engineered to Amaze’ – that’s not just because of their racing program, that’s what they believe in. So, tying in my engineering degree to what they believe in and the things they do is going to be pretty cool. They’re a great company, and they have a unique relationship with the U.S. Army and the military because they’re the nation’s VA mortgage lender. So it’s really a perfect fit on a lot of levels.”

You won the 50^th running of the Daytona 500. What did that win mean to you personally?

“My win there in the 50^th Daytona 500 was nothing short of a dream come true. I had always said that just to race at Daytona was an honor and, to win at the track during the historic 50^th running, was something very special to me. And to do it the way we did – with my teammate pushing me and to hear my dad (Greg Newman) call me across the start-finish line to take the checkered flag and win the biggest race of my career was a moment I will never forget. I always say I could hear my dad’s teardrops on the radio that evening, and I could. I still don’t know exactly what to say when people ask me about the Daytona 500 win. It was by far the biggest day in my career. 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.”

How do you feel going back to Daytona?

“It’s the biggest race of the year. It’s the same for everybody and you have the opportunity to beat every part of the competition. That’s the goal. In 2008, we had a good car. We had a good team. The seas parted. We opened the back straightaway up and, all of a sudden, boom. We had a shot at it, and we did it. We just need to put ourselves in that position again. That’s all you can ever ask for.

You and the No. 39 team had great runs last season at Daytona, particularly in the Daytona 500. Does that give you more confidence going into this race? How do you feel after Saturday night’s run in the Budweiser Shootout

“Last year, we led the most laps in the Daytona 500, which was a great feat for us as a team. It was the first time for me at a restrictor-plate track and the first time for me at SHR. And we feel we were four laps away from winning that race which, if you equate it to math, time-wise it’s two-and-a-half minutes. To be two-and-a-half minutes away from something so big and get crashed is pretty disappointing. It happens, and it seems like it’s happened to us a lot, but we still left Daytona knowing we had something and we were in the mix to bring home the trophy, and that was a big deal for us.

“It’s a different rules package this time around, and I wasn’t real confident with it and my car in this past Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout. We have a little work to do with our cars and, hopefully, with more practices and the Duel race on this Thursday, that will change. The good thing was that we were able to bring our No. 39 Chevrolet home without any damage in seventh place and, for us, that’s like a win at Daytona.”

How much of the Daytona 500 is luck versus skill?

“I’ve always said there is luck in racing. You create the destiny of your own luck. That luck can be good or bad . You have to prepare yourself to get out of the bad luck and into the good luck. When I won, part of it was lucky, part of it was the timing of things, part of it was Kurt (Busch) driving his tail off to get behind me coming off turn two – that was skill, and for me it was luck. It’s all a matter of opinion. You can ask the 42 other guys out there and they might have thought I got lucky when I won. For me, I thought it was skill.

Has it gotten easier to learn how to navigate the racecar at restrictor-plate tracks?

“I wouldn’t say it is easier in the draft. The cars are so much closer together now that it’s harder to gain a little advantage. Back in the day, it was easier to get a draft or get a tow than it is now, but you cannot race from the past, you have to race the way it is now. Five years ago, the track was different and so were the cars and the tires. No matter what we all show up and try to race, sometimes you have a guy who has never driven a race win and, sometimes, it takes a guy like Dale (Earnhardt) Sr., what, 20 years to win. Unless we want to redefine the racecars, we are speculating. My point is that it is what it is, you can’t fix it, and you have to deal with it.”

Would you rather race in a two-car tandem draft or in a pack?

“I would rather race in a two-car draft because I have the opportunity to make my car better with his car and his car better with my car. Whereas, when we are in a pack, we are at the mercy of the speed of the pack. We saw last year – and I would speculate that’s why fans do not like the tandem drafting – we did not see near as many big crashes. When there are 30 cars of the 43 in one big pack and something happens up front, you wipe out 20 cars. Fans love it. Whether it’s right or wrong, they love it. I like being the front car of the two-car draft. I don’t like being the second car. The only good thing to being the second car is you are the last one to the scene of the crash. But, in the end, you play with the rules you’re dealt.”

Do you feel like there’s added excitement going to Daytona this year with Stewart-Haas Racing because of the way the organization closed out last season with a championship?

