The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 19

Sunday, February 19, 2006 The Index-Journal, Greenwood, SC. 7B 3 Lineup lor today's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, with qualifying position, car number, driver, car make and speed. 4 finsr life 1.m I ir AP photo Stacy Compton, left, Denny Hamlin, 20, Mark Green, 4, and Elliott Sadler wreck at the end of Saturday's Hershey's Kissables 300 Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. Stewart wins crash-filled Busch race Pos. No.

Name Make Speed 1 (31) Jeff Burton Chevrolet 189.151 2 (24) Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 188.87V 3 (38) Elliott Sadler Ford 188.810 4 (5) Kyle Busch Chevrolet 187.570 5. (99) Carl Edwards Ford 186.614 6. (26) Jamie McMurray Ford 187.743 7 (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 185.124 8. (43) Bobby Labonte Dodge 187.935 9.

(48) Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet no speed 10. (6) Mark Martin Ford 186.436 11. (17) MattKenseth Ford no speed 12. (45) Kyle Petty Dodge 184.794 13. (2) Kurt Busch Dodge 187.539 14.

(42) Casey Mears Dodge 186.127 15. (20) Tony Stewart Chevrolet 187.196 16. (16) GregBiffle Ford 186.672 17. (11) Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 187.488 18. (12) Ryan Newman Dodge 185.774 19.

(1) Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 185.242 20. (7) Robby Gordon Chevrolet 186.850 21. (66) Jeff Green Chevrolet 186.990 22. (41) Reed Sorenson Dodge 186.289 23.

(21) Ken Schrader Ford 186.043 24 (09) Mike Wallace Dodge 182.953 25. (88) DaleJarrett Ford 188.849 26. (19) Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 186.908 27. (9) Kasey Kahne Dodge 186.691 28. (29) Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 187.406 29 (49) Brent Sherman Dodge 182.142 30.

(55) Michael Waltrip Dodge 183.411 31. (61) Kevin Lepage Ford 186.097 32. (40) David Stremme Dodge 184.543 33. (36) Bill Elliott Chevrolet 187.715 34. (22) DaveBlaney Dodge 184.566 35.

(25) Brian Vickers Chevrolet 187.239 36. (18) J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 187.207 37. (07) Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 187.786 38. (01) Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 187.402 39.

(14) Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 187.274 40. (32) Travis Kvapil Chevrolet 187.106 41. (00) Hermie Sadler Ford 187.025 42. (27) Kirk Shelmerdine Chevrolet 185.361 43. 96) Terry Labonte Chevrolet past champion Failed to Qualify 44: (10) Scott Riggs Dodge 180.890 45.

(78) Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 181.594 46. (4) Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 184.854 47. (23) Mike Skinner Dodge 182.771 48. (74) DerrikeCope Dodge 183.333 49. (52) Larry Gunselman Dodge 181.214 50.

(37) Chad Blount 181.906 51. (50) Larry Foyt Dodge 185.128 52. (59) Andy Belmont Chevrolet 179.960 53. (64) Randy LaJoie Chevrolet 184.540 54. (89) Morgan Shepherd Dodge 183.576 55.

(92) ChadChaffin Chevrolet 181.763 56. (80) Carl Long Ford 176.935 57. (15). Paul Menard Chevrolet 185.334 58. (95) Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 185.322 out of nowhere, moving behind Stewart and giving him a winning shove as Earnhardt and Waltrip slipped back.

At that point, Bowyer moved into the second spot and tried to catch Stewart. Within moments, though, he had his hands full battling Lamar for second. "Everybody was going for it at that point. This is Daytona," Bowyer said. The race was punctuated by a series of crashes, the biggest of which came on the final lap.

As Stewart raced away to the victory, a melee involving at least 1 0 cars took place behind the leaders, with cars crashing into the wall and sliding and spinning through the infield grass. 12 (35) Ashton Lews Ford. 120 S52 975 13 (30) Kenny Wallace. Ford. 120.

S5? 850 14 (18) Denny Hamen, Chevrolet. 120 S69 700 15. (42) Mchael Waltnp. Dodge. 120 S47 450 16 (36) Jane McMurray Dodge.

120 S46 400 17 (20) Dak) Earnhardt Jr. Chevy. 120 S46 1 50 18 8 Danny OOumnJc Ford. 120. S46 025 19 (22) Tn Sauter, Chevrolet 120.

S49 920 20 (39) Tracy Hines, Dodge. 120, $50,545. 21 (43) Steve Grrssom. Ford. 120.

S47.800 22. (25) Mark McParland. Chevy. 120. S4S.52S 23 (40) Donrne Neuenberger.

Chevy 1 20 $47,700 24 (37) Paul Tracy. Chevrolet. ,120. S49 245 25 (9) Kyle Busch. Chevrolet.

120. S45.200 26 (32) Regan Smith, Ford. 120. S48 995 27. (31) Stacy Compton.

Ford. 119. S48.895 28 (6) Eliott Sadter, Ford. 1 19. S44.800.

