Gibbs, Toyota did it all in the Daytona 500 but win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart was all ready to clip the locks.

The two-time NASCAR champion told the media after winning Saturday's Nationwide race at Daytona International Speedway that he'd cut his shoulder-length hair if he duplicated the feat in the Daytona 500. One scribe even had a pair of scissors on hand Sunday. And it looked like they'd be put to use with three laps remaining, until Ryan Newman charged past the No. 20 car and left Stewart still winless in his sport's biggest event.

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Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin also led laps at Daytona.

Daytona 500

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Ryan Newman	Dodge
2.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
3.	Tony Stewart	Toyota
4.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
5.	Reed Sorenson	Dodge
6.	Elliott Sadler	Dodge
7.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
8.	Robby Gordon	Dodge
9.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
10.	Greg Biffle	Ford

• Complete Results | Standings
• Lap-by-Lap | Photos | Videos

"It would be a lie to say I'm happy about going from first to third on the last lap of the Daytona 500," Stewart said, his mane left unshorn. "... I thought we were getting ready to have a hair-cutting party with you guys [in the media] tonight."

Instead he was left with a third-place finish, and plenty of ruminations over what might have been. He wasn't alone. His newest teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch, led a race-high 86 laps and wound up fourth. And his new manufacturer Toyota paced 138 of the 200 laps at Daytona -- but not the final one, which counted most.

But being denied victory on the final lap was about the only thing that didn't go right for Gibbs and Toyota, an alliance showing early signs that it might challenge juggernaut Hendrick Motorsports at the top of the circuit. Although they were surprisingly upstaged by Dodge, which placed six cars among the top eight finishers, Toyota did have five of its eight entries in the top 20. Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin led 32 laps and would have certainly finished better than 17th had he not suffered car damage. Same with Dave Blaney, who had a potential top-10 run thwarted in an accident.

No, Toyota didn't win the Great American Race. But the Japanese carmaker did almost everything else Sunday, backing up the strength it showed in preseason testing. It seems only a matter of time before Stewart, Busch or another Camry pilot joins Al Keller -- who won in a Jaguar at Linden., N.J., in 1954 -- as the lone drivers to maneuver a foreign nameplate into Victory Lane at NASCAR's top level.

"I think everyone is very pleased with the two weeks we had here, and the month of testing," said Lee White, senior vice president of Toyota Racing Development. "Obviously, the Joe Gibbs Racing team was unbelievable here. Had the circumstances worked out a little bit differently at the end there with the yellow flags, I think we had a little better chance at winning the race. We didn't ask for any guarantee that we were going to be able to win the race, we just wanted to be in a position where we could have a shot. I think everyone would agree that we had a shot. I think everyone in our organization is happy that we had a shot."

How strong were the Toyotas Sunday? So strong that when Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon went out with an early suspension problem, he wondered if they could be beat. "I hope my teammates get up there and make something happen against those Toyotas," he said, "because I didn't see anyone who had anything for them."

Even team owner Joe Gibbs expressed surprise at the strength of the Toyota engine package, which reportedly produced more power than those of other nameplates in dynamometer testing following Thursday's qualifying events. Toyota engineers worked last fall on the engine while the Gibbs team concentrated on the Chase, and Sunday the marriage of the two looked seamless.

"They worked really hard and really long on this restrictor-plate package," said Gibbs president J.D. Gibbs. "They didn't want to have what happened last year happen this year. I think you have that, and I'll brag on our guys, bringing them on board and putting that together. Now going forward, I think at all your unrestricted tracks, I don't think you'll see quite that. But the reality is, strong teams are strong teams."

That offered little solace Sunday night to the Gibbs drivers, still chasing the organization's first Daytona 500 title since Dale Jarrett in 1993.

"To lead the most laps like that, it breaks your heart," said Stewart, who was referring to Busch's disposition, but might as well have been speaking of himself. "You know, you spend 10 days here trying to win the biggest stock-car race of the year. When you know you've got a car capable of running up front and you don't capitalize on it, not due to any fault of his own, it does, it breaks your heart. It just absolutely crushes you."