“It’s 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 that 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. With the addition of (Greg) Zipadelli (competition director) and Steve Addington (new crew chief for Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet), I’m really excited about it. But I don’t want the headlines to be, ‘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.”

What do you carry over to your team this year from last season?

“I feel like Tony Stewart whipped my tail, which he did, and I’m proud to be a part of it. But, at the same time, I’m more prepared to go back and fix the things we need to do on our side to be able to go back and make sure we’re strong as an organization, so we don’t just win one. We can win two, three, four in a row.

“We have the knowledge that we’re capable – as an organization – of winning a championship. The No. 39 team was capable of that last year. We didn’t get it done and the No. 14 team did, which is still rewarding because we were part of it. But, from our standpoint, we have to fix what we did wrong. We have to prepare ourselves to beat everybody else because they’re preparing themselves to beat Stewart-Haas.

“We have to be a better team on the ‘39’ side of things all the way around. Not just in the last 10 races, but all the way around to have our shot at a championship because good doesn’t cut it, anymore. You have to be great to win a championship.

RYAN NEWMAN’S DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY PERFORMANCE PROFILE

* Race cut short due to weather.

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

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

Stewart went winless during the first 26 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ regular season, but then batted .500 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup by winning five of the year’s final 10 races. In doing so, the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing captured his third Sprint Cup championship.

And even though the Sprint Cup season was finished, Stewart wasn’t finished winning.

He won the inaugural Karting Classic at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11, where he was one of six NASCAR drivers in a race with six IZOD IndyCar Series drivers. A few days later on Dec. 31, Stewart won again, this time at the Rumble in Fort Wayne (Ind.) USAC Midget feature on the 1/10-mile track inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. And as 2011 turned to 2012, Stewart kept on winning, with his most recent triumph being an All-Star Circuit of Champions 410 Winged Sprint Car feature on Feb. 11 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.

Now, Stewart kicks off his 2012 NASCAR season as the reigning Sprint Cup champion. That the 36-race marathon that is the Sprint Cup schedule begins at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway means Stewart could very well extend his winning streak, for the Columbus, Ind., native owns 16 total victories at Daytona.

A glaring omission from that impressive win tally, however, is a victory in the Daytona 500. In 13 attempts, Stewart is winless in the Great American Race. In fact, of the nine drivers who have won at least three Sprint Cup titles – Richard Petty (seven), Dale Earnhardt (seven), Jimmie Johnson (five), Jeff Gordon (four), David Pearson (three), Darrell Waltrip (three), Cale Yarborough (three), Lee Petty (three) and Stewart (three) – all but Stewart has won the Daytona 500.

Could 2012 be the year? Some numbers bode well for Stewart.

It’s his 14^th year in Sprint Cup and his car number is 14, which Stewart chose in homage to his racing hero, A.J. Foyt. Foyt won the 1972 Daytona 500, and 2012 marks the 40^th anniversary of that victory. The 40-year-old Stewart still vies with Foyt for bragging rights, and while Stewart has the upper hand on stock-car titles, Foyt still holds his Harley J. Earl trophy over Stewart’s head and continues to utter his trademark phrase, “Check the record books, big boy.”

With a third Sprint Cup championship earned during an epic stock-car run and a winning streak that has continued in a go-kart, a USAC Midget and a 410 Winged Sprint Car, Stewart is as primed as he’s ever been to notch that elusive victory on NASCAR’s grandest stage – the Daytona 500.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Coming off your third championship season, particularly with the way you performed during the 10-race Chase, would you consider yourself the favorite to do it again this season?
“Honestly, I wouldn’t even worry about it at the beginning of the year. I think our season last year was proof that you’re throwing darts on a dart board right now if you’re trying to predict who’s going to win the championship this early. With technology changing as fast as it does, and the way our season went last year, 11 races from the end of the year I was like, ‘We’re wasting our time here.’ Then, all of a sudden, we got on a roll. So, I don’t think you can predict anybody right now. Every year it seems there are more teams and more drivers who are capable, and there are new guys during the year who pop up that are guys you would write off and wouldn’t look at as contenders. But there are more guys who get added to that category every year. So it just keeps getting bigger and better.”

