Thanks to superb team management and incredible raceway savvy by his drivers Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch, car owner Roger Penske on Sunday added a one-two finish in the prestigious Daytona 500-mile race to his incredible roster of 14 Indy 500 triumphs as a car owner. The 1-2 placing of his team Dodges was due to the skills of Newman and Busch working together on the track, especially in the late stages of the race. Newman, winless since September of 2005, used on-track strategy and help from teammate Busch, who started 43rd and last in the 200-lap grind, to make a last-lap pass for the lead and victory. Newman, the 30-year old midget-racing graduate from South Bend, Ind., led the 500 on four occasions, but only for eight laps en toto. The race also marked the first victory for crew chief Roy McCauley. Newman also gave credit to his father, who was his race-day spotter.

NASCAR driver Mark Martin does have a sense of humor. Prior to the start of the Daytona 500 in which he placed 31st but on the lead lap, he was quoted as saying, “Some days I feel like I sign autographs for a living and I drive race cars for a hobby.”

The giant Kansas Speedway recently announced a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino would be built on its sprawling property. The Cordish Co., an affiliate of Credit Suisse, will be the builder-operator.

GTO fans are cheering Pontiac’s announcement that its new G8, the first rear-wheel drive Pontiac since the 2005 GTO, will go on sale this spring. It is being built in Australia by General Motors’ Holden division.

The recent naming of New England businessman and Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett as co-owner of Ray Evernham’s NASCAR Sprint Cup team has resulted in a name change to Gillett Evernham Motorsports while reducing Evernham’s role to minority partner. Evernham seems pleased with the changes.

Urgent need to fill. Required to issue pre-race press releases before every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race extolling the virtues of its Red Bull Racing Team’s twin Toyota Camrys and drivers Brian Vickers and A.J. Almendinger, the pre-Daytona 500 Red Bull release carried the names, home towns and job titles of the 14 over-the-wall crew members as well as naming the pit crew and athletic development/conditioning coaches.

Over the years Formula One has toyed with the idea of a camless engine, and now Valeo of Italy has produced a cam-free engine. It uses electromagnetic solenoids rather than a camshaft to open and close valves. This method, say its proponents, allows far greater control of engine performance, such as lean-burn application and individual cylinder shutdown for fuel saving. A possible 20 percent cut in fuel usage is envisioned. Electronic valve control eliminates the weight, frictional loss and bulk of rotating camshafts, however difficulties arise in finding room for the electronic actuating mechanism in engines with multiple valves per cylinder. The first production cars to utilize this system are expected to be the twin-cylinder 900-cc Fiat 500 due in 2009, and the prototype Alfa-Romeo Junior with a turbocharged four-banger, possibly seen this year.