Six years to the day of Dale Earnhardt's death, Kevin Harvick nosed ahead of Mark Martin at the finish line to claim the Daytona 500 victory.
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Wow! What a race for my boy, Elliott Sadler.
After spending almost all of the Daytona 500 buried in the back of the pack, Elliott Sadler's No. 19 Dodge team took advantage of a caution near the end of the race to make major changes to the car. Sadler then made rapid progress toward the front and was soon riding in fifth place. When the leaders headed down pit road following a caution on lap 186, Sadler's team owner, Ray Evernham, who served as team manager/crew chief for Sadler today, called for two tires. That call helped keep Sadler in fifth as the race went green with just 10 laps to go. Sadler was still in fifth when another caution flew on lap 198 for a multi-car incident that put the race under red flag conditions and set up a green-white-checkers finish. During the red-flag break Sadler, Evernham and spotter Brett Griffin talked strategy. Evernham suggested the 09 might help them since Mike Wallace has expressed interested in driving an Evernham truck some this year. Griffin went down to talk to the 09 spotter and came back on the radio with a promise from the 09 that he would help push Sadler in the closing laps. As the field prepared to go green for the final time, Everham said to Elliott, "OK, Ricky Bobby. Check your belts." Then he said, "I've got all the confidence in the world in you, Elliott. Go get 'em."
As the green flag flew on lap 201, it was every man for himself. On the final lap, No. 5 Kyle Busch got loose and slid up the track into the Matt Kenseth No. 17. As everyone behind the spinning cars began to check up, Wallace got in the back of Sadler and he shot up the track in front of Jeff Gordon's No. 24. As Sadler bounced off the wall, David Regan in the AAA Ford No. 6 and Wallace shot ahead and "the big one" was under way. Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Sterlin Marlin, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya were all caught up in the melee as Clint Boyer crossed the finish line on his roof.
Sadler recorded a sixth place finish. When the race ended, Evernham had high praise for his driver on the radio while Sadler thanked his team for their efforts to get his car in a position to win the race. Despite spending much of the day struggling to keep up, the No. 19 team ended up having a great points day.
Way to go, Elliott.
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