Dodge gets more than a win thanks to Newman

When Ryan Newman crossed the finish line first last Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, it set several things in motion.

First, it established Newman as one of only 32 men to have ever won the Daytona 500, and he went down in history as the winner of the 50th running of the Great American Race. Second, a $1 million bonus from Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli hit the bank account alongside the $1.5 million in prize money.

• Send Ron your thoughts
• More Business news

Third, and probably most important, it gave Dodge bragging rights until the 51st running next February. That can do wonders for sales, and Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing, can count coup over his counterparts from the other manufacturers.

"This is an awesome victory," Accavitti enthused after the race. "The win is super important. Ryan [Newman] and the No. 12 team did an excellent job; Penske Racing was on top of their game today -- it was a great showing by all the Dodge teams. I mean, Kurt [Busch] was super strong and for us to get six out of the top eight is just a phenomenal showing for Dodge. It shows the depth of our program and we couldn't be more excited for the 2008 season."

The victory by Newman and the 1-2 Dodge finish came with a certain amount of drama, especially since no one had talked about the Dodge camp all week. It was Hendrick this and Toyota that, not Dodge.

"Listening to all the hype this week you heard a lot about a lot of people besides the Dodge boys," Accavitti said. "We knew we had a super-strong team. We knew we were going to have a great season and we couldn't be more proud of all our Dodge teams. Again, six out of the top eight in this great race with all of this heritage, and the 50th anniversary and winning it -- this is just an awesome day for Dodge and all of our race teams."

Even in the throes of victory, Accavitti remained up on the marketing wheel.

"It was total Dodge boys teamwork," he crowed. "We've been telling everybody that we're working better together and the proof is in the pudding and we served up a heaping helping of Dodge boys pudding out there today."

Team owner Roger Penske earned his first Daytona victory, his first restrictor plate triumph and a big trophy to put beside the 14 he already has from the Indianapolis 500. Oh, and there's that $1 million bonus, too.

"We're going to spend it to make the cars go faster, I'm sure that'll be the first thing we'll do," Penske quipped when asked what he was going to do with the bonus bucks.

Nardelli has a history of bringing big victories to his companies, as well as the race teams they support. As CEO of The Home Depot, Nardelli oversaw both of Tony Stewart's NASCAR titles. He's also good friends with Penske, and on Sunday morning before the race predicted that a Dodge would win the race.

"Bob Nardelli and I go back when I was on the Home Depot board," Penske said. "To see him as the CEO of Chrysler, he's really put some time and effort and gave us people to make this a much better program."

Nardelli

For primary sponsor Alltel, the bump in advertising -- of the free variety, which is also a plus -- will pay huge dividends. Newman's Dodge Charger, painted in Alltel blue and white, was inducted into the Daytona 500 Experience on Monday where it will remain on display for one year.

After the induction, Newman left for a round of television and media appearances in New York and Los Angeles, another tradition for the Daytona 500 winner.

Among his media commitments since winning at Daytona were appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Live with Regis and Kelly in New York, followed by a visit to the ESPN Studios in Bristol, Conn.

At every one of those stops, Newman plainly said the words Alltel and Dodge, which is worth millions more to the companies in free advertising. There were perks, too, as Newman's favorite part of the week's activities was a meeting with fellow Regis and Kelly guest, Larry the Cable Guy. The two laughed and shared stories about a common pastime -- fishing.

Add to that the fact the Daytona 500 on FOX ratings were up. The 50th Daytona 500 earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, and both the rating and average audience were around 1 percent better than a year ago (10.1/20, 17.5 million).

It was also the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 ever on FOX, trailing the 2005 race in both stats. Around 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of the Great American Race, a 2 percent improvement over 2007's 33.0 million. The improved Daytona 500 rating completed a Speedweeks "triple play" as the Daytona 500 (+1%), Daytona Pole Qualifying (+4%), and Budweiser Shootout (+6%) all posted gains over the same events in 2007.