CAN PENSKE REPEAT?
The two most unlikely NASCAR Sprint Cup victories of 2008 may have come at the season-opening Daytona 500 and last weekend’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Penske Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch were the respective winners of the Daytona and New Hampshire races. For Newman, capturing the 500 was a surprise because team owner Roger Penske had never won a single restrictor-plate race, while Busch’s triumph came with the help of rain and a gamble on fuel mileage. Regardless of circumstances, though, the combination of those victories gives the two Penske Pilots a great deal of optimism for this week’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. “Winning the Daytona 500 was a dream come true — not just for me, but for everyone who has helped me along the way.
