“It’s way easier to do that when you’re leading than when you’re running second or third. I was behind Newman as our tyres started to fade and, good Lord, it’s tough! I know what those guys are going through when they’re behind me now. It makes me feel better about being able to hold my position as I’m leading the race, knowing how difficult it is running second or third. I can’t imagine running twentieth with twenty more cars behind you, pushing you down in the corner when you’ve got no air on the car because of the field in front of you. [The 500] is going to be a challenge.”
It certainly proved to be a steep learning curve for the open-wheel drivers in the field. Sam Hornish produced the best result for the former open-wheelers, running his best NASCAR race by far to date and ultimately finishing fifteenth in Penske’s third Dodge.
Juan Pablo Montoya also had his moments near the front, but got shuffled back to finish thirty-second, last man to run 200 laps, while team-mate Dario Franchitti made it home one lap down in thirty-third. Patrick Carpentier ran competitively in practice and qualifying and looked like he might make the 500 field, but suffered a tyre failure near the end of his qualifying race and was among those who didn’t start the 500.
Also failing to qualify was Jacques Villeneuve, who has had a rough transition to stock car racing. Jacques crashed in almost every NASCAR race he ran at the end of last year and repeated this sad act at
Daytona before losing his seat to Mike Skinner. Following Craig Pollock’s departure from the NASCAR scene, Barry Green was at Daytona to attempt to find sponsorship to keep Villeneuve in NASCAR. Jacques’ poorly managed, shabby start to his stock car career has been a sharp contrast to the way in which he entered CART and then
F1, and it’s sad to see Villeneuve’s career gone astray.
Meanwhile, Franchitti has discovered there’s plenty to learn about driving a NASCAR stock car, particularly the new CoT in restrictor plate form.
![Carl Edwards battles with Dale Earnhardt Jr at Daytona [Pic Credit Ford Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405809.jpg)
