Speedweeks, Daytona 500 the tonics NASCAR needed

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In what should have served as a fitting reminder that Sprint Cup racing can sell itself just fine, thank you, the 50th running of the Daytona 500 ended in spectacular fashion Sunday.

Doing so has long been a habit in this sport. But let's face it: in light of criticism for sagging television ratings, too many empty seats at too many tracks and too much domination by one race team, the last thing NASCAR needed was for the 50th edition of its biggest race to turn out a dud.

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It wasn't. Not only did Ryan Newman rally for a stirring last-lap victory in his No. 12 Dodge, but there were all kinds of elements leading up to and during the main event that made Speedweeks 2008 a smashing success -- just the kind of shot in the arm that NASCAR could use these days.

Leading up to the 500, most of the talk in and around the garage centered around Hendrick Motorsports in general and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in particular, with a dose of Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing thrown in for a little variety.

Dodge? Ford? These manufacturers were reduced almost to afterthoughts in the onslaught of the Hendrick/Earnhardt and Toyota/Gibbs storylines.

Not that they were undeserving storylines.

Earnhardt, the newest addition to a Hendrick team that already included two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and four-time champ Jeff Gordon, blitzed the field en route to winning the non-points Budweiser Shootout and his 150-mile Gatorade Duel qualifying race in the days leading up to the 500. Johnson won the pole, suggesting further Hendrick dominance loomed in the 500.

Toyota, which struggled mightily in 2007 during its inaugural season at the Cup level, flexed its new and much more efficient muscle throughout Speedweeks. The much-maligned Michael Waltrip of Michael Waltrip Racing sat on the outside of the front row after qualifying second behind Johnson. Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin won the second Gatorade Duel, taking a Toyota to Victory Lane for the first time in Cup history.

Hence, who could blame folks for thinking it was going to come down to Hendrick in their Chevrolets or Gibbs in their Toyotas in the historic 500? Then again, perhaps everyone should have known better and expected something completely refreshing and different.

As so often is the case at Daytona, it all got jumbled at the end and Dodge claimed dominance on the day.

Dodge's day
Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge Motorsports, sat back and listened to all the excitement swirling around everyone else leading up to the race and shook his head. He later said that he knew all the Dodge teams -- and especially the Penske Racing duo of Newman and Kurt Busch, who finished second and gave Newman the drafting push he needed to secure the win -- were good enough to win.

"Listening to all the hype this week, you heard a lot about a lot of people besides the Dodge boys. We knew we had a super-strong team," Accavitti said. (Continued)