Richard Petty Motorsports, the team formerly known as Gillette Evernham Motors, had a big day at the Daytona 500, putting three cars into the top 10 — led by A.J. Allmendinger in third, Elliott Sadler in fifth and Reed Sorenson in ninth.

The only RPM car out of the mix was the Budweiser No. 9 of Kasey Kahne, who finished 29th.

My pre-race pick, Carl Edwards, ended up 18th. In fact, only three of my pre-race top 10 finished in the top 10 — Kevin Harvick, 2nd; Sadler, 5th; and Tony Stewart, 8th. Stewart had a nice run from the back of the pack following the unfortunate practice accident that put him in his backup car.

Michael Waltrip Racing also had a good day, with Waltip in seventh, David Reutimann in 12th and Marcos Ambrose, who drives out of Waltrip’s shop, in  17th.

Twas a tough day for the Hendrick boys, particularly Dale Earnhardt Jr. taking out many of the top contenders and missing his mark in the pits to put him a lap down. Jeff Gordon in 13th was hendrick’s top finisher. Full props, too, to Juan Pablo Montoya, who came in 14th for Ganassi-DEI.

But other than the victory for Matt Kenseth and Roush-Fenway Racing, Roush’s first Daytona win, the big story of the day was the performance of Petty.

Here’s the Sporting News story …

Big day for Richard Petty MotorsportsBy Brian McLaughlin

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(February 15, 2009)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-Before Sunday’s Daytona 500, Richard Petty expressed his disappointment in not having a Petty family member in the race-for the first time since 1965.

Maybe now it won’t hurt as much.

Newly created Richard Petty Motorsports-the result of Gillett Evernham Motorsports merging with Petty Holdings during the offseason-took three of the top 10 spots in the rain-shortened race. AJ Allmendinger, who wasn’t even guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500 only a week earlier, led the way, finishing third.

Elliott Sadler led 24 laps and held the lead until Lap 146, the final green-flag lap, and finished fifth. Reed Sorenson finished ninth, his third straight top-15 finish in the 500.

If the rain had fallen just a few laps earlier, the three Petty cars would have finished in the top five, with Sadler winning the race. At Lap 140, Kasey Kahne, the fourth driver for RPM, was 11th. He finished 29th.

“I was hoping it was going to rain when Elliott was leading and Reed was second and I was fourth,” Allmendinger said. “That would have been a really great result for the team. I was trying to push Reed and Elliott as much as I could. They are the ones who got me into the race, and it was my turn to return the favor and try to get them the win.”

The finish was especially sweet for Allmendinger and Sadler, who didn’t exactly have smooth offseasons.

Allmendinger has an uncertain future, with only the first eight races of 2009 guaranteed by a sponsor in the No. 44. He improved his chances of securing more races with his overall Speedweeks performance-taking fifth in the Budweiser Shootout, racing his way into the Daytona 500 on Thursday and the first top five of his Cup career on Sunday.

Sadler had to go to court during the offseason just to keep the team from replacing him with Allmendinger in the No. 19. His contract is good through the end of 2010, but when the merger took place, the new team intended to buy out his contract-a decision he objected to, fought in court and beat. Then, in his first points race after the court decision, he was half a lap from winning it all. 

“Yeah, if you’d have told me at the beginning of the day if I would take a fifth-place finish and lead some laps for the Daytona 500, I probably would have took it,” Sadler said. “It’s a great way to get a good start to the season. But to be a half a lap short from being the champion of the Daytona 500 is very emotional to me. … I needed this after the offseason that I’ve had.”

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