FEBRUARY 18, 2008

A great day for Roger Penske

Roger Penske's racing teams have won in all the championships in which they have competed but some races have remained a problem. The teams have won in F1, Indycars, NASCAR, CanAm, TransAm, ALMS and Formula 5000. But one event consistently eluded Penske: the Daytona 500.

Roger Penske's racing teams have won in all the championships in which they have competed but some races have remained a problem. The teams have won in F1, Indycars, NASCAR, CanAm, TransAm, ALMS and Formula 5000. But one event consistently eluded Penske: the Daytona 500.

On Sunday Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch put an end to that with a Penske 1-2 in the 500, the opening round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Penske (70) has been racing in NASCAR since 1972 and fulltime since 1976 but while his teams have won the Indianapolis 500 on 14 occasions, the Daytona 500 has always remained a problem.

The two Penske drivers overtook Tony Stewart's Toyota in the closing laps thus denying the Japanese firm its first NASCAR win, although the signs are that this will not be long in coming. Dodge endedup with six cars among the top 10 finishers. The best placed Chevrolet was that of Dale Earnhardt Jr in ninth position. Sam Hornish Jr was the highest finishing rookie in 15th.

For Penske the next priority is to win another Indianapolis 500 but with his Porsche sports cars he may also have his eyes on the Le Mans 24 Hours in the years ahead.