Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It was the last lap. Ernie Irvan and Kenny Schrader came out of the fourth turn dead-even. Then Schrader nosed ahead as the two barreled toward the finish line.But with yards to go, Irvan pulled an old auto-racing trick. His Ford bumped Schrader's Chevrolet hard to regain the advantage and he burst across the finish line -- nine-hundredths of a second ahead of his rival.Irvan, the man who almost died in a racing accident two years ago, is back, driving like he has never been away.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt has never experienced a Daytona 500 week like this.For the first time he is the defending Daytona 500 champion, having earned that distinction with a victory in the big race last February. It was his 20th try.So this week, there are no more questions about how disappointed he is at not winning or whether his career will be complete without a Daytona 500 victory."All that's behind us," he said, with a sly grin. "But now, they want to know how it feels not to have those questions asked.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Tony Stewart, who drives the No. 20 Chevrolet for the Joe Gibbs team, has been described as his generation's A.J. Foyt. That means he is a great racer with a short temper. Yesterday, in the 47th annual Daytona 500, Stewart was both great and angry. He led 107 laps, more than anyone else. And even after Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch had passed him for first and second, it looked as if he was headed for a solid, third-place finish. But things happen. Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Chevy happened.

CBS color commentator Buddy Baker, 58, won the 1980 Daytona 500 and holds the record for the fastest race in the event's history, at 177.602 mph. Here, in his own inimitable way, he handicaps this year's race, speaking to Sun reporter Sandra McKee.Jeff Gordon is everybody's pick and he's certainly fast. But I think there are a couple other guys who could win.Mark Martin is in the best position he's ever been in and he keeps a good, clean car and doesn't make mistakes. He's got a fast pit crew that showed what it can do in the Bud Shootout [which Martin won]

Ricky Craven can sit on the wall along pit road at Daytona International Speedway and hardly anyone notices. His car owner, Cal Wells, can walk through the garage area and people notice, all right, but few go out of their way to speak to him. Craven, in the minds of many, is a has-been at age 34. A driver who was considered a rising star, he fell by the wayside after suffering head injuries in a crash at Texas in 1997. And Wells is considered a "carpetbagger," an owner whose moves when making the transition from open wheel to stock car racing were considered ruthless by several drivers and owners.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt wants to win the Daytona 500. He's waiting to win.But yesterday morning, as his team worked on his Chevrolet in unusually cold, 30-degree temperatures, Earnhardt sat cleaning out his wallet in his nice, warm team transporter and explained why not having won the 500 isn't tearing him apart."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It took NASCAR three days to decide the winner of the first Daytona 500. It took NASCAR five seconds to decide the winner of the 49th. History may see little difference in the controversies. If yesterday's wild running of NASCAR's showcase race could be summarized in a single sentence, winner Kevin Harvick said it all in a trembling breath: "This is what makes stock car racing what it is." Good and bad. Glorious and notorious. Wild, close, fraught with wrecking - finished off with judgment calls by officials that leave controversies open-ended, never to be fully answered.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Mark Martin was sitting on a high stool the other day, talking about how he races and how he wants to race. "I don't want to tighten up," he said. "For things to be fun, you can't be tense. I always race like this" - and with that he inched forward on the stool, positioning himself as if he were hunched over a steering wheel, his fists clenched. "If you want to have fun," he said, "you have to race like this" - and then Martin sat back and loosened his grip. "I do have a personal flaw that makes me so crazy.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A lot of things went through Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s head as shadows moved across Daytona International Speedway and he was leading Tony Stewart through the final turns on the last lap of yesterday's Daytona 500. The memories were welling up. His dad, the late seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, had lost this race in the final moments time and again over 20 years before finally winning it in 1998. And in 2001, he had lost his life on the 500's last lap. "I know Dad was over in the passenger side right with me," Earnhardt Jr. said after he won the 46th edition of the race on his fifth try. "I'm sure he was having a wonderful time."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Every time Jeff Gordon stops to think about the Winston Cup season that begins today, he finds himself puzzling over the same question: How can he possibly improve on a season that included a victory in the Daytona 500 and nine other races and his second Winston Cup championship?He gets no help from his crew chief, Ray Evernham. in this pursuit, because Evernham is coping with the pressure within Team Hendrick to do it all over again.And John Hendrick, who is stepping in this season for his brother, team owner Rick Hendrick, is looking for answers to a different set of questions.