29 (38) David Reutimann. Dodge. 111, accident. $48,720 30 (15)Jert Burton. Chevrolet.

101. engine failure $44 825 31. (10) Greg Brrtle. Ford. 94.

accident S44.425 32 (26) Brian Vckers. Chevy. 93. accident $44,550. 33 (12) Kasey Kahne.

Dodge 93, accident $44 300 34. (5) John Andrew. Ford, 92. $46,250 35 (4) Johnny Sauter. Chevrolet 89.

SW.720 36 (29) Ken Schrader, Ford. 89. $44 025 37 (23) David Green, Ford, 81 $53 A9b 38 (14) Paul Menard. Chevrolet, 78. S47.945 39 (1 1) Carl Edwards.

Ford. 65. S43 885 40 (7) Joe Nemechek. Chevy, 51 accident $43,835. 41.

(28) Steadman Marlin, Dodge, 49. accident. $43 755 42 (33) Tony Foyt IV, Dodge. 39. accident $53,225.

43. (2) Aaron Rke, Dodge, 28, accident, $45,910 Time ot Race: 2 hours, 23 minutes, 49 seconds. Margin of Victory Under caution. Caution Flags: 1 1 tor 35 laps Lead Changes: 17 among 10 drivers Lap Leaders: J. Yeley 1-13; Bowyer 14: J.

Burton 15; Bowyer 16; Burton 17, Kahne 18; G. Biffle 19-25; J.Burton 26-32: K.Kahne 33-36. B. Vckers 37; Kahne 38-46: D.Earnhardt Jr 47-61; G.Biflle 62-69; J.McMuray 70-73; Earnhardt Jr. 74-77; S.Grissom 78, D.Eamhardt Jr.

79-107: Stewart 108-120 Top 10 in Points Standings 1. T.Stewart 185. 2. B.Lamar 170 2 Bowyer 170. 4.

J.Wcod 160. 5 K.Harvk 155. 6 J.Leffler 150. 7. J.Yeley 147.

8. Kluever 146 9. R.Sorenson 138. 10. M.Green 134.

by NASCAR. Jon Wood was credited with fourth and Harvick fifth in a Richard Childress Racing car. Stewart said he intended to stay behind Earnhardt for a while, but got so much momentum going that he had to make the pass when he did. "I was going to stay with Junior there, but I had such a big run, there was no way to stop," Stewart said. "We would have both gotten blown by.

So 1 just had to take it." After Stewart took the lead, two of the race record 1 1 caution flags waved in a four-lap stretch, slowing the action. But, when the green flag waved with five of the 120 laps remaining, the race got really wild. Michael Waltrip moved alongside Earnhardt and Stewart and the trio raced three-wide for nearly two full laps on the high-banked 2.5-mile Daytona oval, with Stewart just keeping his nose ahead at the finish line each time. There was plenty of two- and three-wide action behind the leaders, too. On lap 118, Lamar's Chevrolet seemed to materialize DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

(AP) Tony Stewart just wanted to have some fun and stop thinking about today's Daytona 500. "This is going to make sleeping tonight a little easier," Stewart said Saturday after wresting the lead from pal Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 13 laps to go, then holding' off a series of challenges to win the crash-filled Hershey's Kissables 300 NASCAR Busch Series race. It was the second year in a row Stewart, the two-time and reigning Nextel Cup champion, has won the 300-mile race at Daytona International Speedway in a car fielded by fellow Cup star Kevin Harvick's Busch team. Last year, it was Harvick who pushed Stewart to the win.

This time, the help came from a much more unlikely source new teammate Burney Lamar, a rookie making only his third Busch start. "He did an awesome job," Stewart said of Lamar, who battled with Clint Bowyer, a Cup rookie this year and last year's Busch series runner-up, to the finish line and was awarded second place after a review of the video Hershey's Kissables 300 At Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla. Lap length: 2.5 miles (Starting position In parentheses) 1. (16) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet. 120.

$1 12.650. 125159mph. 2. (21 Burney Lamar, Chevrolet, 120, $98,425. 3.

(3) Clinl Bowyer, Chevrolet, 120, $88,620. 4 (34) Jon Wood, Ford, 120, $72,925. 5. (17) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet. 120, $58,875.

6. (24) Jason Lefller, Chevrolet, 120, $63,900. 7 (19) Todd Kluever, Ford, 120, $52,625. ft (1) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 120.

$62,950. 9. (13) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 120, $60,900. 10. (41) Mark Green, Dodge, 120, $56,200.

1 1 (27) Jason Keller, Dodge, 1 20, $59,050. Gordon skips final practice race. If one more hour makes that much of a difference, then shame on us," said Steve Letarte, crew chief for the No. 24 Chevrolet. "I'm sure there's people that are bothered by it, but we've been preparing for three months.

