One down, 35 to go
That's one way to look at Sunday's Daytona 500. I'm with Ed Hardin on this one -- it was a good race, but not a great race. The last 20 laps were outstanding, about as good as you'll see in a NASCAR race. But everything up to that? Kind of meh.
Besides, what happened Sunday probably doesn't have a lot of bearing on the rest of the season. In last year's 500, six of the top 10 finishers made the Chase at the end of the year. (That's Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.) In 2003, only three of the top-10 finishers at Daytona -- Johnson, Stewart and Kevin Harvick -- ended the season in the top 10 in points.
If anyone should take any consolation from Sunday's results, it's Bobby Labonte, who blew an engine after just 14 laps. Last year's 43rd place finisher, Mark Martin, made it into the Chase. The year before, Ryan Newman's car disintegrated on the front stretch, and he wound up sixth for the season.
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