The 2008 Daytona 500

The 2008 Daytona 500 was the 50th annual running of the event. It was held on February 17, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was the 50th to be run since the first in 1959, won by Lee Petty. To commemorate the event, the Harley J. Earl Trophy, which goes to the winner of the race, was plated in gold instead of silver. In addition, the winning car was placed on display for one year at the Daytona 500 Experience attraction just outside Turn Four. Ryan Newman won the race, his only win in the 2008 season.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
You know how big this day how big is a
day is race day in America trained by U.S. Senate.
And look we're on the cover of USA Today. This
is exciting. And even at high definition you are beaming
with excitement just to be at this track for this
race and the fiftieth running. There are 24 living Daytona
champions here this weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Those were my heroes when I started in this business
the 15th running of the Daytona 500 happened in 2008
to commemorate the event the Harley J Earl trophy which
goes to the winner of the race was plated in
gold instead of silver and the winning car was placed
on display for one year at the Daytona 500 experience

(00:53):
just outside turn four. There were only two caution flags
for the first one hundred and fifty one laps with
Jimmie Johnson and Michael Waltrip taking the lead early.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Johnson will lead this lap.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Jimmie Johnson the betting Sprint Cup champ Jeff Gordon went
to the garage after leading a few laps due to
a broken suspension. Jeff what happened.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Suspension failure. You know we saw signs of this. We
were testing we went back to shop and did everything
we could do embrace everything up and then prevent this
from happening on lap 161.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
David Regan tried to block Matt Kenseth but brought out
the third caution when Reagan squeezed Kenseth into the wall.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Trouble off turn four. Here we got a big one.
David Reagan hard into the wall of a triple A car.
We got about five or six cars that went down
pit road and not no no.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Matt Kenseth had some damage but it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
If we only have two cars with damage and the
biggest crash occurred on lap one eighty nine when Kevin
Harvick knocked deplaning into the wall collecting Mark Martin Michael
Waltrip Casey Mears Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. Oh no
playing he's up the hill lane in the rubble. And
in the wall off Mark Martin. Took Martin with a caution.
It was on lap 195 when Jeff Burton worked his

(02:04):
way up to first but then during a caution he
was passed by Tony Stewart who led the next two laps.
Kerry Stewart tried to turn the start there.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
Push almost fast with that out of bounds on that
yellow line is out of bounds. We'll see what happens here.
Jeff Burton's in the middle with no hand on the
last lap.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Kyle Busch jumped to the inside bringing Stewart with him.
Newman was on the outside now. It was a shootout
going into the final turn between Newman Stewart and the
Bush brothers. But in the end it was Ryan Newman. Penske.
Daytona 500. Crossed the finish line under the checkered flag

(02:44):
and in the victory lane for the 50 year Daytona 500.