We attacked it like (Friday) was going to be our final practice and he had a good run. He came in and said he had a lot of speed and he knows best." DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Wearing jeans, a designer shirt and fancy sunglasses, Jeff Gordon watched the final practice for today's Daytona 500 from atop his hauler Saturday. Looking confident and composed, the only thing Gordon and his team had left to do was check out the competition. "We've spent the last three months getting ready for this for just two wins last year, neither had a driver in the Chase for the championship, and Harvick hasn't committed to stay with Childress beyond this season.

"Any time you lose a key figure, it's tough," Childress said. "It probably hurt both of our organizations because we had plans of doing a lot ftf thing wid -dging a lot of things together that we don't do today." happened," said Kevin Harvick, who had the difficult task of taking over Earnhardt's team five days after his death. "Safety is incredible how fast it advanced." But for all the advances made after Earnhardt's death, he is still sorely missed by the drivers he used to lead and the two teams he was most conneetedito. The garage area lacks a single voice that speaks on behalf of all the drivers. "Earnhardt was unchallenged in expressing himself," Helton said.

"He had no qualms about sitting down and taking us to task or asking us questions or voicing his leadership role, even if it is unintentional. Blunt and outspoken, his message is often heard loud and clear across the garage and in NASCAR headquarters. Just this week, he complained so loudly about racing conditions at Daytona warning that there could be a fatality in today's season-opener that NASCAR said it would police the bump-draft-' ing technique Stewart had railed against. But Stewart will be hard-pressed to be the mentor that Earnhardt often was. It's not in Stewart's nature to approach a fresh-faced rookie and offer him tips and tricks that will help him succeed.

Earnhardt did that to almost Furniture Mattress pern Sunday! Galleries ivrS. Somerset Was 3,681.00 On Sale opinion. When Earnhardt made one of his many stops in the NASCAR office, it was often after other drivers had gone to him with a complaint or issue. Earnhardt I feel like over the years that I've been here, I've earned more respect. But I don't know if I'll ever have the type of respect that Dale had.

Jeff Gordon 1999 95 all the newcomers, cutting them off before they could invade the garage with attitude and aggression. "Dale would sit us down, tell us how you're Store Hours: Mon-Sat 9-6 Sunday 1 Next to Outback on the 72 Bypass Greenwood MB-G (BIFF 229-4012 ALL SOLID WOOD HOME FURNISHINGS EARNHARDT Continued from IB Most of his father's fans migrated to Junior's camp, making him NASCAR's equivalent of a rock star. It's a burden that he struggles with because every word he utters, every fetatirheht he makes, has the potential to become headline news the next day. "It was hard to be Dale Jr. when dad was around," he said.

"When he was around, man, you knew he was there. That was tough. But, you know, I miss him a lot. He could be a huge assist in a lot of things that happened to me personally over the last five years." Junior has persevered without his father's steady influence. But the loss is felt in other areas of the sport, particularly in safety advances that spawned from Earnhardt's death.

Earnhardt's accident forced every driver to accept that none of them was immune from a fatal accident. NASCAR, which previously left safety precautions up to individual drivers, was forced to take responsibility for protecting them. "It was a tremendous tragedy it still breaks my heart but it had a significant impact on everyone in motorsports from the safety side of it," veteran Mark Martin said. "Everyone got aggressive, from NASCAR on down to the grass roots of short track racing, much more aggressive after that." Among the safety advances made in the wake of Earnhardt's death: Drivers are required to strap on head-and-neck restraints called HANS devices before getting into cars. Many believe that had Earnhardt worn such a device, used by only a few drivers five years ago, he'd still be alive.

Energy-absorbing "soft walls" have been installed at every oval track on the circuit Black boxes, like those mandated in airplanes, have been placed inside cars to record crash data. Cockpits have been reconfigured, giving drivers additional padding to keep their heads from whipping around violently in an accident and giving them access to kill switches that instantly cut the power and trigger fire extinguishing systems. And just last month, NASCAR announced it will begin phasing in the "Car of Tomorrow" in 2007. Developed by NASCAR, the car is taller, wider and boxier than current models and many think it's the safest stock car ever designed. "We would never be at the point we'r at if his accident' had never ALL MATTRESSES ON SALE NOW Over 30 Styles to Choose From.

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The sport is different today than it was then. "I just don't know if there is ever going to be one individual in this garage area that feels like they've got the voice." Two-time series champion Tony Stewart is slowly stepping into a fi supposed to race, how you treat your sponsors and how you do things," said Elliott Sadler, rookie class of 1999. "We don't have that stature figure anymore for young kids to look up to." Two other areas that have struggled without Earnhardt are at Dale Earnhardt the company he founded, and at Richard Childress Racing, where he won six of his seven driving titles. Both companies have slipped since his death. Although DEI has won 19 races 14 by Earnhardt Jr.

in the past five years, and RCR has eight victories, the bulk of the success came early. As his presence has faded, so have the teams. They combined King Set Queen Sets as low as $189.95 mm QUEEN BEDROOM GROUP QUEEN BEDROOM GROUP iQ- Bed, dresser, AAAB. Bed, dresser, 95 mirrnrA 5 A OOQ95 mirrnr A mirror mirror 1,099 night stand. night stand.

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