Elledge gamble doesn't net win or top-10, but worth it (cont'd)

"It's out of my hands at that point," Elledge said. "It's just up to whether it's in the cards or not, or whether you're going to make it through them deals and being at the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, everybody is going for the same spot. It worked out. It was great."

That wasn't the case in 2009, when Speed had a miserable Speedweeks, tearing up several cars and ultimately getting caught up in a multi-car accident after 125 laps in his first Daytona 500, leaving him with a 35th-place finish.

"Last year, we used up four cars down here and got took out in the race, and that really put us behind the eightball in the top 35 for the points," Elledge said. "We probably left out here [35th] in points. [Sunday night], we came out of here 19th officially, so that's a lot better and it's the same car we started with, going to California."

Instead, Speed carries some welcome positive momentum heading to Fontana, and puts him closer to that much-sought after guaranteed starting point for being in the top 35 in owners' points after five races.

"Every year, if you can score 100 points for the first five races, you're going to be in the top 15 in points," Elledge said. "We've tried to put a big emphasis in staying out of trouble, let's not get caught up in nothing today, and let's get out of here with a solid finish and let's try to log top-20 finishes for the next four weeks."

For Speed, still in the process of making the difficult transition from open wheel to stock cars, what a difference a year makes.

"We got a top-20 finish, which is good for us to start the season with some points," Speed said. "Last year, we got in a big hole and it was really tough to get out of. To come with a solid finish -- I mean, we weren't able to be quite as aggressive as maybe we could have if we had played it safe. [But] we're happy with 19th."

So did Speed get a chance to debate the decision with his crew chief?

"We didn't talk much," Speed said. "That's Jimmy's job. That's what Jimmy gets paid for, to make those kind of decisions. In hindsight, it was the right decision. It would have been real bad if we had to pit under green but, as it turned out, we were able to stay near the front and be out of most of the trouble."

All in all, Elledge was more than pleased with how the strategy played out.

"I didn't think we'd go to the end, honestly," Elledge said. "And when we were as strong as we were up there, it was even a better idea, because it may not go to the end and we could make it to within about five laps to the end. And as strong as we were, we may even slide our way into a top-five finish. I was impressed. It was a good day."