DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A few sights and sounds from the Sprint Cup garage after a crazy night at Daytona International Speedway:
There's Tony Stewart talking to Hendrick Motorsports management about the engines they supply him at Stewart-Haas Racing, the ones that helped the two-time Cup champion to a third-place finish in the Budweiser Shootout.
There's Stewart's teammate, Ryan Newman, walking through the garage after having to spend the night on Stewart's pit box because NASCAR couldn't fix the rules to get the defending Daytona 500 winner into the race.
There's fourth-place finisher Jeff Gordon giving advice to runner-up Jamie McMurray about the final two laps of the green-white-checkered finish, won by Kevin Harvick after a last-lap push from Denny Hamlin.
There's Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier, walking toward the inspection area carrying his son, who's donning a yellow Shell cap.
There's team owner Jack Roush walking past the NASCAR hauler, probably wondering whether there's something he could question officials about on the finish that saw McMurray's attempt to block Harvick fail.
There's Chad Knaus, the crew chief for three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, surveying damage on the No. 48 Chevrolet, which collided with Hamlin and Casey Mears to end the race just as Harvick passed for the lead.
There's series director John Darby showing a few confiscated parts to a group of people in the back of the NASCAR hauler.
There's country music star Dierks Bentley giving a postrace concert to the thin crowd that, for a cool winter night, forgot the tough economic times to watch the NASCAR season unfold.
David Newton | email
NASCAR- NASCAR writer for ESPN.com
- NFL, college football writer for 20 years
- National award winner in motorsports coverage
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David Newton
David Newton, an award-winning NASCAR writer, began as a national motorsports columnist at ESPN.com in December 2006. Prior to joining ESPN.com, Newton served as the lead writer for NASCAR.com.
Newton previously covered NASCAR, the Carolina Panthers, Clemson University and University of South Carolina athletics for The State in Columbia, S.C., from 1984 to 2006. He also served as a correspondent for Sports Illustrated, and covered seven Super Bowls, dozens of college bowl games, five Masters, two U.S. Opens, two men's Final Fours, one women's Final Four and every major race on the NASCAR circuit.
The 1981 Wofford College graduate has won numerous state and national press association awards, including the 2009 Aflac Motorsports Journalism Award and second place in the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) columnist category. He also grabbed second-place national honors for his coverage of University of South Carolina football from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) in 1992 and the award for excellence in news reporting from the South Carolina State Press Association in 2002. He has broken major national stories, including the Carolina Panthers' steroid scandal in 2004.
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