When Jamie McMurray's No. 26 Ford went sailing off Daytona International Speedway on the 131st lap Saturday night, any chance he had to defend his victory in last year's Pepsi 400 disappeared.
But his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan stormed towards the front of the Coke Zero 400 as McMurray and their fifth teammate, 2003 Pepsi 400 winner Greg Biffle, faltered. In the end Edwards (second), Kenseth (third) and Ragan (fifth) were packed in the top five when the race ended under caution; the top-three Roush Fenway drivers made gains.
But it wasn't enough to satisfy all of them. Edwards, who came into the race fourth in the standings, remained in fourth. But his No. 99 Ford's nose was scant feet behind the front of Busch's No. 18 Toyota when the 11th and final caution flew, and he definitely wanted more.
Kenseth, whose fourth place was a career best in 15 Daytona starts, had a car that came and went, but it was coming when it mattered most, and a four-point gain in the standings, to ninth, was the payoff. But even he had visions of something better.
Ragan had the most consistent car all night long, as he started sixth, was in the top five for the first 30 laps and only fell out of the top 20 on one 10-lap rundown sheet. Ragan, who scored his second fifth-place finish in only his fourth career Daytona start, said he had a lot of help along the way.
Q: Carl, I wondered kind of a two-part question. Obviously with this news breaking about Jamie McMurray looking for a new ride for next year, what effect do you think that will have from your perspective on the team? And what might you speculate would happen to McMurray's seat?
CARL EDWARDS: What exactly is going on there? I'm not very familiar. Is it definite? What's the deal?
Q: Supposedly, he -- yesterday (Monday), the "Charlotte Observer" broke that he is looking for a new ride. Possibly his manager is kind of shopping his around to some different places and some different teams for next year.
CARL EDWARDS: Yeah, I mean, I don't know exactly what's going on there. You know, I mean, I guess, that would be a big point of speculation.
All I can say is, you know, Jamie and I have had a really good relationship. Just this weekend he helped me out a lot on the racetrack, you know, trying to give me as much room as he could and it cost him a position. You know, that was at the end of the race when I was trying to catch Kyle (Busch).
So I like having him as a teammate, and I hope that we can get it worked out to keep him. I don't know what's -- I don't know all the details about that.
With just over 30 laps remaining under the lights at the Phoenix International Raceway the caution flag dropped for a multi-car wreck. Clint Bowyer’s No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet led at the time but following the restart on lap 171, Matt Kenseth drove his No. 17 Ford to the high side and took the lead. Bowyer however, wasn’t buying it. He drove his Chevy back into the top spot and the two dueled door-to-door before yet another yellow waved on lap 189 for debris.
Once the restart fell seven laps from the finish, Bowyer was able to jump out front and maintain a multi-car length lead. Helping his cause was the third place car, Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton, racing hard with Kenseth for the second spot. A caution flag on the last lap halted Kenseth’s charge, securing the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 victory for Bowyer.
Regan Smith finished first in the Busch Class with an eighth place overall in the No. 4 Shea Homes Chevrolet. Timothy Peters scored one of his better career finishes with second in the Busch Class and 13th overall in the No. 21 Auto Zone Chevrolet. Third in the Busch Class was Jason Leffler in the No. 38 Great Clips Toyota who finished 18th overall.
Kevin Carver - All Headline News Sports News Writer
Daytona Beach, FL (AHN)-The sanctioning body of NASCAR dealt with appeals on Monday. Both Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth teams were penalized back in Daytona for aerodynamic modifications. During the appeals on Monday, NASCAR wouldn't back down and upheld both teams to their punishment.
Matt Kenseth's team had 50 driver and car owner points stripped from them for their aerodynamic modifications at Daytona during qualifying. Kenseth also lost crew chief Robby Reiser for four races and the team was fined $50,000 for its actions. Kenseth's car was also found to have a hole underneath it as well that had not been sealed off as NASCAR has indicated as a violation. Jack Roush appealed to the commission on Monday that the points taken away and the fine were stiffer penalties than last year and that it was unfair. The board held firm though and denied any change to either appeal.
Both teams have a right to appeal for the second time under Section 15 of the NASCAR rulebook, but no word on if either will do so.
On the last lap of the Daytona 500 David Ragan saw Kyle Busch run off the apron coming off of turn four. Busch’s car jumped sideways and prompted a nine-car demolition derby that took out contenders. The final incident of the race, perhaps the most spectacular, involved Clint Bowyer, Busch, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Matt Kenseth, David Gilliland, Sterling Marlin and Reed Sorenson. "I just kind of stood my ground and stayed straight and kept my eye on the start/finish line," said Ragan. That's where I was trying to get to."
Mears and Biffle then both spun. Behind the smoke Robby Gordon hit Reed Sorenson sliding him into the wall. Meanwhile Jeff Gordon who Mears had clipped in the left rear was turned into the wall and began spinning.
Gordon could hardly see anything as he was spinning. "I'm not sure I did want to see what was in front of me on that last lap," Gordon said. "I saw them going every which way. It was about survival, because it was so wild and crazy out there."
Sliding on down the track Mears hit Marlin.
"We escaped a lot of pileups today, including the last one,” offered Marlin, a veteran driver. “I was running 10th and looking down the frontstretch at the checkered flag, thinking I was clear of the wreck, when the 25 car ( Mears) hit the wall and shot back down the track into us.” Marlin added, “There was nothing we could do. I just took my foot off the brake and slid across the finish line.” Marlin’s yellow and green Chevy came to a stop in the infield grass where Marlin climbed out and walked to the garage.
Mears wasn't done yet. He then pinballed into Bowyer.
Bowyer took the wildest ride in his #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet when his car flipped over, slid on its roof across the finish line like a matchbox car and flopped back over on its wheels on the infield grass where a flash fire erupted in the engine compartment as Bowyer climbed out. Bowyer and all other drivers climbed from their wrecked machines unhurt. "It was quick," he said. "You know, I flipped over and then here comes the mud. I tell you, if much more mud would have come in, I wouldn't have gotten out.
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