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By: Ian Essling
Continuing to show that he is a championship contender, Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 in stunning fashion, finishing a car length ahead of reigning Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch and defending Daytona champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Second year driver Scott Riggs finished fourth, while Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-5.
Dale Earnhardt Inc had a poor showing at the beginning of this year's Speedweeks, causing many people to claim that their reign of superspeedways had come to an end.
However, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished 1-2 in the first Gatorade race and silenced their critics, albeit temporarily. Waltrip led for the early part of the Daytona 500, and seemed to be headed for a good finish, possibly even a win, when his motor unexpectedly expired. Junior did not lead the race until at the very end of the race, and those pair of laps was not enough to hold back the drafting-duo of Gordon and Johnson.
After winning the second Gatorade Duel, Tony Stewart started up front and led the most laps of the Daytona 500 for the second year in the row, but his teammates were not strong enough to stay with him at the front (Leffler wrecked out while Labonte exploded his engine).
With no teammates to help him, Hendrick Motorsports was able to power by in the final laps and relegated Stewart to a seventh place finish.
One of the biggest surprises of the week was the lack of competition from Kevin Harvick. The 29 team was very strong in all the restrictor plate races last year, but after an accident in the Thursday Gatorade Duel qualifying race, Harvick was forced to go to a backup car when his primary machine was demolished. Starting at the back of the pack, Harvick remained mired in the high 30s most of the race. Near the end of the race, his car finally came to life and began to pick off positions, but he was collected in an accident with 20 laps to go and finished 28th.
Next up on the schedule is the 500 mile event at California Speedway, the 2 mile oval where fuel mileage is the key to victory.
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