With the kind of intensity you and the team displayed in winning the championship, do you think it’s possible to pick up where you left off after having had some time off?
“Honestly, I think it’s easy to keep that intensity up. The difference is, there are some variables that have changed. So you realize it’s a different focus than necessarily what we had at the end of the season last year. There is always something when you get three or four races from the end of the year, and you know you’ve got a shot at it, that there is a redirected energy. It’s like nothing else matters. Now, everybody’s hit the reset button. We’re all starting at zero again. You go down to Daytona and start at day one just like everybody else. You realize that intensity’s still there, but you realize there is a learning process that’s going to go on with learning a new crew chief. It’s just part of the process, but you still keep that focus as high as you can.”

Did you have much of a chance to get away and enjoy your offseason?
“I didn’t really do anything like that. There’s been a lot of work that’s gone on in the organization and I’ve pretty much stuck around just for moral support. When you hire a new crew chief and competition director, you don’t want to hire them and say, ‘I’m going on vacation. You guys can work. I’m going on vacation.’ So I felt like I needed to be at the shop a little more. I didn’t do anything other than just be there for moral support for them. I think that meant a lot to those guys and to the team, that we were there a lot.”

You didn’t get a chance to go off on vacation, but do you at least feel refreshed in any way, given all that is asked of a series champion at season’s end? 
“NASCAR is pretty efficient now with the driver’s time. There are a lot of things that we have to do, but you do it whether you’re the champion or not. There aren’t extra responsibilities or obligations because you’re the champion. But NASCAR does a really good job every year of making things more efficient for us as drivers, too, and understanding the time that the sponsors and the teams need from us. I didn’t do a lot in the offseason. I didn’t take much time for myself, but I guess I felt so good about what we did at the end of the year that you want to spend that time with the team and do what you can to get ready for next year. Hopefully, it gives us the opportunity to do it again.”

Can you talk about what you like about Steve Addington and the decision to bring him on board as your crew chief?
“When we saw him at Joe Gibbs Racing and worked with him and Kyle (Busch) together, Steve’s one of those guys who has a lot of practical knowledge, having been in the sport a long time. But he’s one of those guys who I think is really easy to work with. I mean, in team meetings with him, he was easy to talk to. That communication was really easy. It wasn’t always easy to talk to some of the other crew chiefs we had. So, having him on board, I think that’s part of why we made that decision, because I felt like he’s a guy I could work with really easily. He’ll be my third crew chief, now. The first two guys I had were easy to work with. So I think we’ve been really lucky from that standpoint, to have guys we communicate well with and get along with. Steve just kind of is one of those guys who is a lot like Darian (Grubb, former crew chief). I think he may not have all the engineering background that Darian has, but I think he’s got the practical knowledge and is a better fit for me.”

Can you tell if it’ll be a relatively quick process in getting you and Addington up to speed and working well with each other?
“I don’t think you can tell until you get to the track. But, personality-wise, Steve and I get along really well, and it’s similar to where Darian (Grubb) and I started out. When I say it’s a little loose, it’s a question of what a little loose means to him. And Steve’s worked with different drivers, so he knows how to go through that process, too. So, it’s literally trying to figure out what that combination’s going to be like.”

Addington has joked that he feels like he has to win 10 races. Do you feel you need to temper his expectations? 
“If we win 10 races, I think that ties us for the most in the modern era with Jeff Gordon in a single season, so it’s pretty ambitious to hope for. I like his attitude. I want him to sign a contract that guarantees that, now. But, that’s what we want to do. You want to go out and win races. I don’t think you have to temper anything. He’s not a rookie in this sport, and it’s not the first time he’s worked with a new driver. So we know what’s realistic out there.”

Are you surprised about the kind of confidence Danica Patrick seems to be bringing with her to the Daytona 500?
“Not after last year. After a rookie won it last year, why would you count yourself out?  She’s a talented driver. Our cars were really fast at Daytona, so why not have that confidence? Even before I knew her, you could see the confidence she’s had from day one. Just watching what she did in IndyCar, and listening to her speak in her interviews, she knows she can drive a racecar. It’s a matter of how long it’s going to take to learn the Cup side of it and learn how to handle a heavier racecar. She was more confident being in the two?car pack pushing each other than I was. I’ve been doing it since we’ve had to do it. But she’s very confident. She is very good at analyzing what goes on on the racetrack and communicating that to her crew chief. So it should be fun to watch.”

