Dale Jarrett finished his final
Daytona 500 in 16th position with early leader Hamlin 16th after a number of scrapes along the way. Bowyer could only fight back to 24th after his tap from Montoya while Jimmie Johnson began his title defence with a disappointing 27th place finish. Montoya finished 32nd, the last car on the lead lap after sustaining some damage when he clipped Bowyer while Dario Franchitti completed his first Daytona 500 one lap down in 33rd.
Matt Kenseth was 35th after his collision with teammate Ragan while Gordon was classified 39th after his suspension woes.
Finally there were no fairytale endings for the three underdogs in the race as John Andretti, Joe Nemechek and Kenny Wallace finished 40th, 41st and 43rd respectively.
NASCAR will now dole out more than 18 million dollars in prize money to the 43 starters, including more than one and a half million to Newman and his delirious #12 team. However Newman won't have much time to think about how he is going to spend his winnings as round two of the championship at the California Speedway in Fontana now beckons.
![New Penske teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch confer with crew-chief Roy McCauley in the Vegas garage. [Pic Credit Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/192834.jpg)
