Hello, Newman

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/autoracing/articles/2008/02/18/hello_newman/

Hello, Newman
With a little help from a friend, he wins first Daytona 500
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff
February 18, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - With three laps remaining in the 50th running of the Daytona 500 yesterday, it was apparent any number of drivers had a chance to win NASCAR's most prestigious race for the first time.

Unlike the legends of yore, these contenders were jockeying for the right to be welcomed into Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway as winner of the golden anniversary of the Great American Race.

There was race leader Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet; there was Tony Stewart, who looked so strong all week in his No. 20 Toyota; and there was the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch, Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.

Then there were the Dodge Boys, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman.

The Penske Racing pilots had tried to fly below the radar all week in their Dodge mounts. Once the dust settled from Busch's brouhaha with Stewart in a Budweiser Shootout practice last Friday night, which earned both drivers a six-race suspension, Penske was content to let the spotlight fall upon Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs Racing camps, and Toyota.

And so, when the checkered flag fell and Daytona swung open its doors to Victory Lane, who was standing there waiting to be greeted?

Hellooooo, Newman.

All hailed Newman, the Golden Boy from South Bend, Ind., as the winner after the driver of the No. 12 Dodge snapped an 81-race winless streak which dated to a Sept. 9, 2005, triumph at New Hampshire. Newman got timely draft support from Penske teammate Busch to surge past Stewart on the backstretch of the final lap.

"Don't even have the words," said Newman, who acknowledged being awestruck during the drivers' meeting at the assembly of former 500 winners, which included Junior Johnson, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and Richard Petty.

"It's awesome," he said. "It's probably one of the most awesome things that's ever happened to me."

Newman and Busch's 1-2 finish gave owner Roger Penske, whose name is synonymous with unparalleled excellence in open-wheel racing, his first Harley J. Earl trophy to go along with the 14 Borg Warner trophies he's won at the Indianapolis 500.

If he hadn't won yesterday? "I would have come back next year and tried again," Penske said. "It was special for me. Obviously, we've tried for many years. We've had great drivers. We've been very close many years. But, again, we never executed at the end."

Until, that is, the opportunity presented itself at the end of yesterday's race.

After Casey Mears tagged the wall in Turn 1 and brought out the race's seventh and final caution, the field bunched behind Burton's car but quickly gobbled him up on the restart with three laps to go.

"I would say the leader was a sitting duck on every restart," Newman said. "I didn't think [Burton] had the greatest car all day. We were fortunate that when they split apart that I got the chance to push Tony. That made a difference because that lane moved, and it gave Kurt the opportunity to run the high line, which he wanted to."

After pushing Stewart to the front with one to go, Newman said "the moons just aligned" when Stewart decided to dive low into Turn 3.

"When I pushed Tony through [turns] 1 and 2, I was hoping he was going to hang onto it, because I was pushing as hard as I could," Newman said. "We broke free. Kurt came up behind me off 2 and just gave me the push from heaven."

Busch, who started 43d after experiencing a malfunction during Thursday's Gatorade Duels, had sacrificed so much for the team. At Penske's behest, Busch sacrificed his standing (No. 7) in the owner's points to allow rookie teammate Sam Hornish Jr. the peace of mind to know he had a spot locked up in the field, and used a past champion's provisional to secure his spot in the field.

Then, after getting hit with a pass-through penalty for exceeding the pit road speed limit on Lap 122, Busch worked his way back to the front to be there at the end to sacrifice himself again for Newman's sake.

"I was emotional pushing him across the line," said Busch. "It felt incredible to have a Penske 1-2 finish today. To have Newman jump up in front of me, I thought that was the most beautiful thing in the world because I knew one of us Penske cars was going to win at that point.

"I'm just very happy. I'm not bitter at all for finishing second."

Stewart, however, was crestfallen. He went from first to third on the last lap, marking his fifth top-10 result in his last six Daytona 500 starts. "It's probably just one of the most disappointing moments of my racing career," he said.

After re-creating those last four eventful corners of the last lap, Stewart paused.

"I just want to take a second to congratulate Ryan," he said. "He's a fellow Indiana boy. If we couldn't win, I was glad to see him. I was hoping it would be a Joe Gibbs Racing car to win this thing, but I'm happy for Ryan. He's a good guy, a good friend of mine."

After the win, the world beat a path to Victory Lane to offer Newman similar sentiments.

"It was awesome," Newman said. "Listening to my dad [Greg] on the radio spotting for me, all the other things, all the other emotions, all the hard work, people that gave me a shot racing quarter midgets, midgets, Sprint cars, Silver Crown cars, I have to thank everybody."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.