Ken Schrader piloted his new ride to a ninth-place finish Sunday. Credit: Autostock

Schrader's steady hand results in top-10 finish

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In 23 years of Cup racing, Ken Schrader has won races and pole positions, and most importantly, learned how to keep the wheels and fenders on his cars.

Ken Schrader

Sunday, the reward for Schrader and Wood Brothers Racing in the Daytona 500 was a ninth-place finish in the famed No. 21 Ford -- the Woods' best finish in the season-opener since 2002 and only their third top-10 in the last 10 years.

"It ain't bad and we'll take it, for sure -- a top 10 at Daytona," Schrader said through a grin in the darkness of the Daytona garage after a long, moist day. "It's a good way to start '06."

The 2006 season marks a new beginning for Schrader, 50, who raced the last three seasons for BAM Racing. It's the same for the Wood Brothers, who merged their operation with ST Motorsports in the off-season to create Wood Brothers/JTG Racing.

Schrader's finish was even more remarkable based on early problems.

"Well, I hovered toward the back, but not intentionally," Schrader said. "I messed up the nose of the car when I ran into Bill Elliott on a restart, and I flat-spotted both my front tires.

"I figured I wouldn't say [anything] and just drive my ass off and get back as much as I could, [so] how the motor held together, I don't know."

Credit: Autostock

Daytona 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. J. Johnson Chevrolet 2. C. Mears Dodge 3. R. Newman Dodge 4. E. Sadler Ford 5. T. Stewart Chevrolet Complete results, click here Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates a Daytona 500 victory Top finishersNewman, Kenseth, Stewart, and Junior talk about their day Rough racingStewart slides into Kenseth and is sent to the back of the field Multi-car wreckJeff Green spins in Turn 3 and collects several others Gordon and Stewart brush wallGordon and Stewart make contact and brush the wall Early cautionRacing is clean until Truex Jr. finds the wall Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Schrader narrowly avoided disaster on pit road late in the race when Ryan Newman pulled out into his path, forcing Schrader to take evasive action. That left Schrader 34th on the restart with 24 laps left.

"Oh that?" Schrader said. "Listen, I'll go to the back any time, before I tear my fenders off. And I knew I had to turn to keep from tearing my fenders off."

Newman praised Schrader's decision to sacrifice his pit stop to save both cars.

"Kenny definitely was awake," Newman said. "I didn't know that he was coming [because] I couldn't see him. Matt [Borland, crew chief] warned me at the last second as I was pulling out.

"It was just a good effort on both parts for me to stay tight and him to not cut in. I've got to thank him for not tearing our racecars up just trying to get to his stall, and more importantly using his head to keep anybody from being injured on pit road."

Schrader, after making the initial save, had a better idea.

"I saw the pit right there, so I thought I'd still hook a left," Schrader said. "I just kind of slung it around, put on four tires, backed up and took off."

Schrader passed no fewer than 25 cars to get back to his finishing position, despite four cautions in the last 28 laps.

"We just got in the right lane," Schrader said. "We had to make a lot of adjustments [because] we were geared up for hot and slick. The weather change got us pretty severely."

Schrader's last top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 was in 2000, when he also finished ninth.

Team co-owner Len Wood acknowledged his optimism for the season as the daylong mist continued to cloud the evening air; and he credited Schrader, whom he labeled the team's "father figure," as a primary catalyst.

"We're tickled to get out of here that high and to have a good start in the points," Wood said. "We ran three races down here and didn't tear any cars up, so we're pretty tickled.

"It's great to have Kenny [because] with the group that we've got going now we need a veteran to be the father figure for all of those boys and he did an excellent job today."

Wood said Sunday's run was only the beginning for his revitalized team.

"We didn't get what we wanted in either the Bud Shootout or the Gatorade 150," Wood said. "We had a better car and we got, like a 14th and a 12th place finish, so we felt like we had a good car for today.

"When he got into the back of Bill Elliott, it bent up the ductwork and it got extremely, extremely hot. We went from the Bud Shootout night where it was too cold to way too hot today, but the Roush Yates engine stood up to more than you could ask for.

"We're hoping that we can have four or five good races and get back up in the front in the points where we should be."