Dodge Wins 50th Daytona 500

The Dodge boys started the 2008 NASCAR® Sprint Cup Series off right with Ryan Newman winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 Sunday Feb. 17 at Daytona International Speedway. Six Dodge drivers finished in the top ten, beating all other manufacturers to truly claim the race in the name of Dodge.

After 200 high-adrenaline laps, Newman was first to cross the finish line in the #12 Alltel Dodge Charger, just ahead of his Penske teammate Kurt Busch in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger plus 31 other drivers who finished on the lead lap.

"Kurt was the push from heaven that made it all happen," Newman said. "Without a doubt, he could have easily gone three-wide and split us through the center and made one heck of a mess there. But he chose to be a teammate, and that was the most honorable thing that he could do."

The victory is Newman's 13th series win and it breaks his 81-race winless streak dating back to September 2005. Newman scored 190 points for the race win and five bonus points for leading a lap. Busch sits in second place in the Sprint Series standings for 2008 with 175 total points. Reed Sorenson finished fifth in the #41 Target Dodge Charger, scoring 160 points. Elliott Sadler finished sixth in the #18 Best Buy Dodge Charger and was closely followed by two other Dodge teammates, Kasey Kahne and newcomer Robby Gordon.

This victory at the Super Bowl of NASCAR builds plenty of momentum for the Dodge team to run with in 2008.

"This is an awesome victory," said Mike Accavitti, Director – Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing. "The win is super important. [Newman] and the No. 12 team did an excellent job. Penske Racing was on top of their game today. It was a great showing by all the Dodge teams; to get six out of the top eight is just a phenomenal showing for Dodge. It shows the depth of our program and we couldn't be more excited for the 2008 season."

Results for all Dodge drivers at the 50th Daytona 500:

#12 Ryan Newman – 1st
#2 Kurt Busch – 2nd
#41 Reed Sorenson – 5th
#19 Elliott Sadler – 6th
#9 Kasey Kahne – 7th
#7 Robby Gordon – 8th
#43 Bobby Labonte – 11th
#77 Sam Hornish Jr. – 15th
#42 Juan Pablo Montoya – 32nd
#40 Dario Franchitti – 33rd
#45 Kyle Petty – 34th
#49 Kenny Schrader – DNQ
#10 Patrick Carpentier – DNQ