Just how big would it be for Patrick to win the Daytona 500?
“It would be big for everybody. It would be big for her. It would be big for NASCAR. I mean, we haven’t had something that significant happen in quite some time. Obviously, having Trevor (Bayne) win last year was a significant moment for the sport. But I think we all know what it would mean if she won.”

It seems like a no-brainer bringing somebody like Danica into your system. But was it that easy of a decision?
“No, it was not. We went through the same process that we’ve looked at with other drivers. Obviously, she’s great at the marketing side, but she’s got talent behind the steering wheel. We would not have hired her if we didn’t think she could do a good job driving the racecars. That was first and foremost on my mind. Having a partner like Go Daddy that came with her is a luxury. I don’t care how good the sponsorship is, if the driver can’t drive, we’re not interested. We felt like the decision to add her to the program was made based on her driving ability, first.”

If there is such a thing as an “inner circle” among NASCAR drivers, do you feel Patrick is there, yet?
“I think the effort she’s put forth has shown everybody that this is where she wants to be. We haven’t seen that dedication from some of the other guys who have come in and ran a little bit and then left the series.           I think the drivers respect that, and I think she’s come in with a great attitude. She’s very humble about realizing it’s going to be a lot of work and a lot of effort. It’s not going to be a scenario where you’re going to go out there and win right away. We hope she does, obviously, but the reality is it’s tough to run well right off the bat. It’s a big transition that she’s going to be going through. So I think she’s been very humble with that side of it, and I think that’s what the drivers and teams and crews respect.”

From a team owner’s perspective, what has it been like to watch this team grow as quickly as it has and achieve what it has?
“It’s amazing to me over the last three years to see where the organization went from on day one to where it’s at today. I’m really, really proud. But it’s guys like Matt Borland (vice president of competition). Matt has probably been one of the biggest keys to this team’s success. He’s been with the team from day one, and was there before it became Stewart?Haas. He’s probably made the transition much easier than I anticipated it being. He’s very good at assembling good people. We had Bobby Hutchens (former director of competition), who was great at doing that, also. And I think Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, current director of competition) is the same type of guy. A lot of people have respect for Greg and what we’re doing. A lot of people build on that success, and are bringing better people to us, and that’s how you make an organization better.”

Now that you’ve had some time to look back and think about your third championship, what kind of feelings does that bring?
“I’m very appreciative. I guess the question was, ‘How did it change my life?’ My life hasn’t changed. I’m still the guy who the day after was trying to figure out how to get ready for upcoming races, and to get ready for the next season. But to be part of something from a car ownership side and knowing we were able to be part of helping that organization grow and getting in this position, it’s a different feeling than you have from the driver’s side of winning a championship. It’s fun. I mean, winning never gets old. You never say, ‘I’ve won enough.’ All winning does is make you want to win more because you want that same feeling again. When you sit back and look at the category and look at the record books and look at the group that we’re in now, it’s a pretty humble feeling to know that we’re in pretty good company like that.”

With so much focus on your championship and Danica’s arrival in NASCAR, your teammate Ryan Newman, has sort of been flying below the radar. What are your thoughts about him? 
“You know, if a couple of different circumstances didn’t happen at the end of the season, he easily could have won the championship just like we did. You look at his performance right before the Chase started and he was running really strong. He just had a couple of hiccups at the beginning of the Chase that got him behind. It just took the wind out of the guy’s sails. It’s easy for that to happen. You work all year to get in that position, and you feel like you’re at the top of your game and you feel like you have a couple things out of your control happen, and it’s easy to lose that momentum. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Ryan’s a guy we’ve got to look at to beat for the championship. If we get beat by Ryan, that would not be any shame to me.”

TONY STEWART’S DAYTONA PERFORMANCE PROFILE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish. 
† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.
* Race cut short due to weather.
? Race was started by Stewart, but finished by J.J. Yeley, who took over for Stewart in a relief role on lap 72.