Daytona 500 notebook: Big Three matched evenly in race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For all the pre-race talk about Dodge's dominance and Ford's disadvantages, Sunday's Daytona 500 treated the Big Three automakers evenly.

Chevrolet swept the top two spots with Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and had three cars finish in the top 10. Ford placed four cars in the top 10 to Dodge's three.

Pole-sitter Bill Elliott drove his Intrepid R/T to a fifth-place finish, the best showing by a Dodge, and was pleased with the manufacturer's return to Winston Cup racing.

"Fifth ain't nothing to go out of Daytona and hang your head about," Elliott said. "I'm pleased with Dodge -- especially for the first race."

Ward Burton led 53 laps and Sterling Marlin led 39 laps as Dodge was out front for 93 of the 200 laps, which came as welcome news to Ray Evernham.

"I'm real pleased with all the Dodges," said Evernham, who helped head Dodge's return to NASCAR after a 15-year absence. "It goes to show you that we can come in here with brand new cars and be competitive and run 500 miles.

"It says an awful lot about the guys and the work they have done to come back. You know we would have loved to have had Victory Lane, but we're happy with where we are."

"Things like that really is the choice of drivers," Jarrett said of the head-and-neck restraint system. "It's hard for a sanctioning body to mandate those kinds of things when it's a personal choice of an individual to do certain things that others might not do.

"I'm sure NASCAR will take a look at it ... but from what I understand, there is not a (HANS device) that fits every driver; some modifications have to be made to fit each individual driver."

Jarrett's son, Dale Jarrett, was one of the five drivers who elected to wear the HANS device in Sunday's Daytona 500.

Mast, who failed to qualify for the 43rd Daytona 500, now holds the record for most starts without a win at 338.

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch earned $120,284 for his 41st-place finish and Jeff Purvis took home $111,384 despite finishing last.

Daytona expanded its seating capacity to 167,785 following last year's Pepsi 400, and all grandstand seats had been sold by Thursday afternoon. Another 30,000 to 35,000 watch from the infield.

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