NASCAR opener lacks circus-type atmosphere
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There were no marriage proposals, no child reporters and hardly any silly questions.
Media day at the Daytona 500 didn't even have a prediction.
No doubt, NASCAR's season-opening event has a long way to go before it reaches the level of the Super Bowl.
Although it was held under a huge, white tent outside Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, it was missing the circus-type atmosphere of Super Bowl media day.
The juiciest story of the day came from Jamie McMurray, who recounted his recent four-day stint as jury foreman in a rape trial.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't have anything to say about his strained relationship with his stepmother or his split from Dale Earnhardt Inc. Kyle Busch downplayed his offseason move from Hendrick Motorsports to Joe Gibbs Racing. Even the Car of Tomorrow has pretty much become old news.
Maybe the bride who crashed Super Bowl media day would have livened up the place.
"I could find a thousand things better to do than this," two-time Cup series champion Tony Stewart said as he sat down to speak to dozens of reporters.
Although Stewart's mild rant was one of the more intriguing media day story lines, plenty else happened.
There was talk about the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500, the addition of four open-wheel champions to NASCAR, the current state of the sport, Hendrick's dominance last year and Toyota's expected improvement in its second season.
There was more, too.
Longtime NASCAR driver Mark Martin cheerfully recalled his oh-so-close, second-place finish in last year's Daytona 500.
Martin, winless in his previous 22 Daytona 500 starts, was leading with two laps to go and looked like he would hold off Kyle Busch for his first win in NASCAR's premier race. But Busch started a multicar crash in the final turn that allowed Kevin Harvick to edge Martin at the finish line.
"I believe in my heart that I drove the race of my life and I don't know if I've got more than that in me or if I could ever do that again," Martin said. "I don't know and I'm not worried about it. That's a great feeling."
BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT
By The Associated Press
After Thursday drawing;
race Saturday
At Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Lap length: 2.5 miles
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge.
2. (8) Mark Martin, Chevrolet.
3. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota.
4. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford.
5. (38) David Gilliland, Ford.
6. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge.
7. (88) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet.
8. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge.
9. (1) Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet.
10. (20) Tony Stewart, Toyota.
11. (96) J.J. Yeley, Toyota.
12. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota.
13. (49) Ken Schrader, Dodge.
14. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford.
15. (44) Dale Jarrett, Toyota.
16. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet.
17. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford.
18. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet.
19. (22) Dave Blaney, Toyota.
20. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford.
21. (07) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet.
22. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet.
23. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge.
