Sunday, Feb. 20th: Secretly, FBG Racing CEO Frank Gordon was hoping that this would be his captain's weekend. Having won a Gatorade Duel and his first career Busch win, Tony Stewart seemed primed to take home the trophy for the Great American Race. And for the first 175 laps, that seemed quite possible. Yet like most restrictor plate races, the real action didn't start until the cars ran down the final laps.
"I had complete confidence that G2 Cars would be contenders for this race," said [Frank] Gordon. "Daytona has always been a favorite track for both Jeff and Dale, and Stewart and Johnson have had success here, as well. But I was hoping to see an FBG Racing car in the new Victory Lane, and sure enough, I got to." Gordon and Stewart were one-two for much of the last half of the race. When Gordon began to try to get a run on Stewart, eventually Griffin Motorsports drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson joined the action. When Gordon attempted to pass Stewart on the outside, Earnhardt stayed tucked behind Stewart, and two drafting "trains" were formed. Earnhardt took advantage of the draft to pass Stewart on the outside, but was later passed on a green-white-checkered finish by Jeff Gordon and newly-acquired Griffin Motorsports driver Kurt Busch. Despite his best efforts to catch up with Gordon, Earnhardt finished third and Jeff took the checkered.
After trading paint with Griffin Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson, who finished fifth, Stewart finished inside the top ten with a seventh place finish. Griffin Motorsports sophomore Ryan Newman finished 20th after battle with traffic, and FBG Racing's Jamie McMurray was forced into the garage earlier on after The Big One, and finished 32nd.
The Daytona 500 puts Griffin Motorsports into an early points gain with a 33-30 lead over FBG Racing. Both G2 Auto Racing team will compete in the Auto Club 500 at Fontana next week.