DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- After the dust settled in Daytona from Tony Stewart's verbal lashing of Goodyear and later his win in the Nationwide Series race, there were a few other things that are worth noting from the garage area:Bowyer, Edwards get in some good-natured ribbing
Towards the end of the post-race press conference for second-place and Missouri-native Carl Edwards and third-place Clint Bowyer after Saturday's Nationwide Series race, the two drivers got on the topic of Daytona's plan to resurface the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
"I like the fact that his track gets rougher and slicker and there's different grip levels all over it. I was kind of sad to hear they were going to repave it," said Edwards. "I wish they'd just kind of patch it up or do whatever they do."
Bowyer saw a chance to jump in for a joke.
"Has anybody ever driven through Missori?" joked Bowyer, native of nearby Kansas. "If you've ever seen the highways in Missouri, that's why he likes them that way. That's what he's used to."
Edwards, laughing, shot back by declaring Bowyer the "Missouri Department of Transportation keynote speaker" for this winter.
Then, he looked over at Bowyer.
"Did you watch that MU-KU game the other night, guys?"
The Kansas (KU) men's basketball team lost to Missouri (MU) 62-60.
Leffler surprised by Nationwide race penalty
Jason Leffler couldn't believe that his wreck -- an admitted mistake -- with Steven Wallace on lap 73 of Saturday's Nationwide Series race resulted in NASCAR handing the driver a five-lap penalty for "aggressive driving".
"I've never seen a call -- I've heard of a call like that before. I wrecked a lot of cars and definitely made a mistake and feel bad for it," said Leffler. "I don't know what to say about a five-lap penalty like that."
"I feel bad for Steven (Wallace). He's a good kid, but if they penalized him for every time he wrecked a car, then he would still be on pit road."
Stewart determined not to meet with Goodyear
As Holly noted in her post earlier Saturday about the practice crash between Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman thanks to a blown tire, Goodyear's Stu Grant chief of worldwide racing operations was bound and determined to talk with Stewart about the two-time champ's harsh words for the tire supplier.
"I do want to talk to Tony and I do plan to talk to Tony," said Grant.
After the Nationwide Series race that he won, he was asked if he had met with Goodyear.
"No, I didn't. And I won't," Stewart said. "I've met with them before. It doesn't do any good."
Hough out, DeGraw in for Sunday's race
ABC's Dancing With the Stars champion and recording artist Julianne Hough won't be making her scheduled performance of the National Anthem prior to the start of Sunday's Daytona 500.
The singer, according to a track press release, came down with influenza.
As a result, the track has punted to a nice backup option as singer songwriter Gavin DeGraw will step in to fill her place. DeGraw was already in Daytona for Saturday night's Daytona 500 Grand Marshal's Dinner where he was previously scheduled to perform.
