Harvick wins Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - So focused was Mark Martin on hard-charging Kevin Harvick, he had no inkling of the chaos unfolding behind him.


With the checkered flag in sight, Martin simply came up short _ a mere length of a car hood _ in a wild, wreck-filled finish.



It took several moments for NASCAR to declare the winner, finally giving it to Harvick and spoilind sg what would have been the biggest victory of the 48-year-old Martin's career.





Five teams were busted for breaking the rules during Speedweeks _ including two-time winner Michael Waltrip, who broke the NASCAR code by tampering with his fuel before qualifying and humiliated Toyota in its Nextel Cup debut.


Finishes like this one might fix everything.





But Harvick and Martin continued to race side by side, waiting for NASCAR to call for a caution. When it finally came, Harvick and Martin were at the finish line, and Harvick was just barely ahead. The winning margin was .020 seconds, and NASCAR had to review the tape just to be sure who was going to Victory Lane.

Harvick never doubted the outcome.


Martin finished second, followed by Jeff Burton, Harvick's teammate, and Mike Wallace, who raced his way into the 500. Fifth place was rookie David Ragan, the kid who replaced Martin when he left Roush Racing this winter after 19 seasons.

Martin left the powerhouse Roush team because he wanted to ease his way into retirement, and he got the opportunity to do it with a partial schedule at Ginn Racing _ a second-tier team bought last year by a Florida land developer trying to satisfy his love of NASCAR.


Boy, did he ever.





Stewart was leading coming out of the fourth turn when his Chevrolet wiggled just a bit. Busch, closing fast, couldn't avoid running into Stewart's bumper, and both cars careened into the outside wall.


"We both got taken out of the Daytona 500 on my mistake," he said from inside his car. "I made the first mistake. I apologize to (Stewart), but I know that doesn't mean anything now."


It dropped Stewart to 0-for-9 in Daytona 500s, a streak he was determined to snap when he reported to Speedweeks intent on adding the race to his impressive resume. After winning the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race and a qualifying event Thursday, Stewart had established himself as the favorite and said he'd trade all 11 of his Daytona victories to just win the 500 once.

It appeared to be his race to lose, and he knew it _ saying on pit road before the start "this is the best chance I've ever had, the best car I've ever had."

He was surprisingly calm and collected after wrecking.
