Daytona 500 Notebook | Lonely at front for Junior

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. could have used some help from his new Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

Too bad all of them were out of contention.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon had mechanical failure, while two-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears wrecked in the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

None could offer Junior any assistance. And he couldn't get it done by himself, ending his chance at becoming the first driver to win the exhibition Budweiser Shootout, one of the twin qualifying races and The Great American Race in the same season.

Earnhardt finished ninth, the highest of the Hendrick cars, but still a disappointment for NASCAR's most popular driver who got off to a great start with his new team.

"I made the wrong choices with the runs I got," he said. "If you're in the right line, the help goes with you."

Earnhardt was strong in the Shootout and even better in his 150-mile qualifier, establishing himself as one of the favorites for the 500. His Hendrick teammates were right up there, too.

But Gordon, Johnson and Mears ended up way back — unable help Junior get to the front.

"That's what happens when you get a lot of hype and expectations," Gordon said. "You've got go out there and make it to the finish."

Johnson was 27th, Mears was 35th and Gordon was 39th.

Gordon was the first in trouble, making a pit stop on Lap 154 and then heading to the garage with suspension failure.

Johnson's chance at the title ended 23 laps later, after he slid sideways in Turn 2, got nudged by Sam Hornish Jr., then spun around and slammed into Martin Truex Jr.

Mears was running with the leaders with six laps to go, but got hit and tagged the wall while trying to block Tony Stewart.

That left Earnhardt all alone for the final restart.

He was fifth with three to go but got stuck on the inside groove and dropped well back of Penske Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch, who gave Dodge a 1-2 finish.

Earnhardt's finish was lower than expected, but he quickly turned it into a positive, especially since he was 32nd here last year and never recovered during his final season with Dale Earnhardt Inc. and owner and stepmother Teresa Earnhardt.

"We could have ran terrible," he said. "We could have had a lot of mishaps and misfortunes. We were lucky, fortunate, had some success, got something to build on. I think my cars are going to be great this year."

Big leap for Toyota

After a season filled of worries about simply making races for Toyota, two of the automaker's top drivers were in position to win Sunday.

Stewart and Kyle Busch both whiffed. But the fact that they and Joe Gibbs teammate Denny Hamlin had three of the strongest cars in the field represented a quantum leap for the foreign automaker.

Stewart hopes the Toyotas' strong performance in the opener foretells good things for the rest of the season.

"I didn't know what to expect in all honesty," said Stewart, whose team defected from Chevrolet in the offseason. "Because you don't know when you go into a new program what you're going to have until you get it. I can say I'm pleasantly surprised."

Fine start

for open-wheelers

Hornish tried to treat it as a learning experience. Dario Franchitti was just happy to finish the race.

All in all, the former open-wheel racing stars comported themselves well in their first NASCAR Sprint Cup race. That is to say, they didn't wreck.

Hornish, who started 19th, worked his way into the top six early in the race, but wound up 15th. Franchitti started 40th and finished 33rd.

"We finished, that's about all I can say right now," Franchitti said. "We learned some stuff today, which was good, and I have a lot to learn about drafting."

Hornish, meanwhile, was running among the leaders early on but had to make a green-flag pit stop on Lap 58 to change all four tires and was not a major factor the rest of the race.

"We were just trying to learn and make the car better every time we had a pit stop," he said.

Runner-up Kurt Busch was impressed with his new teammate.

"Sam did an excellent job today," Busch said. "I felt very confident in [having] him behind me and having the Penske cars work together. He has a lot to learn, but he is a three-time IRL champion, so his learning curve is going to be like riding an escalator."