BUD SHOOT-OUT RESULTS
Jimmie Johnson form El Cajon, California made one pit stop in Saturday night's Budweiser Shoot-out at Daytona and came home victorious. Johnson was one of the drivers that is highly favored to win the 2005 Nextel Championship and showed he might take it, who was eight points behind Nextel Champion Kurt Busch at the end of the 2004 season, the closest margin in stock car racing history. Johnson took the lead with seventeen laps to go in the final seventy-lap shoot-out and held off his contender. Early in the final segment Ryan Newman took a huge lead when he only changed two tires but Johnson opted for four tires and took the lead beating out early leader Greg Biffle who had the fastest car in the field. After the race the California native said, "Really, at the end, it mattered most who came out first on that pit stop, and my guys got it done on pit road and got us out ahead of (Biffle). He had a great car and when he was leading I really couldn't get a run on him. I knew that once I got into the lead he wasn't going to be able to get around me. It's just hard to pass the leader.”

Ryan Newman ended up finishing second and gave his crew chief Matt Borland credit for the two tire change and said after the race, "I think it was a good call, it put us in a situation in which we could have won and it turned out pretty good for us. We're just happy to come home second and it was a great debut for the brand new Charger.”

Jeff Gordon came in third, who happens to be co-owner of Jimmie Johnson's car and mentor to Johnson, Tony Stewart finished fourth and Greg Biffle ended finishing up in fifth. Get ready folks it's gonna be a wild 2005 with the Nextel Cup Series.

TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Ryan Newman
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Tony Stewart
5. Greg Biffle
6. Kurt Busch
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr
8. Mark Martin
9. Kasey Kahne
10. Bobby Labonte

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
HAMILTON WINS AT DAYTONA

NASCAR is back for 2005 and Friday night was nothing but wild to say the least, that kicked off the season with the Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona with The Florida Dodge Dealers 250. At the end it looked like Jimmy Spencer won the race and Bobby Hamilton Sr finished second, but after officials reviewed the finish on video tape Spencer and his crew had to move his truck out of Victory Lane and Bobby Hamilton Sr and his crew moved their truck into Victory Lane. It was a weird ending to what was a weird night of racing that saw twice, two trucks flip over, many lead changes and some wicked accidents.

Hamilton Sr took the lead with one lap to go and Spencer close on his heels and passed him, but an eight car pile up occurred and before the caution came up Bobby Hamilton was able to regain the lead and win it, making it his ninth career win in the truck series that celebrates it's tenth year of competition. Todd Bodine finished third, Ricky Craven, who is racing full-time this year in the series, finished fourth and Ted Musgrave rounded out the top five finishers. Pole sitter Kerry Earnhardt unfortunately was involved in a mid race pileup and wasn't able to finish the race.

TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Bobby Hamilton Sr
2. Jimmy Spencer
3. Todd Bodine
4. Ricky Craven
5. Ted Musgrave
6. Ken Weaver
7. Brad Keselowski
8. David Starr
9. Wayne Edwards
10. Johnny Benson

TOP TEN IN POINTS
1. Bobby Hamilton Sr – 185
2. Jimmy Spencer – 175
3. Todd Bodine – 175
4. Ricky Craven – 165
5. Ted Musgrave – 155
6. Brad Keselowski – 151
7. Ken Weaver – 150
8. David Starr – 142
9. Johnny Benson – 139

BUSCH SERIES
STEWART WINS FIRST BUSCH RACE

Tony Stewart driving a car for fellow Nextel Cup driver Kevin Harvick won his first Busch Series race on Saturday afternoon in the Hershey's Take 5 300 at Daytona, with Harvick finishing second. The win for Stewart ended Dale Earnhardt Jr's three consecutive wins in the Busch Series opener at the track who ended up finished third followed by teammate and reigning Busch Series Champion Martin Truex Jr in fourth place. Stewart said after the race regarding his win and almost loss when with 25 laps to go Carl Edwards gave him a tap in the rear that caused Stewart to go skidding through the infield, "I had the drama, had the recovery, had the comeback. I could not have scripted it any more exciting if I was making a movie.” Stewart finished the race under caution after a last lap crash.

Kevin Harvick was happy with the one-two finish his team had and said about Stewart's win, "He deserved to win a lot more than he has, and we're glad he broke that wall down.” Harvick plans to have Stewart run five other Busch Series races this season. Earnhardt Jr said of Stewart's victory, "That's Tony Stewart, he can do anything.” Robby Gordon finished fifth making it an all Chevrolet top five finishes. Nineteen-year-old rookie Reed Sorenson was impressive finishing ninth, which is his fourth top ten finish in six Busch Series starts.

TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Tony Stewart
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Robby Gordon
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Michael Waltrip
8. Greg Biffle
9. Reed Sorenson *
10. Carl Edwards *

TOP TEN IN POINTS
1. Tony Stewart – 190
2. Kevin Harvick – 170
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 170
4. Martin Truex Jr – 160
5. Robby Gordon – 155
6. Kasey Kahne – 150
7. Greg Biffle – 147
8. Michael Waltrip – 146
9. Carl Edwards – 139
10. Reed Sorenson – 138

NEXTEL CUP
NUMBER THREE FOR GORDON AT DAYTONA

Jeff Gordon took the lead away from Dale Earnhardt Jr in the late running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday and held off reigning Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch to win a history-making race because the race was extended by three laps. It was one of the most impressive races that saw four lead changes in the last nine laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr was the race defending winner came back after being down as far as thirtieth position to take the lead in the race, but unfortunately a caution flag came out with three laps to go and when the green flag dropped Jeff Gordon, two time winner of the race, got a run on Earnhardt Jr and passed him for the win. Kurt Busch finished two car lengths behind the very happy Gordon who said after the race, "Oh my goodness, what an amazing day, three baby!” referring to his third win in the race making him the fifth driver to win three or more Daytona 500 victories. Gordon joins Richard Petty with seven wins, Cale Yarborough with four wins, Bobby Allison and Dale Jarrett's three wins.

In the early going Tony Stewart was the man that had the car leading one hundred seven laps of the schedule two hundred, making this his second year in a row to lead the most laps in the race. It looked like Stewart was well on his way to win his first Daytona 500 but because the late race cautions he ended up finishing seventh. Dale Earnhardt Jr fought handling problems throughout the race, but did get up to the top spot passing Gordon and Stewart on lap one hundred ninety-seven, but it didn't last and he finished third at the end. Earnhardt Jr said after the race, "I was real, real happy, I'm telling you, man the car was way, way off. It was hard, it was amazing the difference between the car (at the end) and may fifty laps before then. I mean, it was really fast.”

Scott Riggs ran all day long in the top and finished fourth for only his second attempt in the 500. Jimmie Johnson finished fifth, following by Mark Martin, who was making his final run in the 500, Sterling Marlin finished eighth, rookie Kevin Lepage finished ninth and Rusty Wallace also making his last bid to win the 500 finished tenth.

TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Jeff Gordon
2. Kurt Busch
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr
4. Scott Riggs
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Mark Martin
7. Tony Stewart
8. Sterling Marlin
9. Kevin Lepage
10. Rusty Wallace


TOP TEN IN POINTS
1. Jeff Gordon – 185
2. Kurt Busch – 170
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 170
4. Scott Riggs – 160
5. Jimmie Johnson – 160
6. Tony Stewart – 156
7. Mark Martin – 150
8. Sterling Marlin – 142
9. Kevin Lepage – 138
10. Rusty Wallace - 134