Newman Scores Penske’s First Daytona 500 Victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The 50th Daytona 500 came down to “the push from heaven” as Ryan Newman’s Dodge got the race-winning push from Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch to give team owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 victory.
Penske, winner of a record 14 Indianapolis 500s, got to experience a trip to victory lane in NASCAR’s biggest race.
“I don’t have the words, it’s probably the most awesome thing that ever happened to me,” Newman said after the biggest victory of his career. “At the driver’s meeting to be looking face-to-face with all the greats that have won this race and now to be part of that team is awesome.
“To win the 50th Daytona 500 is great.”
Newman was fourth when the race restarted with four laps to go. He attached his car to the back of Tony Stewart’s Toyota to push his way through traffic.
But when teammate Busch gave Newman a big push on the final lap, they passed Stewart down the backstretch heading to the checkered flag.
“The leader was a sitting duck on the restart,” Newman said of Jeff Burton’s Chevrolet. “I didn’t think the 31 (Burton) had the greatest car all day. When I pushed Tony through turns one and two, I was pushing him as hard as I could.
“Then Kurt came up from behind me and gave me the push from heaven.”

TWELFTH NIGHT: Ryan Newman celebrates his Daytona 500 victory Sunday night at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

The victory was the 13th of Newman’s career, but his first since Sept. 18, 2005, ending an 81-race winless streak.
It was also the biggest paycheck of Newman’s career as he won $1,506,045 for putting the Penske Dodge in victory lane. Chrysler chairman Robert Nardelli offered a $1 million bonus to any Dodge team that won the Daytona 500, so team-owner Roger Penske now has more than two million reasons to celebrate his first victory at Daytona.
“Ryan, you did a hell of a job for us,” Penske told his winning driver afterwards. “Our 40,000 employees will be high-fiving you now.
“We’ll spend the extra million to make the cars go faster, that’s for sure.”
Newman realized his victory would have never been possible without the push from Busch.
“Without Kurt Busch this wouldn’t have been possible,” Newman said. “This was just a great effort. The guys on this team deserve it. Roger Penske and the whole organization can celebrate this for sure.
“To get this car to victory lane was awesome, but I couldn’t have done this without Kurt Busch. When Kurt pushed me, we just stuck together.”
Stewart finished third, followed by Kyle Busch’s Toyota. Reed Sorenson’s Dodge rounded out the top five.
The Penske Racing duo claimed a 1-2 finish.
“I was very emotional at the start/finish line pushing Ryan Newman to the checkered flag,” Kurt Busch said. “I’m very happy and satisfied that I could help my teammate win.
“At least we finished second and pushed my teammate to the win. I’m excited to help him win. For us to finish second, to come back from starting 43rd, this is great. If Newman stayed on the bottom to go with the 20 (Stewart), I could have won this race. It was emotional at the start/finish line to finish 1-2 for Roger Penske.”
The push past Stewart was all Newman needed to win the race.
There were 42 lead changes among 16 drivers in the debut of the current NASCAR race car in the Daytona 500.
Kyle Busch led eight times for 86 laps, far and away the most of any driver in the race.
On the final restart, Kyle Busch and Stewart split race leader Jeff Burton with four laps to go. But when Busch drove below the yellow line to improve his position, he immediately gave the position back so he wasn’t black flagged.
Stewart was depending on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Busch, to help him get to the  front.
“My intention was to get down in front of Kyle and try to pull Kyle along with us and have us work together,” Stewart said. “I got a run on him on the restart. We’ve talked all week about the teammate part of the thing.
“On the restart, I hung him out. But I tried to win the Daytona 500.”
It was an exceptionally clean race until the last 48 laps. The first caution flag didn’t wave until the 81st lap and that was for debris. But after lap 152, there would be six more yellow flags for 23 laps, including three cautions in the final 15 laps and two in the final  10.
Stewart and race favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were charging through the field to get back to the front when Casey Mears pulled up in front of Stewart’s Toyota, which already had a nose in that lane.
The contact sent Mears crashing into the first-turn wall for another caution with five laps left to set up the dramatic fight to the finish with Newman emerging as the surprise winner.
In the end, the estimated crowd of 190,000 fans was expecting to see Stewart, Earnhardt or Kyle Busch drive to victory to win the Daytona 500.
What they got was the unexpected 1-2 finish from Penske Racing.
“My dad was spotting for me and I could hear the tears dripping all the way down the backstretch, that’s how emotional he was,” Newman said of his father, Greg. “Kurt gave me a really great push.
“I got that tingly feeling and you only get that from certain things.”