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Ryan Newman Leads Penske Daytona Sweep

Feb 17, 2008 – 8:57 PM
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Geoffrey Miller

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He wasn't on my picks, and more than likely he wasn't at the top yours.

But that didn't matter to Ryan Newman Sunday evening at Daytona International Speedway. Newman won his first-career Daytona 500 in thrilling fashion, his first win since 2005 in the Sprint Cup Series.

At the white flag, Newman didn't lead but Tony Stewart did with his teammate Kyle Busch coming fast. Off of Turn 2, the outside line that Ryan Newman was leading was gaining on Stewart with teammate Kurt Busch planted squarely in the rear end of Newman's Dodge.

Stewart ducked low thinking that he would head off a a charge by Kyle Busch and that he could use a push to keep the lead, but it backfired, and the Penske freight train powered past with Kurt shoving Newman to the lead.

Stewart later called it one of the most disappointing things to ever happen to him in his racing career as he was once again denied in a bid to win the Daytona 500.

The race ended with 7 cautions and all but 6 of those occurred after the halfway mark.

Amazingly, the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports team -- all four cars were pre-race favorites -- was in ninth-place by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR FanHouse will have plenty more coverage of the Daytona 500 coming to a screen near you.
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